SPALLETTI'S 4-3-2-1 100+ GOALS AND GREAT DEFENSE TREBLE WINNING

LUCIANO SPALLETTI’S NAPOLI SCUDETTO WINNER 2022-2023 TACTICS
Luciano Spalletti arrived in Naples in the 2020/2021 season, succeeding Gennaro Gattuso, immediately doing an excellent job that culminated in the return of the Neapolitan team to the Champions League. Thanks to intelligent and targeted transfers, the Tuscan coach managed to give a clear identity to the team, characterized by an exuberantly offensive style of play that has been captivating all of Europe and has propelled them to the top of the Serie A.
The starting formation is the 4-3-3, which often transforms into a 4-2-3-1 with Meret in goal, a goalkeeper who seemed to be on his way out but was confirmed due to the failure to acquire Navas, and is now delivering great performances. The two central defenders are Rhamani, possessing a powerful physique and great skill in aerial play and marking, with good technique and decent ball distribution abilities. His natural substitute is Juan Jesus, a left-footed defender, very quick and adept at intercepting plays. Then there's Kim, a new addition to Napoli, brought in to replace Koulibaly, a Korean defender born in '96 who also boasts a commanding physique and is known for his tough and rugged playing style. He's very skilled in marking and excels in aerial play, both defensively and offensively, as evidenced by the two goals he's already scored. He's been impressing with his consistency.
At right-back, and also the new captain of the team, we find Di Lorenzo, characterized by good technique combined with remarkable strength and physical endurance. He frequently gets involved in offensive plays on his side of the field and contributes to set pieces, both offensively and defensively. The left-back is Mario Rui, a veteran of the team, highly technical and agile due to his low center of gravity. He's consistent and has a knack for delivering crosses and passes. His natural substitute is Mathias Olivera, a Uruguayan born in '97, who arrived this summer and quickly integrated into Spalletti's tactics. He's a full-back with strong offensive characteristics and a penchant for delivering crosses.
Napoli's playmaker is Lobotka, who has become a cornerstone and key player for the team. He possesses good vision, personality, technique, and great competitiveness, in addition to his ability to move off the ball and engage in physical battles. His ideal substitute is Demme, a German midfielder who excels in marking and closing off passing lanes for the opponents, while also making forward runs. On the right-wing midfield, there's Zambo Anguissa, who arrived last season from Fulham. He's a physically imposing midfielder, skilled at ball recovery and possesses great speed and endurance; he's the engine of the team. His natural substitute is Ndombele, a versatile and dynamic player with good ability in offensive runs. On the left-wing midfield is Zielinski, a player with notable technical qualities and excellent physical attributes. He's very versatile, excels at making runs without the ball, and has great dribbling skills. When Mr. Spalletti opts for the 4-2-3-1 formation, Zielinski takes on the role of the attacking midfielder, where he utilizes his attributes to provide assists to his teammates.
Regarding the attacking trio, on the left is Kvaratskhelia, a Georgian born in 2001, who arrived this summer and has been the real revelation of Serie A so far. He's an attacker with devastating dribbling skills, remarkable acceleration with the ball, and good physicality. He's been a key player, contributing with 5 goals and 3 assists in 10 league matches. His substitute is Elmas, a Macedonian player with good technique and progression, capable both in offensive runs and defensive duties. On the right-wing, there's Politano, who has been confirmed and had a great start to the season. He's a left-footed player with good technique, speed, and agility, skilled in dribbling. He often cuts inside from the right to open up space for a shot or pass towards the striker. Mr. Spalletti often alternates him with Chucky Lozano, who excels at attacking the depth and making tight dribbles with his excellent technique. Napoli's center forward is Osimhen, a modern attacker who relies on speed and physical strength. When triggered in open space, he can be devastating. His substitutes, depending on the type of attack the coach chooses, whether it's a lightweight or heavyweight attack, are Raspadori, who arrived this year from Sassuolo. He has carved out an important role in the team, being very versatile, agile, quick, and having good individual skills. He's adept at attacking the depth or coming back to support play in the number 10 position, showing good vision of the game. He stands out for the intensity with which he moves among opposing defenders to create space for his teammates. Then there's Simeone, with good instincts as a goal poacher and a cool finisher despite not being very tall. He excels at heading the ball.

