Former Napoli defender Ghoulam demands more from attacking players

Former Napoli defender Faouzi Ghoulam believes the attacking players in the side must have a bigger impact on the pitch.

Antonio Conte's side were held to a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, off the back of a 0-0 affair against Como in the league.

Napoli head into the final weekend ahead of the November international break top of Serie A, but could drop as low as fourth by the end of the weekend depending on other results.

Ghoulam has encouraged the attacking players, such as Noa Lang, to build on the standards set by Frank Anguissa and Scott McTominay.

"Anguissa played a great game; he was definitely Napoli's best player. He and McTominay were the most dangerous," said Ghoulam after Napoli's draw against Frankfurt.

"They are two midfielders, so strikers clearly didn't do well enough. We spoke about Lang's impact from the bench, but it wasn't enough, especially at the Maradona.

"Napoli kept a low rhythm, which suited Eintracht just fine. They started wasting time with their goalkeeper at minute 30.

"They [Frankfurt] had lost 5-1 in both of their latest matches. It makes sense that they tried to defend more, but for Napoli and their ambitions, they have to create more."

Bologna are currently sixth in Serie A and have not lost in the league since a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan on September 14.

They are also unbeaten in their last nine matches in all competitions, but have drawn three of their last four in all competitions.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bologna – Santiago Castro

Santiago Castro has scored three goals in his last three Serie A appearances, the same number of goals he scored in his previous 22 matches in the competition.

Among players in the top five European leagues who have scored more than 10 goals since the start of last season, only Lamine Yamal (born 2007) and Lucas Stassin (November 2004) are younger than the Rossoblu striker (September 2004 – 12 goals in that period).

Napoli – Vanja Milinkovic-Savic

Since the start of last season, no goalkeeper in Europe's top five leagues has saved more penalties than Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (six out of 10 faced) – equal with Nikola Vasilj.

The Serbian goalkeeper has prevented 11.8 goals in the period according to the expected goals value, calculated on the quality of the shots he has faced, and only Yehvann Diouf (18.5) and Yahia Fofana (13.1) have a higher figure in the top five leagues.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Napoli have won only one of their last five Serie A meetings against Bologna (D3 L1), after winning all five of the previous such matches.

Indeed, three of the last five Serie A matches between these two teams have ended in a draw (one win each), as many as in their previous 25 top-flight encounters.

And Bologna have drawn their last three home games against Napoli in Serie A and have only once managed at least four draws at home against the Partenopei in the competition, between 1978 and 1989 (a run of six).

Bologna have earned 18 points after their first 10 Serie A games of the season, equalling their second-best start in the three-point-for-a-win era at this stage of the competition (18 also in 2002-03).

Napoli have lost two of their five away games in Serie A this season (W3), equalling their total away defeats from the entire 2024-25 Serie A campaign, though they have kept five clean sheets across their last eight away league matches.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Bologna – 32.5%

Draw – 29.9%

Napoli – 37.6%