Napoli go back to the future with Walter Mazzarri 'plot twist' - but where did it all go wrong for Rudi Garcia?

Driving through the gates of Napoli’s Castel Volturno training ground for the first time in a decade, Walter Mazzarri was asked how he felt.

“Tired. I haven’t slept in days,” replied the 62-year-old.

No wonder. Mazzarri’s to-do list in Naples is long and intimidating enough to keep the most hardened of coaches awake at night.

The most pressing item is a simple one; to make this side look like one that deserves to wear the Scudetto crest - the mark of the reigning Italian champions - on the shirt.

Mazzarri arrives to little fanfare and with a fanbase, media and wider public to convince that he is the right man for the job and not simply in the right place at the right time.

So how did we get here?

There is a sense of deja vu to the underwhelming nature of Mazzarri’s appointment, as the reaction was much the same when Garcia was named as Luciano Spalletti’s successor over the summer.

Spalletti dropped his mic and left the stage after leading the Partenopei to a first Scudetto since 1990. How could he improve on that?

Although he said he was “needing to rest” and planning to take some time off back home in Tuscany, Spalletti’s sabbatical ended up lasting only two months before he was unable to resist the temptation to lead Italy’s bid to defend their title at Euro 2024.

Napoli otherwise managed to keep their title-winning squad together - with the notable exception of Bayern Munich-bound Kim Min-jae - and started the season as one of the strongest contenders on paper.

It did not take long for Garcia’s leadership to come under scrutiny.

The Frenchman, who led Roma to second place twice from 2013-2015 but whose most recent job before Napoli ended in being sacked by Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr in April, came under fire for his team selection, tactics and man management as things quickly went off the rails in Naples.

Star men Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen both reacted angrily to being replaced during games and Garcia was not helped by the bizarre social media posts from Napoli that subsequently led to legal threats from Osimhen’s agent.

By week five, Napoli had slid to sixth, although Garcia managed to briefly steady the ship as Giacomo Raspadori fired the side through a period without the injured Osimhen to put them back in the top four.

But the doubts over the Frenchman never really went away and one damaging week in which they drew at home to a Union Berlin side on a 12-match losing run before key players Kvaratskhelia and Piotr Zielinski were benched in an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to relegation battlers Empoli, was enough to see club owner Aurelio De Laurentiis pull the trigger.

All along, a part of this story has been De Laurentiis’ apparent lack of options when it came to replacing Spalletti.

The Napoli owner hardly gave Garcia a ringing endorsement last week when he said that he had first spoken to Bologna’s Thiago Motta, who “didn’t want to take the risk” and PSG coach Luis Enrique, who “luckily went to France...he didn’t convince me.”

Antonio Conte was by far the most high-profile candidate available to make Napoli contenders again, but the former Juventus and Inter Milan title-winner took to Instagram to deny talks and express his desire “to stay out of the game and enjoy myself with my family,”, while former Verona and Marseille boss Igor Tudor did not convince De Laurentiis.

When Mazzarri was announced, the appointment was met largely with shock. After all, his most-recent spell at Cagliari ended in sacking at the end of 2021/22 as the Sardinians were relegated.

Gazzetta dello Sport proclaimed it a “big surprise”, Tuttosport described it as a “gamble” from the Napoli owner and Il Mattino called it a “plot twist” after the Tudor talks.

But Mazzarri's first spell at Napoli was a huge success. He built a side around the ‘three tenors’ of Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik that finished second in Serie A and won the Coppa Italia while playing swashbuckling football.

With seven months to show he can bring back the good old days, Mazzarri does have some high-profile names backing him.

“He’s an experienced coach who knows the environment well, having already worked there, and I think he can follow in Spalletti’s footsteps,” said Fabio Capello.

“But be careful, because the two of them have different ways of thinking about football.”

A decade on from Mazzarri's last stint, one of the biggest questions around his return is how he will set up a team that has been built to play 4-3-3 and achieved great success in that formation.

Mazzarri prefers to use three at the back, which means either he or his players will have to make a significant tactical adaptation from the off.

“[The appointment] is a reasonable decision if the first step was made by Mazzarri, telling the president that he will play with a 4-3-3,” said Sky Italy journalist Paolo Condo.

“Presidents can hire who they want but coaches must be left free to work.”

Mazzarri doesn’t have long to work things out. His second stint at Napoli begins away to Atalanta on Saturday, November 25 live on TNT Sports.

Following that, Mazzarri’s side have UEFA Champions League games against Real Madrid (A) and Braga (H) either side of clashes with the top two sides in Serie A, Inter (H) and Juventus (A).

Gulp. Although the international break will give him a chance to think, Mazzarri might not be catching up on that sleep he has missed any time soon.

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media