FORMATION
Initial: 4-3-3 Non-Possession Phase: 4-1-4-1 Possession Phase: 2-3-2-3/2-1-4-3

POSSESSION PHASE
Tactical analysis of Luciano Spalletti's Napoli with a match analysis and how they play with the principles of play, movements, and patterns of the playing model and tactics by AIAPC (Association of Italian Football Analysts) analysts for courses and match analysis courses for role and membership in possession or offensive phase in construction and development.
In the image, we can observe the 2-3-2-3 formation during Napoli's possession phase with Lobotka, as always, serving as the team's pivot in the center. He receives the ball from the two central defenders, while the two full-backs push up to receive the ball and develop play on the wings. Additionally, we can see the two central midfielders ready to make opposite movements: one moves towards the ball to provide a passing option (Ndombele), and the other positions himself for the final pass to facilitate vertical play and create a highly dangerous situation for the opposing defense (Zielinski). On the left flank, there's Kvaratskhelia, positioned wide to stretch the opposing defense and receive the ball for one-on-one situations with his direct opponent. The striker and the right-winger are outside the frame.
Build-up
Napoli under Spalletti's management builds up play from the back. It usually starts with exchanges between the two central defenders, with the full-backs moving up to create a back three with Lobotka. The two central midfielders position themselves around the attacking third. Subsequently, one of the central defenders passes the ball to Lobotka, who has dropped deeper. He then spreads the play to one of the full-backs or directly to the attacking wingers or, alternatively, delivers a vertical pass to the striker or one of the central midfielders who have come short.
Rarely does Napoli initiate play with a direct build-up. When this happens, they seek the physical presence of Osimhen to act as a target for the attacking wingers' runs.
Development
Play mainly develops on the flanks through triangular passing combinations involving the full-back, the central midfielder, and the attacking winger. Depending on the game situation, different interesting combinations can occur. The first involves Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui/Olivera on the right and left, respectively, seeking the central midfielder between the lines, usually Zielinski, who then releases the attacking winger to go one-on-one against his direct opponent. The second involves Napoli's full-backs directly seeking the attacking wingers. The third involves vertical passes into space for Osimhen, who can be devastating when in full flow.
Lateral Play
Spalletti likes to exploit the full width of the field to stretch opposing defenses and create one-on-one situations, which can be very dangerous. Play is often developed on the left to make the most of Kvaratskhelia's incredible dribbling ability, ball progression, and tight dribbling skills, creating numerical superiority and setting up the forward runs or shots. A constant feature in Napoli's play is the overlapping runs of the full-backs, especially Di Lorenzo, who often finds himself near the opponent's penalty area to deliver crosses to the striker. Another typical movement of Di Lorenzo is cutting inside to support the attacking build-up and receive passes from the winger to set up the striker or central midfielder.
Final Pass
In the final pass phase, Napoli primarily aims to serve the attacking wingers, who, with their excellent technique and dribbling, create numerical superiority by bypassing their markers through one-two combinations. The key player in this area is Zielinski, who alternates between receiving the ball between the lines and delivering vertical passes to the striker or attacking winger and moving to the flank for tight exchanges and triangular passing with the attacking winger and the full-back who advances.
Finalization
Napoli breaks through the opposing defensive line to score primarily with shots from inside the box by the attacking wingers following the passing combinations mentioned earlier with the central midfielder or full-back. The movement of the striker attacking the far post creates space for this, forcing opposing defenders to follow him. Another frequently used play is the crosses from the full-backs to Osimhen, one of the two central midfielders (particularly Ndombelè or Zambo Anguissa), or the wide forward attacking the weak side. Additionally, Napoli's speedy striker, Osimhen, can be devastating when played into space, burning defenders and quickly going for the shot.
Lastly, Napoli players, thanks to the space created by the striker's movement towards the depth and overlapping full-backs, often opt for long-range shots from the edge of the box.

