McTominay overused amid injuries and Napoli struggles

Napoli have been dealing with several injuries in recent weeks, and many of their stars, including Scott McTominay, have played 100% of the available minutes in the last month.

Napoli suffered their second consecutive defeat across all competitions on Sunday, seeing Udinese secure a 1-0 win at the Bluenergy Stadium.

Earlier last week, Napoli had lost 2-0 away against José Mourinho’s Benfica in the Champions League.

Napoli are still unbeaten in home Serie A games with six wins and one draw, but have fallen short away from the Maradona with four losses in the league and three – from three outings – in the Champions League.

“They have a stadium that pushes; playing at home for them it’s a big advantage,” former Lazio goalkeeper Luca Marchegiani told Sky Sport Italia.

“In the first half against Udinese, they did some good things and created some situations. The tragic thing was the start of the second half. That was when Udinese took command.

“This season, Napoli have struggled to face all the teams with the same determination. This is a team that, to be efficient, must play with their intensity; if they drop it, they can suffer against anyone.”

Coach Antonio Conte has had limited chances to rotate in recent weeks, especially in central midfield, where Kevin De Bruyne, Billy Gilmour, Zambo Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka have all suffered injuries.

The latter returned to action against Udinese yesterday after two weeks, while the others will be forced to the sidelines for longer.

“Napoli are a team that doesn’t have the strength to play constantly in the opposing half and dominate proceedings through ball possession,” argued Inter legend Beppe Bergomi.

“The coach is good at fixing problems and finding solutions. They are better than last season because they have a deeper team with important players. But they have an alibi, which is a lot of injuries and reduced options in certain roles.”

Conte’s reduced options have forced the Italian tactician to overuse many of his stars. Sky showed that Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Scott McTominay and goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic have played every minute since Conte switched to a three-man defence against Atalanta on November 22. That makes it six full games in less than one month, with the only exception being a Coppa Italia match against Cagliari.

Amir Rrahmani, David Neres, Rasmus Hojlund and Alessandro Buongiorno have played over 90% of the available minutes in the same time, Same Beukema and Noa Lang more than 80%.

Even Matteo Politano, a regular starter at the end of the season, has struggled with playing time, despite being fully fit, playing just 27.9% of the available minutes since November 22.