Napoli’s season has reached the stage where the figures offer comfort and the results keep taking it away. Max Allegri remains under mounting pressure after a defeat at Venezia, with a difficult start now feeding doubts around the coach, the squad and the club’s planning.
The decision
There is no indication of an immediate change on the Napoli bench, but the mood around Allegri has deteriorated sharply. The loss in Venice brought the #allegriout campaign back into prominence among supporters, many of whom had greeted his appointment with scepticism before he had even begun work at Castel Volturno.
Some of the criticism has also been directed at president Aurelio De Laurentiis and sporting director Giovanni Manna. Supporters have argued online that responsibility for Napoli’s ninth-place position cannot rest with the coach alone, while others have called for Allegri’s dismissal without delay.
The pressure follows a run in which Napoli have lost five of their opening nine matches across Serie A and the Champions League. Their overall record stands at three wins, one draw and five defeats. Under De Laurentiis, it is the club’s third-worst start: Napoli had only seven league points after the opening stages of the 2009 campaign under Roberto Donadoni, while the current side match the points total recorded by Edoardo Reja’s team in 2007-08.
Five early defeats take the comparison back further still, to 2001-02, when Luigi De Canio was managing Napoli in Serie B. The contrast is stark for a club that has won two Scudetti and a Supercoppa over the past three years.
Allegri has had genuine constraints. Injuries have affected the group from pre-season onwards, beginning with Alessandro Buongiorno, who is not expected back until 2027. Marianucci has only recently returned to fitness, while Frank Anguissa, David Neres, Alisson Santos, Leonardo Spinazzola and young Favasuli have all spent time unavailable. Favasuli was introduced by Allegri and used as a wide player before joining the injury list.
The coach has consequently not selected the same starting XI twice since taking charge. Napoli began the first seven games with a back four before moving to a three-man defensive line from the win over Frosinone onwards. Rotation has been one area in which Allegri has differed from Antonio Conte, whose two-year spell was often criticised for relying heavily on a settled core.
The comparison with Conte is unavoidable because De Laurentiis replaced one of Italian football’s most decorated coaches with another. Allegri has won six league titles, while Conte has five. Yet the context is not straightforward: Conte worked with a side strengthened by major transfer spending, whereas Allegri has inherited both an injury crisis and the oldest squad in Serie A.
There are mixed statistical signs. Napoli are creating more, with expected goals rising from 1.52 last season to 2.24 under Allegri. But the defensive trend is worse: expected goals conceded have increased from 1.15 to 1.74, while opponents’ average shots have climbed from 9.61 in 2025-26 to 14.71 this term. Goals allowed have changed little, at one per match under Allegri compared with 0.95 in Conte’s second season.
Individual output has added to the uncertainty. Rasmus Hojlund has scored twice this season and has yet to become the decisive forward Napoli expected. Allegri’s efforts to restore Lorenzo Lucca through public backing and individual technical discussions have not changed the striker’s situation, and the reaction from the stands and online has become harsher.
Sunday’s picture
The Venezia match was the clearest recent example of Napoli’s unevenness. The final data suggested a side capable of winning comfortably: 2.36 expected goals, 71 per cent possession, 29 attempts and 10 efforts on target. Yet Napoli did not register a shot on target in the first half against the team at the bottom of the table.
It was not an isolated problem. Napoli also failed to test Bologna’s goalkeeper before half-time, while only one first-half effort was on target against Como. They share that poor early-game record with Parma, Torino and Lecce, clubs operating in a very different part of the standings.
A 3-0 home victory over Frosinone briefly eased the noise around Allegri, but the concerns returned in the Champions League match against Villarreal on Tuesday. Napoli’s capacity to produce chances has not been enough to prevent results from swinging sharply from one week to the next.
For now, the issue is less one of a single bad afternoon than of a team still searching for continuity. Allegri’s injuries, selections and changing defensive structure explain part of the picture. They do not remove the requirement for Napoli to make their season look more like the numbers they can produce.
