This is the penultimate chapter of my Championship Manager 3 series with Napoli. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far, because I sure have!
Last time out, we kicked off the 2002/2003 season – and our defence of the Serie A scudetto. Things are going fine so far, but how long will our watertight defence last?
And what about the Champions League? Can we win our group keep alive our hopes of bringing the European Cup to the San Paolo? Let’s find out…
NOVEMBER 2002
Despite suffering an early setback in the Champions League group stages, Napoli’s Serie A title defence had started off pretty well. With half a dozen matches played, we were still unbeaten – and in more ways than one.
The only reasons for concern as we entered November were 1) that defeat in Lisbon, and 2) our relative lack of goals. While I was happy enough with Gabriel Bordi‘s start to the season, I still believed we were hitting and hoping too often, and that we should be more patient in the final third.
This chapter begins at the Olimpico against former champions Roma, whom we comfortably beat 3-0 in the Supercoppa in August. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
Okay… maybe we were a little scared. Roma dominated the opening stages and ruined Sebastien Frey‘s clean sheet, though our goalkeeper did brilliantly to stop the Giallorossi from running riot. Former Lazio winger Sérgio Conceição then scored his first Napoli goal just before half-time and saved us a point at least.
After Filippo Inzaghi grabbed a late winner at home to Juventus, it was Michel who finished off Empoli in the Coppa Italia. We were through to our third Quarter Final in a row, where we would face Vicenza.
Then came newly-promoted Lecce, who’ve given me a few headaches in the past. This was another bruising battle, as they scored two equalisers AND twisted Inzaghi’s ankle before Bordi finally got us the win in the 90th minute.
‘El Tanque’ had now scored 11 goals in 15 games this season. With Pippo out of the month, we just needed to hope that-
Oh, balls! We now had to play with Patrik Fredholm and Kabba Samura up front for the next few weeks. At least Samura was up for the challenge, giving us a win over Brescia that stretched our lead to four points. As for the Champions League…
We picked up our third group win by smashing FIVE goals past Dinamo Kiev at the San Paolo – including a Bordi hat-trick. Coupled with a shock win for Wisla against our old foes Sporting, this result took us to the top of Group A!
As a show of gratitude to Wisla, we went to Krakow and cracked in another five goals within the first 24 minutes. Game well and truly over already.
12 points from five games would almost certainly be enough to get us into the Quarter Finals as the best runners-up at least. But if we wanted to make absolutely sure, we had to avoid defeat at home to Sporting in our final group match.
DECEMBER 2002
Never in doubt. We didn’t need Inzaghi or Bordi anyway.
We had firmly put our early disappointment against us and dominated Group A. No other team had scored more goals than us in the Group Stage – and only Manchester United and Barcelona had picked up more points.
Our reward was a Quarter Final against a Celtic team managed by John Barnes. Sounds simple enough, right?
Not really. Celtic finished top of Roma’s group and have already reached two CL Semi Finals in this save. And last season, Barnes’ Bhoys won a Scottish domestic treble without losing a single match – and their star striker Mark Burchill scored 57 goals in all competitions! In other words, they’re actually quite decent.
Anyway, let’s now switch back to Serie A, where we kicked off December with a visit to the Artemio Franchi to face Fiorentina.
Aw, shucks, there goes the unbeaten league record. That’s what happens when you have to contend with Ronaldo and a super-keeper.
Now… what’s the opposite of a super-keeper?
Sergio Marcon, that’s the answer. Vicenza‘s backup goalie produced an utter trainwreck of a performance that practically handed us a free ticket to another Coppa Italia Semi Final.
Frey was soon back to his old tricks in the league, as an early second-half mistake briefly threatened to hand Empoli an away win. I would have been after his neck had we not turned that around – inspired by another 10/10 performance from backup midfielder Stefano Morrone! Where has this form come from, Stefano?
Obviously, Morrone then got injured and missed an eventful clash with Cagliari. Frey had another stinker, defender Diego Placente was sent off, and Conceição hurt his hand… but Bordi came back from injury to complete another 3-1 home win.
There was more frustration in my 200th match as Napoli manager, as we needed to come from behind twice against Sampdoria. Bordi scored again, of course, but we could not complete the comeback and dropped two points.
After conceding ONE goal in our first eight Serie A matches this season, we had now shipped EIGHT goals in our last six. But even though our rock-solid defence was starting to crumble, we still had a comfortable cushion at the top of Serie A – where nobody had been able to shift us since matchday 5. Indeed, we are on track to pick up MORE points than when we won the title last term!
To further underline just how great Bordi had been this season, he had Serie A’s highest average rating (7.73) and was level with Milan’s Oliver Bierhoff as top scorer (8). And with Inzaghi now back to full fitness, our superstar strikeforce was ready to take the Italian league by storm again in 2003!
JANUARY 2003
OI, BURCHILL! Would you like to sign for Empoli?
I thought I’d unsettle our next Champions League opponents by trying to sign their top scorer on a Bosman for next season. Well, Napoli will need somebody to replace Bordi in the summer, considering that he still won’t sign a new deal with us!
But even though we had £30million+ in the bank, I didn’t need to make any immediate changes to the squad. Nearly all our regular outfielders were now averaging 7.00 or higher, and there were hardly any stragglers left. I genuinely believed that this squad was strong enough and deep enough to push on for another scudetto.
