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It's been a strange season at Napoli thus far. The club have made great strides in recent years and there had been some expectations that a title challenge was possible this season under Rafa Benitez.
His first season in charge has seen the club in third, 13 points off Juventus thus far although they have reached the Coppa Italia semi-final and were unlucky to be knocked out of the Champions League group stages despite amassing 12 points.
This week, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis emphasized that patience was key, given the major changes at the club.
We spoke to Serie A expert James Horncastle tonight and he believes De Laurentiis will give Benitez time to turn Napoli into Scudetto challengers.
"I don't think he is under any immediate danger. I think the owner realizes that six months into his tenure, they have made a lot of changes in the summer. They're a little bit like Tottenham. They sold their best player in Edinson Cavani and used the money to completely change and overhaul the team.
"Napoli were a team that played a 3-5-2 until last year. Now they're playing 4-2-3-1 and although they have made many changes to the playing personnel, some of the players who had been there are finding it difficult to adapt. They knew that this was going to be a season of adjustment. But at the same time, considering the amount of money they spent, the expectation was that they would at least be running Juventus a little closer than they are."
Materazzi has tried to portray Benitez as a Brian Clough at Leeds-style manager
As Napoli underwhelm a little bit despite buying Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon from Real Madrid among other purchases, it is interesting to note how Rafa Benitez is perceived in Italy, considering his failure at Inter Milan after succeeding Jose Mourinho in 2010.
"There is a lot of respect for him, respective of what happened at Inter Milan because Benitez is associated with Istanbul 2005. His biggest moment came at the expense of an Italian club in AC Milan. There is also respect for what he achieved with Valencia. They understand that this is a coach who has won everything in terms of continental competitions," said Horncastle who also added that his only major critic is former Inter defender Marco Materazzi who fell out with the Spaniard.
"Also, Inter Milan's continued troubles since they won the treble in 2010 has seen the people after Benitez fail as well. It makes it look like it was an impossible job. His only mistake was to take the job in the first place."