NON-POSSESSION PHASE

Initial Defensive Action
Spalletti's team uses pressing as its initial defensive action. The first pressing is led by the forward. Subsequently, depending on where the opposing action develops, Napoli focuses on that area, with the wide forward engaging the ball-carrying full-back, and Zielinski marking the opposing playmaker to disrupt their play. Lobotka screens behind the Polish midfielder, ready to close down if an opponent comes to receive the ball or capitalize on a defensive error. The other central midfielder marks their respective opponent.
The goal is to force the opposing defense into long passes or technical errors to regain possession, preferably in the final third, allowing for a quick vertical pass to the forward or the wide attackers. Napoli doesn't always press but alternates it with phases of pressure to restart with quality.
Midfield Defensive Play
Napoli's central midfielders don't defend in a flat line but staggered. Lobotka drops deep towards their defensive line, while the two central midfielders cover the central area, narrowing down to prevent opposing vertical passes and avoid letting opposing attacking midfielders or forwards receive the ball during the final phase. When an opposing midfielder enters the space between the defensive line and midfield, the central midfielder (usually Zambo Anguissa or Ndombelè) marks them to prevent them from receiving the ball and, if necessary, applies pressure to disrupt their decision-making.
Lateral Play
Napoli always aims to guide the opposing attacking action toward the side where they have created more density. The wide forward consistently pressures the full-back. The aim is to force the opposing defense into long passes to be intercepted by Napoli's defenders, who close down on opponents with their backs to goal or make the opponents backtrack, leading to sterile ball possession. This tactic aims to induce defensive errors for Napoli to quickly exploit one-on-one situations.
Defensive Line
Napoli's four-defender line is generally situated on their own defensive third. The four defenders are rarely in a flat line but staggered. Depending on the ball's location, one of the central defenders aggressively engages the forward, even if they drop back into their own half when the game develops centrally. When the play develops on the flank, it's the full-back who aggressively marks the opposing attacking midfielder between the lines, disrupting their passing options to prevent them from turning or thinking. The primary goal is not to put the attackers or attacking midfielders in situations to exploit the speed advantage in a one-on-one situation.
However, when one of the four defenders moves forward to engage or anticipate but isn't supported by a teammate's positioning, it leaves space in their area. This allows opposing central midfielders or full-backs, in particular, to exploit space behind the full-back or the central area to attack the depth for a one-on-one or to deliver a cross, creating dangerous situations for the defense.
TRANSITIONS
Offensive Transitions
Spalletti's team is very dangerous on the counter-attack. They have players with great physicality and athleticism who can rapidly change the game's direction, such as Zambo Anguissa, Ndombelè, and Kvaratskhelia. Napoli typically regains possession in their own final third and immediately looks for a vertical pass to Osimhen, who, in open space, becomes unstoppable and can go straight for goal. Alternatively, they look for the wide forwards who generally make two types of movements: stretching wide to attack their marker with speed or linking up with the central midfielders for a shot. They also come inside to create space on the wing and facilitate overlapping runs by the full-backs.
Defensive Transitions
When Napoli loses possession, they immediately reapply pressure to the ball carrier to regain possession quickly. They create density around the ball to recover it as soon as possible. If the opposing player eludes the pressure, the entire team drops behind the line of the ball, with the defenders temporizing and retreating to allow the team to regain its positions.

Strengths

Napoli is a very physical team with great athleticism and dynamism. Examples include Zambo Anguissa, Ndombelè, Kim, and Osimhen.
Counter-Attacks: Napoli has great speed and the ability to switch the game rapidly, thanks to Zambo Anguissa's progression, Lobotka's vertical passes, Zielinski's technique, the dribbling skills of the wide forwards, particularly Kvaratskhelia, and Osimhen's progression.
Danger from crosses: Napoli is dangerous from crosses, with Di Lorenzo on the right and Mario Rui on the left, delivering precise passes to Osimhen or the central midfielders.
Kvaratskhelia: The technical leader of the team, most offensive actions run through him. He has an impressive ability to beat opponents and remarkable dribbling skills. He is undoubtedly the key player for Napoli.
Defense: Napoli's defense is solid and difficult to break down, especially with the arrival of Kim, who is a stalwart in the defense, physically imposing, tall, and aggressive in marking. He reinforces his qualities when he senses defensive danger.

Weaknesses

Depth: When one of the four defenders moves forward to anticipate, leaving space behind, it allows opposing central midfielders or full-backs to attack the depth and deliver crosses or situations that can create great danger for the defense.
Build-up: Napoli prefers to build from the back and avoids long clearances. When the opposing team presses high, there can be technical errors from the defenders, especially in the central area of the field, making Napoli vulnerable.
Game Development: When Lobotka is man-marked, Napoli's game struggles, leading to fewer vertical passes in the final phase and making the build-up more predictable. If players like Zambo Anguissa or Ndombelè are also marked by players who can handle their physicality, Napoli has a harder time changing the game's direction.

HOW TO EMULATE SPALLETTI’S 4-3-3 ON FOOTBALL MANAGER 2023

To emulate Spalletti’s Napoli tactic in Football Manager 2023, first of all, we must consider the mentality choice. 
To play more patiently as Spalletti does, a positive mentality is a better choice compared to an attacking mentality that would lead our team to attack recklessly and allow the opponents to counter. During my season at Napoli side, in a few games against stronger opponents I started with a balanced mentality to avoid leaving too much space for the opponent and only during the game I switched to the original positive mentality. 
The main formation is a 4-3-3 wide (that means a 4-3-2-1, with the two wingers Kvara and Politano supporting the only forward Victor Osimhen).

