Napoli 3, Udinese 1: Player ratings and Man of the Match poll

It's always nice to deliver a good thumping to a bogey team, and Udinese obliged nicely by being, well, very bad today. Napoli's players almost universally did very well today, but who was the top performer?

Starters

Rafael Cabral - 5 - Normally I'm the first to jump up and defend Rafael, but he really, really should have done better on Thereau's goal. He was pretty solid otherwise, and certainly was a sight better than Karnezis on the other side of the pitch, but ... really not a great day thanks to that goal.

Christian Maggio - 6 - Didn't do badly, but you could definitely tell that his back was limiting him when he tried to get forward. Fortunately Pasquale didn't try to test Maggio's stiffness in defense too thoroughly.

Raul Albiol - 6 - Did a fair job containing Thereau for much of the match, but struggled with Aguirre later on when Udinese got somewhat more aggressive. Was a threat on set pieces, which was nice to see.

Miguel Britos - 5 - His slip up in marking helped lead to Udinese's goal, and he generally wasn't super-impressive. Not surprising, really. What is surprising is that Britos started with Kalidou Koulibaly healthy and available with no midweek fixture requiring rest.

Faouzi Ghoulam - 8 - We got us a left back arms race, y'all. As amazing as Ivan Strinic has been since Ghoulam left for AFCON is every bit as good as Ghoulam was today. He put the ever-dangerous Widmer in his pocket, and was a constant threat in attack. It was a very, very impressive showing from Ghoulam, and oh boy what a wonderful problem it is for Napoli to have two excellent left backs.

Walter Gargano - 5 - What is there to say that we haven't said a thousand times before? Poor in possession, sometimes too easy to bypass in defense, blah blah blah. Get well soon, Lopez.

Gokhan Inler - 6 - Hey, he wasn't entirely useless! Was passably decent in possession, Did a fair job slowing down Allan in defense, and ... well, he was still too eager to put his head down and thunder a shot way over the bar instead of passing in to the final third, but you just kind of expect that from Inler.

Manolo Gabbiadini - 8 - This signing is looking better and better every time he starts. Another goal, and an absolute beauty at that, and he was a constant threat and terror to Pasquale and Piris the entire time he was on the pitch. Might have been good for another goal if he had stayed on, but Rafa wanted to give Callejon minutes.

Marek Hamsik - 8 - Hi Marekearo. That was fun. Drove the attack extremely well and played several gorgeous combinations, two of which lead to goals. This was very much a Good Marek day, and it was a joy to watch him do his thing.

Dries Mertens - 7 - Scored a goal off a nice bit of interchange with Hamsik and Higuain and was a good piece in buildup play in the first half, but was more or less a non-entity in the second before being subbed off. Still, his overall game was much better than we've seen lately, so we'll take it.

Gonzalo Higuain - 6 - Pipita definitely wants a goal, but he's in one of his little snits of trying too damn hard to get it. Did better in supporting the attack today, though, so at least there's that. His work on set pieces also helped force the own goal that sealed the match in the second half, so hey, that's fun!

Substitutes

Jose Callejon - 6 - Used his energy and runs to help create opportunities for other Napoli attackers. Still not quite back to his best form from earlier this season, but he's certainly not "past it," as some Napoli fans are trying to suggest of late.

Jonathan De Guzman - 4 - How many sitters is De Guzman going to miss before he gets stapled to the bench?

Jorginho - 6 - Didn't have long on the pitch, but helped Napoli settle possession at a time that things were starting to look a little shaky. Please give him starts again, Rafa.

Who was your Napoli man of the match against Udinese? Vote in the poll below and talk about the performances in the comments!