It's been around 15 months that I've been in Top100, managing Napoli all along. I think struggling is the best word to describe my adventure here at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, as I couldn't avoid relegation in my second season. Not bad though, considering we are constantly predicted to be relegation favorites anyway...

At first, I had a bad squad in terms of ability compared to the rest of the division and even I couldn't play the tactics I'd been using. I usually played with a back 3, but only had 2 85+ CBs. And on top of that, CBs are a hot commodity in Top100. So, a change of tactic was required... I was lucky enough to stay in division 3 in my first season with that condition.

Then, how about the potential? I had absolutely no idea. I had never heard of many players in my squad, and if I'm not wrong, youth players were rare. So I just sold some of them to make space and sometimes got critics. I remember once I sold Miles Robinson (he was 82), later Man City bought him, and the manager criticized how a player with potential like Miles could've sold to an external. Well, Miles is still 85 though, but still, it hit me as I always buy U21 players when considering potential, and that's too difficult to find in Top100...

After experiencing that, I changed my approach and kept experimenting, especially in transfer. Sometimes I sacrifice potential youths to improve my squads, such as Valentine Gomez, and Vitor Roque. Sometimes I kind of overpay for a player who I rated high potentially like Salih Ozcan. Is it paid off? Well, haven't, as I could have done many deals just lately. But in my opinion, compared to the squad I inherited, my current squad has improved in terms of stability and potential.

Currently, we have covered all positions with 87+ players with only 1 player over 30 years old. Besides, with the current squad, we could compete in a youth cup, despite losing in the group stage. We are also in the race for promotion for next season as we are just one point away from the playoff zone, if it's not because of Perin's curse (3W and 7L while he playing) we should have in a higher position. After the disappointment from last season, hope we could make it this time and take Napoli to the place it should be.

Despite Napoli being relegated to the fourth division last season, Napoli's board still trusted Anew Dayo to continue his stint in Naples. He was given a three-year contract with high expectations, to finish in the Top 14 for this season, Top 12 for next season, and Top 10 for the third season. In addition to that, Napoli was predicted to be relegated (again?) by mistertrex's "Division 4 Season 18 Stats and Facts" blogpost.

And after 28 matches, what happens? Currently, Napoli is in the FIFTH place, fighting for promotion back to the third division! With only three points difference from third place, winning the automatic promotion is still within our reach. And on top of that, we have done that despite having some of our regular players decrease in rating.

Anomaly? Maybe… But, I think we have a thing stranger than our position. That is our performance against the current top 4. After the last match against Lille, we have already faced 4 teams above us, teams which I think have been there for a while. In our first legs, we have a record 1W 2D 1L against them. Superb for a team predicted for relegation, and what about the second legs? We beat them all! All by one-goal margins though, but still, that's mad (at least for me lol).

Confidence is high at the moment. With ten more games to go, we hope we could get freedom from the contract by finishing Top 10 or even get a promotion.

Greetings all. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Aqil a.k.a Anew Dayo in SM. I'm here as the new manager of SSC Napoli, having previously been the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in Top 120. A big challenge here at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but I'm determined to develop the squad and keep it competitive.

The previous manager was doing a good job here despite the squad, in my opinion, being a bit below average in the division. Napoli won their first 5 league games under him and even guided them to the Shield's quarterfinal. I'm keen to continue the momentum, but I would need to adjust the squad a bit to suit my system.

The current squad has many good attacking players, on the contrary, the defensive side is lacking in quality despite the quantity. Because of that, strengthening the defensive side will be my priority. Knowing what Top 100 is, I need to be careful about our transfer management, unlike how I usually do in other game worlds (reckless and about 90% squad change in the 1st season, lol). Besides that, finding good youngsters is also on the list. It'll be hard in a game world like Top 100, but I am optimistic I could build Napoli on that.

Managing such a big club in a big game world is a big opportunity and also a big challenge for me. Hope I'll do well here, good luck to me (and to all). #ForzaNapoliSempre

Napoli have today signed serbian teenage star Stefan Tomovic.

He is one we've been monitoring for a while along with three or four others. We had a space open up, so now was the right time to make a move. He is playing top flight football in serbia and had a good eye for a goal from an advanced midfield role. He is only 19 so has lots of potential to become a very good player for this club and has been bought very much for the future. We've quite a few interesting youngsters now and are looking to add a couple more in the next couple of weeks as we free up squad places"

Napoli continue to defy their early season odds as they pulled of a another memorable win this time against one of the pre season favourites West Brom. Napoli had to do without in the influential pair of Nastasic and Moutinho, but dug in hard. Vidal came up with the winner with an expertly taken freekick, to move Mullans men up to second.

