Torino 1, Napoli 0 Serie A match recap: Another opportunity wasted

That match pretty much sucked and there's really not a lot to be said about it, so we'll keep this one pretty brief.

Napoli had a must-win match, borne out of the fact that Roma and Juventus play each other tomorrow. The opportunity to pull even with Roma in the table couldn't be passed up, so one could have expected Napoli to come swinging out of the gate, trying to bag an early goal or three and put Torino on their heels.

Instead, they came out as flat as can be, and somehow only got flatter as the match went on. Almost the entire squad played like excrement the whole game, and Napoli paid the price for it.

The first half passed with boredom and frustration, with Torino creating most of the danger and Napoli reduced to mindlessly lumping the ball forward completely unproductively. The second half started much the same, with Torino freely having their way with Napoli and the partenopei drifting about unproductively.

Torino's goal came, predictably, from a corner, with Kalidou Koulibaly making an uncharacteristic mistake and the rest of the squad not really doing much of anything to stop Kamil Glik from scoring. The lack of effort was highlighted by Gonzalo Higuain aimlessly drifting across the area Glik fored through with no apparent intent to actually, you know, defend. Mariano Andujar made a hash of his attempt to save the shot, and oh look, Napoli were down 1-0.

Napoli's efforts to find an equalizer were scattered and ineffective, with players rarely getting in the box and lacking any kind of support when they did. The ball kept making its way to Jose Callejon despite the Spaniard being incredibly poor on the day, and the match ended with Napoli slumping their way to defeat.

The result was a disappointment, the performance brutally so. That was not encouraging, there was no silver lining, and the day lacked anything even remotely acceptable from Napoli or Rafa Benitez. That's two crap performances out of Napoli's last three league matches, a trend as concerning as it is problematic.

Torino: Padelli; Bovo, Glik, Moretti; Peres, Farnerud, Gazzi, El Kaddouri, Darmian; Martinez (Lopez 60'), Quagliarella

Goal: Glik 66'

Napoli: Andujar; Maggio (Zapata 83'), Albiol, Koulibaly, Strinic; Lopez, Gargano (Inler 73'); Callejon, Hamsik (Gabbiadini 61'), De Guzman; Higuain

Goals: none