'Fragile' Napoli still concerning Allegri despite Champions League win

Massimiliano Allegri conceded his Napoli team still caused him concerns despite getting their Champions League campaign up and running with a 4-3 win over Bodo/Glimt. 

After losses to Arsenal and Villarreal in their first two games, Scott McTominay's brace proved decisive at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Matteo Politano gave Napoli the dream start when he sensationally volleyed home after just 54 seconds, but Bodo hit back through Jens Petter Hauge in the 27th minute. 

Napoli went into the break ahead through McTominay, but Bodo pegged them back again when Andreas Helmersen beat Alex Meret.

But the hosts were able to get over the line as McTominay and then Odin Bjortuft's 88th-minute own goal rendered Sondre Fet's stoppage-time strike a consolation.

Napoli secured a win in the Champions League for the first time in five games (D1 L4), while they scored four goals in a European match for the first time since beating Ajax 4-2 in October 2022. 

Allegri has come under pressure early on in his Napoli tenure, and he acknowledged his team still looked "fragile".

"Naturally, the more quality players you have on the field, the better, but it's also true that results change your opinion," Allegri said, as quoted by Football Italia. 

"In Florence and Venice, we had scoring opportunities where we got the final pass wrong. The same was true against Inter and Como.

"What we absolutely must improve is the sense of fragility. When you are fragile, you don't attack or defend as effectively."

Napoli came into Tuesday's clash on the back of defeats to Villarreal and Venezia.

Bodo got the better of the expected goals (xG) battle, registering a total of 2.67 from their 15 shots compared to Napoli's tally of 1.53 from their 17 attempts, though eight of those did force Nikita Haikin into making a save. 

"We made a lot of mistakes at the start of the game, and it is never easy in the Champions League," Allegri added. 

"When we are close to the penalty area, we allow too many balls to get through easily, but this is work we must do with patience to read and intercept those passing channels, because that is what allows you to then go on the counter-attack."

One positive Allegri was keen to highlight was the performance of Kevin De Bruyne, who operated in a deep-lying midfield role alongside Frank Anguissa and McTominay. 

De Bruyne provided the assist for McTominay's first goal just before the break, while he also finished with team-high totals for chances created (seven) and passes in the final third (24), while only Rafa Marin (102) had more touches than the Belgian's 82 (level with Amir Rrahmani) for Napoli. 

"Kevin is an extraordinary player, I told him he's going to really enjoy himself playing in front of the defence," Allegri said of De Bruyne's position change. 

"We also needed to rest [Stanislav] Lobotka, who did well when he came off the bench.

"Anguissa played 60 minutes, but he was making his first start, so inevitably the defence dropped a little deeper too. McTominay scored two goals, but he is not the real Scott yet.

"Fortunately, we have a lot of games and can get everyone back to match fitness, but defending deep we still let the ball through too many times."