Why is Napoli the hardest test for Guardiola?

CAIRO –16 October 2017: Manchester City is in the 1st place of the Premier League, while Napoli is in the 1st place of Serie A. Napoli will face Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday in the third round of the group stage in the Champions League.

The match is awaited by many, as the two teams are examples of fast attacking football, with a team that scored 26 goals in Serie A and the other reached a number that has not been achieved for more than 120 years with 29 goals in the English territory.

Manchester City has become more sophisticated and more reflective of their coach's ideas than last season. Gradually, Mauricio Sari has reaped the fruits of years of working with the poor of the south to get his fans to think about the Diego Maradona age again.

But it may be the most important station for Pep Guardiola at this stage of the season, the station that will put his ideas on a real test from a team that offers ideas that are closely related to his ideas; a test that could give a bigger push forward towards the Champions League title.

The Spanish coach acknowledges the difficulty of the match and explains that the difference in the style between English teams he has encountered in the league and the style of the Partenopei is the real reason for his fear of this confrontation.

“We have to adapt to Napoli style; they have a style of play that is different from what we see in the English Premier League. Napoli does a lot of things, and they do it perfectly,” he said.

“Napoli is able to put pressure on our goalkeeper; they can kill you with high pressure,” he said in a previous statement.

This leads us to a quick comparison between the two sides in terms of numbers. Both teams have an accurate pass rate, which reached 90 percent with Napoli and almost the same with Manchester City, which reached 89 percent.

On the possession side, Guardiola's men are up to 63 percent, and Napoli is 4 percent less. But in terms of opportunities, Napoli made 122 chances against 117 chances for Manchester City.

Numbers are close between the two teams and the difference is not great.

The other fact is that the defense of both teams is solid and has quality. Four goals were received by goalkeeper Ederson and five goals received by Pepe Reina, but the most important fact is that Man City has not faced such a quick and strong team as Napoli.

Despite the strong performances of Manchester City in the English Premier League, no one can ignore the fact that Guardiola has not faced a team that put high pressure on his defense yet.

When Man City played against Chelsea, Antonio Conte was forced back to defend and depended on the counterattack, as was his habit, and he scored six points from Man City last season.

Liverpool’s match, despite a five-goal win, cannot be ignored, because the game was a contest between the two sides until the 37th minute, when Sadio Mane got a red card and things turned upside down. Another fact is that Liverpool's defense, which received 12 goals, is not as strong as the defense of Sarri sons.

And even the only team - Shakhtar Donetsk - which Guardiola sees that their play is in a manner similar to Napoli, City achieved a hard victory over Shakhtar with two goals, and the second goal scored in the last seconds of the match, which saw the goalkeeper Ederson Moraes shining on more than one occasion.

Despite Guardiola's fear, he expressed confidence in his players, saying, “I will show Napoli how well my players are.”