"6 wins from 7 is an excellent return, add to that our one defeat was against the league leaders and we've got to be pleased. Defensively we are doing well once again this season, whilst we are finding ways to score and spread the goals amongst the team. I'm mindful Bamford is due to depart, but we've not been reliant on him. Its still very early days, and we had a great start last season, so we are not getting too carried away. We've beat some great teams so far, so that gives us some great confidence that we can mix it up with the better teams in division 3. We put these points on the board and look to Thursday now and trying to add to them"

Napoli tonight host Zagreb as an early season of first versus second in division 3. Both sides have started the season in fine form and remain unbeaten. Napoli have no fresh injury or suspension concerns having rested their first team for the cup earlier in the week, whilst Moutinho and Matic are back in contention having missed Sundays win against Dnipro.

Zagreb have been freescoring during the opening 5 matches with Jiminez and Kramaric amongst the goals. Rongier who was a target for Napoli over the close season has also hit the ground running producing 4 assist in 5 games, and will be looking to pull the strings again. Last season the two clubs helped themselves to a win a piece in this fixture, so are quite evenly matched.

"its going to be an interesting game, we've only 8 players out of 50 not on transfer bans, which shows how much we are in transition. Zagreb have a very settled squad, and some top players for this level. We are thrilled with the start we've made and are on a 10 match unbeaten league run, with 6 straight wins. However we are not getting carried away. Bamford is our top scorer but is serving his last few days of his transfer ban before heading to Partizan. We will need to fill that void once he goes, with goals from the likes of Wood, Negredo ,Stindl and the incoming Vinicius.

We are still struggling at centre back with Nastacic still out, and have Doucoure in on an emergency loan. He will go back after tonights game to free up that squad slot.

Patrick Bamford may have agreed to join Partizan with that move set to be completed this weekend, but thats not stopped him bagging four goals in four games as Napoli beat Dnipro 1-0, to now stand alone in division 3 with a 100% start with 5 wins from 5. This see's the fallen Italian giants top of the table.

Its been a summer of change, with experienced heads, Moutinho, Vidal and Matic joining to give midfield a solid look, however 2 of the 3 missed the win against Dnipro due to fitness, which is testament to how far Napoli have come. The last few seasons its been a steep decline, and Manager Mullan has had a mammoth task to try and halt the slide. However the future is already looking brighter this season, despite it only being early days.

"We expected a period of transition for the first half of the season, our starting line up has 9 different players than the line up that ended last season. We've looked to build on last season which was very much a season of steadying the ship. We wanted to be hard to beat, and those foundations were built on being solid at the back. By having one of the divisions tightest defences we finished the season in a credible 12th. This season our focus is on trying to score more goals. We only found the net 33 times in 38 games last season, but already in the 5 games this season we have hit 10 goals, nearly a third of last seasons total. Bamford has been a big part of that scoring 40% of them. We have some options once he moves on with Stindl, Woods, Negredo and Vinicious looking to fight it out to lead the line. I will be looking for a couple of these to step up to plate to produce goals consistently. Its important the midfield also chip in, Costa and Moutinho are both off the mark, and thats a good sign"

"Defence is a slight concern, Nastacic is out for 6 games, and i dont think we can afford injuries in defence as statistically rating wise its one of the lowest in the division. We have brought Doucoure in on a short term loan, but he is only here for a couple of games as his parent club wants to use him in the youth cup. Bayern agreeing to loan us Foyth for the season, then selling him, has caused us a few issues. Lots of our transfer business was geared around him being here, so I was quite annoyed when that happened. We would of possibly not sold a couple of players had we known that a deal struck can be changed once agreed with no punishment. We live and learn, but on the whole I'm really pleased where we currently are at. I dont think we are playing at anymore than at 60% potential, which sets us up for an exciting season as we improve with continuity of squad"

Napoli tonight face Basel looking to keep their unbeaten start to season 16 in tack. In whats been a surprise turn around of fortune in some quarters, manager Mullan thinks the best is yet to come.