TEAM INSTRUCTIONS
1) IN POSSESSION PHASE
- Attacking width: wide: Spalletti wants his players to exploit wider areas and with two great attacking wing-backs like Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui and two excellent wingers like Kvara and Politano it’s an easy task. As we said in the analysis above, Napoli is dangerous from crosses, with Di Lorenzo on the right and Mario Rui on the left, delivering precise passes to Osimhen or the central midfielders.
- Play out of defense: Spalletti wants his team to build from the back, this is a trend we are seeing in maybe 99% of football teams and all started with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona (2008-2012). I am a great tikitaka fan, but sometimes in Serie A games I see such incredible mistakes made by weaker teams defenders or goalkeepers who clearly do not have the ability to build from the back and pass the ball to the opponent or even score own-goals. Sometimes it happens to bigger clubs too, and Napoli was not an exception, as we stated above. Gatti’s own goal in Sassuolo- Juventus 4-2 of September 23rd is an example of what I am saying. I think that since not all players are the new Pique and Puyol, trying a long clearance is not a crime. 
- Overlap right and left: as I said, both Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui like to overlap and cross even if Di Lorenzo often cuts inside to support the midfielder in building the play or to help in defense. 
- Passing directness: short. If you want to be even more patient you could even choose much shorter but I think it is not what Spalletti does. 
- Tempo: higher. Napoli is a very physical team with great dynamism so they can stand to play the whole game with a higher tempo, continuous pressing and launching fast counter-attacks with Osimhen and the two wingers. 
- Work the ball into the box: Napoli breaks through the opposing defensive line to score primarily with shots from inside the box by the attacking wingers following the passing combinations mentioned earlier with the central midfielder or full-back. 
- Crosses: Low. Well, I think low crosses work the best in this game, but of course if you test this tactic with a team where you have a tall forward who is strong at heading and jumping but maybe not very technical, you can choose whipped or floated crosses too.

2) TRANSITION PHASE
- Counter-press: when Napoli loses possession, they immediately reapply pressure to the ball carrier to regain possession quickly. They create density around the ball to recover it as soon as possible. 
- Counter: as we said, Napoli is very dangerous with counter-attack thanks to players like Osimhen, unstoppable in wider spaces, Anguissa, with his fast progressions and Kvara. 
- Take short kicks and distribute to center backs: this helps to build from defense

3) OUT OF POSSESSION PHASE
- High press and higher defensive line: as explained in the analysis above, Napoli uses pressing as first defense, depending on the ball's location, one of the central defenders aggressively engages the forward, even if they drop back into their own half when the game develops centrally. When the play develops on the flank, it's the full-back who aggressively marks the opposing attacking midfielder between the lines, disrupting their passing options to prevent them from turning or thinking. The primary goal is not to put the attackers or attacking midfielders in situations to exploit the speed advantage in a one-on-one situation.
- Trigger press: more often
- Prevent short GK distribution: even if on Football Manager it’s better to use this instruction when you play with 2 forwards, in Napoli Osimhen is the first one to start the pressing so he can do this too.
- Step up more: this is the same instruction of use offside trap on FM 22.

