Player ratings: Roma 0-1 Napoli – Neres tops disappointing Giallorossi

David Neres scored the only goal as Napoli beat Roma 1-0 to move into second place in Serie A, meaning that there are now four teams separated by just one point at the top of the league standings. 

Gian Piero Gasperini was suspended and forced to watch on from the stands as his side put in a slightly disappointing display at home against the reigning champions, who did not have Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa or Billy Gilmour at their disposal. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Here are the player ratings after a major turn in the already-thrilling Serie A title race. 

Roma: Svilar 6; Mancini 6, Ndicka 5, Hermoso 5; Celik 5, Kone 6, Cristante 6 (El Aynaoui 6), Wesley 5 (El Shaarawy n/a); Soule 5.5 (Dybala 5), Pellegrini 6 (Bailey n/a); Ferguson 5.5 (Baldanzi 5).

Best Roma player: Kone 6 – Slim pickings in what was a fairly underwhelming display from the Giallorossi, who had sat at the top of the Serie A standings at the start of the weekend. Despite the result, Kone quietly went about his business fairly solidly: He completed the second-most passes of any player on the pitch, had the second-most possession of any player and made a couple of useful challenges in the middle of the park.

Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini 5 – Suspended and watching on from the stands, there wasn’t an awful lot that Gasp could have done in terms of communicating with his players. Still, he will take responsibility for what was a disappointing Giallorossi display. They just didn’t click in the final third and only had two shots on target throughout the 90, neither of which were particularly troubling. Questions were also asked of his decision to swap Ferguson for Baldanzi at half-time.

Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic 6; Beukema 6.5, Rrahmani 6.5, Buongiorno 6; Di Lorenzo 6, Lobotka 6.5, McTominay 6.5, Olivera 6; Neres 7 (Lucca n/a), Hojlund 6 (Elmas n/a), Lang 6 (Politano 6).

Best Napoli player: Neres 7 – Napoli’s victory was an impressive collective performance: The centre-backs were solid throughout, the two central midfielders worked their socks off, but Neres was the deserved winner of the player of the match. He offered plenty of pace on the break, was a threat on both flanks and ended his evening with the only goal of the game. 

Coach: Antonio Conte 7.5 – A really effective performance from Napoli, even if it wasn’t always the most expressive or creative. Conte made sure that his players got the basics right: They were defensively compact, aggressive in the tackle and broke with speed and purpose on the counter, and that’s exactly how their goal came about. Managed the game very well after going in front: Milinkovic-Savic only had one save to make after going 1-0 up.