"Am I surprised by the start? No is the simple answer, we've improved by the week since I joined and we've had a really good summer in terms of our transfer business. I expect our best form to come in the second half of the season, once this group settles. Its been wholesale changes and it takes time to gel. We set a 15 point target from the first 10 games, and we've got 9 from the first 3 games, which is an excellent return. We have weaknesses in the certain areas, but we also have big strengths too, in particular in midfield. On our day, i believe we are match for anyone in this division. Last season we beat the teams that went up, were solid defensively, but struggled to score goals. Its the consistency we seek now, as does most teams. We've another tough game tonight against Basel. They have'nt started the season well, so we need to ensure their season does not start tonight against us. We will continue we our squad rotation policy, and will no doubt make 3 or 4 changes tonight from the side that beat Flamengo. I want to keep it fresh, I want us to be non predictable and I want to show my wealth of experience in building successful teams. I've won trophies and promotions at every team I've ever managed in the last 12 years. Sometimes I will do transfer deals others don't agree with, which appear i'm giving far more away than i'm getting. However there is always a plan and method behind such decisions. Its about winning games and trophies, for me, and not having a collection of stars or young talent which has the promise, but wins nothing. You can build the greatest squad ever, but if you have no silverware to show for it, in the end you've failed. Success has and always will be measured by results and achievements in my opinion. Napoli are coming back from some drastic management from previous managers. The squad I inherited was amongst the worse i've ever had. No youth set up, all the star players sold, literally no tradeable assets, yet playing in division 1 with a division 4 squad. No one wanted this job, it was a mammoth task, and still is. However little shoots of hope are appearing, we are on an 8 match unbeaten run, we've some really good players now who can do a job in division 3. We've 3 or 4 youth players with big futures, and the gap in ratings across 40 or so players is not a big gulf which allows us to rotate, but also creates good competition for places. We were given odds of 28-1 for promotion which is fair given how far this club has fallen, however regardless of others ruling us out, or failing to recognise the job being done here, I have strong belief in this squad. Its going to be tough, but my target is that top 6 and an opportunity of trying to get promoted this season. Our start has given us a great platform, we need to take each game as it comes and try and improve or learn from the last game. There are some excellent teams and managers in division 3, but we are up for the fight. No one is going to get an easy 3 points at Napoli this season. They need to be up for a scrap, and they need to earn it. Yes, we will lose games we should win, and win games perhaps we should lose, however we will go into every game with no fear and with the sole purpose of trying to win that match"

Napoli today beat off stiff competition to land Brazilian teenager Alencar Marquinhos. The young starlet already has Brazilian top division experience having featured for Sao Paulo both last season and also at the start of this season. He is highly rated in his native brazil and can play in that number 10 role supporting the main striker.

"When these new players come available, its a lottery with at times 30-40 clubs all chasing the signature. We've been patient with new players over the summer and waited for the right ones before we bid, but even then you only have a small percentage chance of securing the player. I'm delighted to bag Marquinhos, He is already making the right noises in Brazil at a big club, getting minutes on the pitch and has the perfect profile to improve and become a big player. Like with any young player, the potential is there, however that potential brings no guarantee's. He has only just turned 18 a couple of months ago, and this season in particular in Brazil will go a long way in seeing if he is the latest breakthrough star for the South American's. Here at Napoli, we let a few of our star youngsters go over the close season, to aid us in bringing some players who could impact the first team this season. It was always our intention to monitor the market this season, to see who came in and filled the void their exits created. Marquinhos fits that profile, and joins the likes of Clarkson, Arriagada, Burch, Mitoglou, Khadra and Joseph as prospects we believe will improve to the levels which has them impacting our first team squad. Its been the best transfer window we've had since I arrived, with us securing players for now and the future, which has ultimately seen us start the season in excellent form with 2 wins from 2"

Napoli started life without Rajkovic, with a 2-1 win against newly relegated Hamburg. Moutinho who was suspended for the Italian sides opener, came in for his debut and took 2 minutes to bag his first goal for the club with a trademark freekick. It was end to end stuff then, before Alario was sent off for Hamburg. However that spurned the Germans on who equalised through Sanchez. With the game heading for a draw, Vidal picked out Bamford who sent the travelling support wild with a fantastic winner in the last minute.

"its been a great start, and that was a big test for us against a side who have come down. We have taken last seasons great run towards the end into the new campaign and the team is currently bouncing with confidence. I've always said you won't see the best of us until the second half of the season, so to get 6 points from 6 on the board at the start is more than we could of possibly imagined. In Moutinho and Vidal we have 2 little magician's, despite their age who can unlock doors. They are key for us this season. We've another tough game next against Flamengo who are one of the favourites for promotion. They've started the season well also, so we will need to be at our very best if we are to get something from the game"