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Let’s now examine each player’s role and instructions. 
Napoli starting XI in season 2022-2023 was the following: 
Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim Min Jae, Mario Rui, Lobotka, Anguissa, Zielinski, Politano, Kvaraskhelia, Osimhen. 
So, let’s see each player’s role and instructions
Meret: sweeper-keeper on defend: take fewer risks.
Di Lorenzo: full-back on support: pass it shorter, cut inside with the ball, shoot less often, close down more. Both when he plays for Napoli side or for Italy national team side, Giovanni Di Lorenzo is often cutting inside and helping to buy the play, like a midfielder. If you take this aspect into consideration, you may think to choose the inverted wing-back role to emulate his position on Football Manager. But Di Lorenzo also moves forward and exploits the right flank in wider areas and crosses the ball in the box, so he has double tasks. This is why I chose the full-back on support role for him, because this role on Football Manager can be modified more compared to the inverted or complete wing-back. I gave him the instruction to cut inside with the ball to emulate Di Lorenzo’s movement. 
Rrahmani: central defender-defend: close down less, take fewer risks, mark tighter.  Rrahmani does not move forward as often as Kim does, he is a typical central defender who marks the opponent and covers the spaces behind Kim. I recently found that the best instructions for a central defender who only cares about defending are those I chose for him in this tactic. 
Kim Min-Jae: ball-playing defender on defend: pass it shorter, dribble more, mark tighter, pass it shorter. Why did I select “dribble more”? Because I want to emulate Kim’s forward moves, and this is possible also without using a Libero role. In my save with Napoli, Natan who has been chosen by Napoli to replace Kim plays in this role and often you will see he moves forward even in the opponent half with the ball too. 
Mario Rui: wing-back-support: pass it shorter, mark tighther, close down more. Mario Rui often overlaps and crosses the ball into the box, the wing-back role has the “get further forward” instruction already active, this combined with the “overlap left” team instruction will provide the right amount of forward moves and crosses that Mario Rui does in reality. 
Therefore, we don’t need to set him on attack duty, and the support duty helps to maintain the tactic balance. 
Lobotka: Regista-support: pass it shorter, dribble less. Stanislav Lobotka is the core of Napoli’s play and as mentioned above, when Lobotka is man-marked, Napoli's game struggles, leading to fewer vertical passes in the final phase and making the build-up more predictable. To help to solve this problem, I instructed Lobotka to dribble less and pass shorter to his closest teammate, to avoid mistakes in dangerous spots. 
I  could have chose a deep-lying playmaker role on support or on defend for him but I think the regista role is more realistic because it replicates Lobotka’s moves and aggressive game approach, his dynamism and also his vertical passes. To avoid him trying vertical/risky passes too much, I instructed him to pass it shorter, this way he will be a little more cautious. 
Zambo-Anguissa: Box to box midfielder- support: pass it shorter, get further forward, move into channels, close down more, mark together. As everybody knows, in Football Manager, the box to box midfielder can be set only on support duty. To replicate Anguissa’s role, I instructed him to get further forward and move into channels because thanks to his progression, Napoli has great speed and the ability to switch the game rapidly. Besides, Anguissa is very important also in the finalization phase, being one of the recipients of the crosses from the full-backs. 
Zielinski: mezzala-attack: close down more, mark tighter, pass it shorter, dribble more. Zielinski’s role is maybe one of the most difficult to replicate, for me, mezzala with an attacking duty is the best choice. Zielinski, who alternates between receiving the ball between the lines and delivering vertical passes to the striker or attacking winger and moving to the flank for tight exchanges and triangular passing with the attacking winger and the full-back who advances, is the key player in the final pass phase. 
I instructed him to dribble more to replicate his forwards moves and I set him on attack because I want him to move forward to the box, and this combined with the preset instructions “move into channels”, “take more risks”, “get further forward” and “roam from position”will make our Zielinski be a real threat for the opponent defense.
Politano: Inside forward-support: pass it shorter. Politano plays in a more conservative-defensive way compared to his left teammate Kvara. Instead of a winger role, an inside forward role allows Politano to maximize his ability to cut into the space behind the defense, and also try crosses and shots when there is a chance. 
Kvaratskhelia: Inverted winger- attack: pass it shorter, close down more, mark tighter, roam from position, shoot more often. Kvara’s debut in Serie A was a great surprise for many people but not for Napoli team manager Cristiano Giuntoli and his scouts who already knew his ability some years ago. Some journalists even compared him to Lionel Messi, but this is another story. Anyway, Kvara ‘s goal against Atalanta in Serie A 2022-23 when he dribbled past all the defenders before scoring was more similar to what Diego Maradona did. But as we saw in the second half of the season, after Italian defenders started to understand how to mark and stop him, Kvara did not score any more, even if he still contributed a lot with assists to the team's success. I don’t want to downplay his skills, but there is a bad trend going on for a long time, especially after social networks appeared, to overhype young players by comparing them to football legends.  I am totally against this trend, even if I am happy to see new wonderkids coming out, but I think after 10 and more years dominated by Messi and CR7, the level of football has flattened. 
I set Kvara as an inverted winger on attack and instructed him to shoot more often and roam from position to give him all the freedom of movement and shooting he needs because he was the key player in Spalletti’s Napoli, the real technical leader of the team, most offensive actions run through him. He has an impressive ability to beat opponents and remarkable dribbling skills. 
Osimhen: advanced forward-attack: pass it shorter, close down more, mark tighter. 
Thanks to his incredible progression, in open spaces Osimhen becomes unstoppable and Napoli can launch fast counter-attacks with a vertical pass to him. Napoli typically regains possession in their own final third and immediately looks for a vertical pass to Osimhen, who, in open space, becomes unstoppable and can go straight for goal. Besides, he can score also thanks to crosses from the wing-backs, he is great both in shooting and heading. He is definitely an advanced forward and I instructed him to close down more and mark tighter because he must be the first to start pressing the opponent’s defense.

This is all for my tactic analysis. I hope this tactic works for you too.
In my 2022-23 season with Napoli I won the treble, scored in Serie A 126 goals and conceded only 29 being the best attack and best defense. Osimhen is the best striker with 60 goals in 36 apps in Serie A and 71 goals overall including also Italian Cup and Champions League.