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

It was a weird and wet day for Napoli, as the players struggled through the first half on a rain-soaked pitch in Rome against Lazio, but rose to the occasion to take control of the match in the second half. Who was the best player to lead Napoli's resurgence?

Starters

Mariano Andujar - 6 - Mixed bag from Andujar. Had a couple very impressive saves, but his distribution was dreadful and he horribly misplayed Lazio's goal. The way he was set up, he was playing for a shot from Felipe all the way, but was absolutely helpless to anything from Klose, who was by far the greater threat on the sequence. The only reason he even came close to saving the shot is that Klose for some reason shot straight at Andujar instead of at the two-thirds or so of the goal that was wide open to him.

Giandomenico Mesto - 4 - It's hard to blame Mesto for looking poor because Felipe Anderson was always a terrible mismatch for him, but -- woof. That was ugly. Felipe spanked him over and over all match long.

Raul Albiol - 5 - Really struggled with Klose in the first half and didn't really do better in the second until Klose was beat up and worn down. His tackle that sparked the testosterone standoff in the second half was pretty ugly and dumb, too.

Miguel Britos - 6 - Really went back and forth a lot on how to rate Britos for this match. Had some really impressive blocks and moments in defense, but wow was he bad on the goal and the tackle that earned him a yellow card was really stupid and unnecessary. Still, the good mostly outweighed the bad. Kind of. He was really bad on the goal, you guys. Cutting off the outside lane for Klose's run doesn't mean jack when Albiol isn't stopping him from cutting in on goal and Felipe is running behind you unopposed, but Britos never bothered to check over his shoulder or anything to make sure he wasn't being stupid, which he was. That's pretty bad.

Faouzi Ghoulam - 7 - Struggled in attack in the first half, but mostly did well as an outlet and driving the counter in the second. Except for a couple moments in the first half, also did a really good job keeping Candreva contained, which is never easy.

David Lopez - 6.5 - Struggled badly at times in the first half, but his massive improvement in the second helped drive Napoli's performance. Locked down the defensive midfield area and did an excellent job supporting the attack. His performance in the second half earns him at least a seven, but you can't overlook how poor he was in the first half, hence the half-point scoring that's unusual in these ratings.

Gokhan Inler - 4 - Got whipped by Parolo in the first half, and was mostly a non-entity in the second.

Manolo Gabbiadini - 8 - Was Napoli's most dangerous attacker in the first half, and scored their goal thanks to an intelligent supporting run. Didn't do a ton on the ball in the second half, but his runs opened up a lot of space for others to exploit.

Jonathan de Guzman - 3 - Look. It seems like de Guzman is a nice dude. Good teammate. Hard worker. He's got talent. We know that, because we've seen it. But he stinks right now, and he was as bad in this match as he's ever been. He needs to stop starting and dealing with so much pressure, because it's making him worse. It's not a coincidence that as soon as Napoli's buildup started bypassing him in the second half, they got a lot better. That's happened before when he's started at the tip of midfield. Maybe that should be a sign for Rafa to stop relying on him so much.

Dries Mertens - 7 - Pretty quiet in the first half but not bad when he was able to make things happen. Blossomed in the second half -- something a little unusual for Dries -- and his upfield pass to spring Higuain created Napoli's goal even if he doesn't get an assist for it. Struggled some trying to mark Basta when Lazio were in possession, but this was a very nice all-round performance from Mertens.

Gonzalo Higuain - 7 - Worked hard all match long, frequently dropping back well in to midfield to pick up the ball and try to make crap happen in the first half. In the second, he stayed higher, but used his runs to disrupt the back line on counter attacks, helping keep Lazio off balance.

Substitutes

Jose Callejon - 6 - Wasn't terribly involved in terms of on-ball work, but did use his pace effectively to help create opportunities for Napoli.

Kalidou Koulibaly - 6 - Forced on to the pitch by Britos' injury, Koulibaly did good work to help stabilize a back line that was showing signs of strain before his introduction. It probably helps that Albiol seems to play better with the Frenchman as his partner rather than Britos.

Marek Hamsik - n/a - The match was starting to wind down around when Marek came on. Only saw very limited time on the ball, so can't really assess what he did with any real meaning.

★★★

Who was your Napoli man of the match against Lazio? Vote in the poll below and discuss the performances in the comments!