We had not lost a single home game in 2002 – with Roma being the last visitors to breach the San Paolo fortress back in May 2001. As the new year kicked off, it was 5th-placed AC Milan who were tasked with trying to shatter our incredible unbeaten record, which now stretched to 39 consecutive home matches.
Did someone order another super-keeper? Why doesn’t Christian Abbiati just bugger off and take his fascist propaganda elsewhere?
Despite another frustrating 0-0, our proud home record and four-point lead were still intact. I also finally agreed terms on that Bordi replacement.
Yes… it’s none other than our old nemesis Nicola Ventola, who’ll join us from Bologna in the summer! The 24-year-old is powerful and pacey centre-forward who can both score and create chances. Of course, I will not be managing Nicola in this save, but we’ll see him again very soon.
Conceição then returned to the Olimpico and created a rare goal for our 35-year-old captain Giovanni Lopez. Unfortunately, Lazio drew level just before half-time, and Fabio Cannavaro then had a potential Napoli winner ruled out for offside. Another draw.
There was better news at home to Torino, whose ever-reliable goalkeeper Massimo Taibi was sent off after just eight minutes following a professional foul. Bordi converted a penalty and then a second goal to wrap up the points… and then broke his jaw. We struggled without him against Bari, but Inzaghi’s strike was enough to pull us further ahead of the chasing pack.
Lastly, I put out a reserve team in the second leg of our Coppa tie with Vicenza. Gaetano De Rosa was sent off and we lost 1-0, but it didn’t matter. We still advanced to a Semi Final against Juventus, who had just sacked Jupp Heynckes and appointed a new manager. More on that guy later.
FEBRUARY 2003
Our February schedule began with a trip to the Friuli – and one of the most hotly-anticipated matches of the season. Take a look at our last nine results against Udinese, and see if you can predict the final score in this meeting.
If you guessed 0-0, you’d be right…
…until literally the last minute. Marco Carparelli don’t give a damn about tradition.
We also took our sweet time to kill off Bologna, needing a 51st-penalty Inzaghi penalty and a 90th-minute clincher from Placente. I was surprised that we didn’t face any counter-attacking threats Bologna, until I realised that they were in 17th place with just seven goals all season… and Ventola had scored two of them.
Meanwhile, we were having to swat away offers from our title rivals for our left-back Francesco Coco every week. Fiorentina were the latest team to come calling, offering us £3.4million. As if I’m accepting that!
Anyway, I took the opportunity to renew Coco’s contract… and he somehow banged his head on the table while signing it. That was him out for a tricky away game at 4th-placed Parma.
We were also missing Cannavaro because of a calf strain, and boy could we have done with him. I might as well have had J-Lo at centre-back rather than G-Lo, as Edmundo condemned us to only our second league defeat. To make matters worse, Fiorentina had closed the gap to just two points.
Next up was our third meeting with Vicenza in three months – in the league, this time. The Biancorossi wisely decided not to put Marcon in goal for this one, and his replacement kept the scoreline down to 1-0 for quite a while… until Samura burst the floodgates open and bagged a hat-trick.
And that leaves us still sitting pretty at the top of Serie A. Roma, Parma and Lazio have all fallen away somewhat, but Fiorentina are keeping the heat on – and with 14 goals, Ronaldo is on course to win the Capocannoniere for the third time in five seasons.
I have a feeling it could all come down to our next league meeting on 13 April, when the Viola will visit the San Paolo.
Now… let’s talk about the Coppa Italia, and about Juventus. Who is this dashing young coach who’s taken over from Heynckes?
Yes, folks. After 16 years at Manchester United, Sir Alex had grown tired of winning the Premiership every year, and now he wanted to restore Juventus to their former glories. As long as he doesn’t sign any Sicilian goalkeepers named Massimo, I reckon he’ll be fine.
And who’s replaced Fergie at Old Trafford? Liverpool legend John Barnes, of course – which means Celtic also have a new manager! Anyway, here’s what happened against Juventus in the Coppa…
We needed to win at home in the first leg, but an early red card for Paulo Vernazza put us on the back foot almost immediately. We just could not get any service to Inzaghi or the returning Bordi, while the Old Lady gave our penalty area a battering. It took Frey’s best performance of the season to keep her at bay.
No away goals for Juve, then, but they were still the favourites as we arrived at the Delle Alpi. We hadn’t scored there in any of our previous three trips – and that would almost certainly have to change if we were to reach the Final.
[Sigh] I need to order some Cialis for my players. They cannot make it past a Semi.
Things went wrong as early as the 12th minute, when attacking midfield playmaker Stilian Petrov broke his toe. Without him, we could not produce enough killer balls – and Gianluca Zambrotta dealt us a sucker punch in the 69th minute. That wasn’t nice at all.
So while Fergie’s Juventus will face Fabio Capello’s Roma in the Final, my dream to win the Coppa Italia will remain just that. A dream.
But now we have to pick ourselves up and try to retain our scudetto. And there’s the small matter of the Champions League Quarter Final against Celtic…
…but, er, that will have to wait until next time. That’s all for now, folks!
“Canzone Napoletana” will conclude on Friday afternoon with what (I hope) will be the grandest of grand finales. Don’t miss it!
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