Napoli resumed their league campaign after the extended international break with a convincing home victory over Frosinone at the Maradona, where Kevin De Bruyne scored twice. Yet Ottavio Bianchi, a former Napoli player and coach, believes the opening weeks remain too unsettled to offer firm conclusions about the champions’ direction.
An early season still taking shape
Bianchi urged patience after the restart, arguing that the first rounds are as much about a coach’s assessment as they are about the table. International duty, fitness concerns and recovering players mean that Napoli are far from alone in facing an incomplete picture.
- Two players are still late in returning from international commitments.
- Injuries are affecting selection.
- Other members of the squad are still working their way back towards full condition.
- The same uncertainty applies across Serie A, not only at Napoli.
“It is too soon to make judgments because the championship has only just started,” Bianchi said. “These early matches are useful for the coach to make his evaluations.”
His caution did not alter his view of the leading candidates for the Scudetto. For Bianchi, Napoli and Inter remain the two sides to beat, with Inter benefiting from having retained much of their existing structure.
“Napoli and Inter are still the favourites,” he said. “Inter have the advantage of not changing much. We must see whether they can maintain that level and whether the other teams improve, but I am sure they will.”
De Bruyne’s quality after the Frosinone win
De Bruyne’s two goals provided the clearest individual note from Napoli’s win over Frosinone. Bianchi described the Belgian as the kind of player whose influence is not restricted to one position when his physical condition is right.
“When a player of De Bruyne’s level is physically well, you know he can produce a performance,” Bianchi said. “Players like that have enormous pride in what they do. When they are not well, they are the first to feel unhappy; when they are fit, they enjoy themselves and you can play them anywhere because they play well.”
Bianchi resisted comparisons between elite players, insisting that personal preference inevitably enters such debates. In his view, a true great stands outside ordinary ranking systems.
Depth, recovery and the long Serie A calendar
Looking beyond Napoli’s most recognisable names, Bianchi returned to the difference between a major club and the rest of the division: the standard available deeper in the squad.
- The strongest teams can call on high-level players even in fifteenth and sixteenth place in the pecking order.
- That depth separates leading clubs from smaller sides over a full season.
- Star players are normally recovered whenever possible, even when opponents assign two markers to them.
Bianchi recalled his time in charge of smaller clubs, including Como, to underline how differently the calendar can be experienced outside the title race. He said those teams sometimes looked towards holiday periods as opportunities to train more effectively and then collect useful points.
Asked which historic great he would have most liked to coach, Bianchi named Johan Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stefano. He regarded them as complete footballers of a kind he had never seen, while ultimately selecting Cruyff as his preferred choice.
For Napoli, then, the Frosinone result offers encouragement rather than a final verdict. The Maradona has seen an early statement, De Bruyne has supplied decisive quality, but Bianchi’s message is that the wider championship story will be written only once squads settle and the season’s depth begins to matter.
