Houdini act in Venice leaves Massimiliano Allegri searching for an escape at Napoli | Nicky Bandini

“I’ll love you even if you win,” promised the Venezia supporter’s banner. More gallows humour from a fanbase that proved long ago that its relationship with the club could survive a defeat. They had endured six already in the first six rounds of this Serie A season: the only team in the division without a win or even a single point.

The last time they were in Serie A, in 2024-25, Venezia finished 19th. The time before that, in 2021-22, they finished bottom. Deja vu all over again? A 3-1 defeat by Atalanta in the first game back after this month’s international break pushed Venezia to breaking point. The club fired the manager Giovanni Stroppa, who had led them to the Serie B title and promotion the previous season.

His replacement, Davide Nicola, is a renowned survival specialist, though his most recent appointment at Cremonese ended with his dismissal last March, when the team were 18th. If Venice’s Lagoon has a deep end, then Nicola was thrown into it, beginning this latest job at home to last season’s runners-up, Napoli.

But a man whose past relegation escapes have drawn comparison with Harry Houdini could hardly be afraid of the water. Nicola’s first Venezia team sat in a patient low block, refusing to be drawn out. And when an opportunity was casually presented to them at the start of the second half, they took it.

A long punt down the left by Simon Sohm took a kind bounce off the head of the Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani, who lost track of it in the air. Venezia’s Akor Adams took a touch to his right before striking back across his body from the edge of the area, wrongfooting Napoli’s goalkeeper Alex Meret.

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Stung to life, Napoli introduced Kevin De Bruyne, Alisson Santos and Rasmus Højlund from the bench. None of them could find a way past the Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic, who saved a penalty from De Bruyne and made a sensational one-handed stop from Stanislav Lobotka before denying Alisson in the 90th minute as well. The game ended 1-0, Venezia’s first win of the campaign.

A dream start for Nicola and a result that left some people wondering whether this could be the beginning of the end for Napoli’s manager, Massimiliano Allegri. Appointed to replace Antonio Conte in the summer, he has presided over five defeats in nine games.

Losses to Inter and Como might, in isolation, be excused. The failure to pick up any points at home to Arsenal or away to Villarreal in the Champions League group stage has put qualification for the knockouts at risk, but Conte also fell short on that front. The big picture takes on a different complexion, however, when you follow all that up by losing to pointless opponents.

We can say Napoli were unfortunate against Venezia. They created more than enough chances to score. Stankovic was inspired, and Juan Jesus made a brilliant last-ditch tackle to stop Højlund from prodding the ball into an empty net moments after the forward’s introduction as well.

It is also true that Allegri’s substitutions changed the game. De Bruyne initiated that chance for Højlund, pinching the ball form Ridgeciano Haps in midfield and feeding Alisson, whose excellent cross took Stankovic out of the picture. Why, though, had all these players been on the bench to begin with? Were Napoli presumptuous to think they could beat Venezia without their standout creative talent, their first-choice centre-forward and one of their most able dribblers?

Any team competing in Europe must make tough decisions about squad rotation. In Allegri’s case, though, it is hard to ignore the context of his appointment.

Conte quit Napoli last summer, walking away from a well-paid third year on his contract, because his assessment of the playing squad diverged from that of the owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis. The Partenopei spent more than €150m between 2025 and 2026’s summer and winter transfer windows, bringing in the likes of Lorenzo Lucca up front, Sam Beukema at centre-back and Noa Lang on the wing.

A further €60m was committed to making Højlund and Alisson’s initial loan signings permanent this summer. For De Laurentiis, this was enough.

The choice of Conte’s successor followed this same line of thought. Allegri has embraced his reputation in Italy as an “aziendalista” – a company man. At his introductory press conference, he said “that word, to me, is a compliment”, and stressed his belief in the strength of the existing squad.

He has backed those words with actions. Napoli have used 23 players already this Serie A season. Lucca, who started against Venezia, is almost halfway already to his total minutes from last season. Lang, who was sent on loan to Galatasaray in January after clashing with Conte, is back in the fold and scored in a recent win over Frosinone.

But what if Conte was correct in his assessments all along? Lucca is yet to score and struggled to make any impact on Saturday. Lang, an unused sub against Venezia, was seen being chastised by teammate Frank Anguissa on the sideline, reportedly for cutting short a warm-up after Allegri opted to send Alisson on before him.

One area in which the new manager was widely thought to have improved on his predecessor was in the handling of De Bruyne. It was no secret that the Belgian did not see eye to eye with Conte.

Frosinone 4-2 Sassuolo, Venezia 1-0 Napoli, Bologna 1-3 Inter, Roma 2-0 Genoa, Udinese 0-3 Lecce, Fiorentina 1-3 Como, AC Milan 3-2 Atalanta, Juventus 0-3 Lazio

Monday: Parma v Torino, Monza v Cagliari

In an interview with Il Corriere dello Sport this month, De Bruyne described Allegri as “a little bit more relaxed, a bit more informal, and from what I’ve seen he takes more care of the personal connection with the players.” During Napoli’s games this season the manager has several times been observed conversing with De Bruyne, strengthening the impression that the two were forming a strong working relationship.

During the defeat by Villarreal, however, De Bruyne appeared to resist Allegri’s instructions to drop into midfield and make space for Scott McTominay to get forward, both men gesturing frustratedly in opposite directions. Allegri played the incident off as a result of their language barrier. But there is little indication yet of De Bruyne warming to his manager’s publicly stated belief that he might extend his career by reinventing himself as a deep-lying creator.

These situations do not appear yet to be at breaking point. De Laurentiis will know he is unlikely to find another manager of such experience with such willingness to toe the line. Allegri has bitten his lip thus far about the fact that the one player he did request this summer – Gabriel Jesus, available at a relatively modest price tag – is averaging better than one goal for every 60 minutes at Barcelona.

Perhaps the pressure was even alleviated in some small way by Lazio thrashing Juventus 3-0 on Sunday night, transferring the media’s attention to another former Scudetto-winning manager struggling at one of Italy’s biggest clubs.

Luciano Spalletti, a year into his project at Juventus, may well be on thinner ice. The Bianconeri are a point worse off than they were after seven games last season under Igor Tudor, who was sacked after losing the eighth (by coincidence also against Lazio).

These are separate stories, each with its own dynamics, but as two of four current Serie A managers who have won the competition previously, it is inevitable that parallels will be drawn and questions asked about whether each of Allegri or Spalletti still know how to deliver results. That conversation might extend to Maurizio Sarri, too, who has lost four of his first seven with Atalanta.

The Venezia supporter with the sign may love their club come what may. For football managers, wherever they work, such affection is rarely unconditional.

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Inter Milan 7 12 19 2 Lazio 7 10 19 3 Roma 7 13 17 4 AC Milan 7 7 15 5 Como 7 5 14 6 Cagliari 6 3 13 7 Frosinone 7 4 13 8 Juventus 7 1 11 9 Napoli 7 3 10 10 Atalanta 7 -1 9 11 Lecce 7 -3 9 12 Sassuolo 7 -2 8 13 Torino 6 -2 7 14 Bologna 7 -4 5 15 Monza 6 -6 4 16 Parma 6 -6 4 17 Udinese 7 -7 4 18 Genoa 7 -8 4 19 Fiorentina 7 -9 4 20 Venezia 7 -10 3