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Napoli coach Antonio Conte was asked ahead of Saturday’s Serie A clash with Lecce whether he would watch Inter’s meeting with Juventus the following evening. “I never watch rivals play,” he claimed. However, after a 1-0 win at the Maradona that extended Napoli’s lead at the summit of Serie A, Conte had unsurprisingly changed his tune.
“I will definitely watch the Derby d’Italia,” he declared. “In fact, I will really enjoy it!” Conte didn’t just enjoy the game between two of his former clubs, though – he effectively won it. After the teams ranked second and third in Serie A essentially took it in turns to expose the other’s defensive frailties, an exhilarating encounter at San Siro finished 4-4, leaving the Partenopei four points clear of Inter at the top of the table, and five ahead of Juve.
As Alessandro Del Piero pointed out on Sky Sport Italia, the idea of Napoli challenging for the title under Conte was hardly outrageous, but the fact that they’re in such a strong position going into Tuesday’s meeting with AC Milan at the Giuseppe Meazza is astounding after such a calamitous start to the season…
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Getty Images‘Expected a better situation’
Conte has a history of falling out with his employers, and usually over money. He’s previously criticised the recruitment policy at Juventus, Chelsea, Inter and Tottenham. However, even by his standards, it was truly shocking to hear football’s most infamous transfer-market moaner kicking off after his very first league game in charge of Napoli.
“We melted like snow in the sun,” Conte confessed after an abysmal 3-0 loss at Verona on August 18. “What I feel like saying is that we should apologise to the Neapolitan supporters, who follow us with such passion. I am the coach and it is right that I take full responsibility.
“I humbly apologise because the second half was unacceptable. A performance that shows we need to work hard in every aspect. I came to Napoli with lots of enthusiasm, with great desire. If I can help Napoli, I will. But I expected a better situation. I expected more positive surprises, but I’ve struggled to find any.
“We are here to evaluate objectively with the club, knowing we cannot do everything at once and have to get there gradually. But I look at other teams who are consolidated and just making tweaks [to their squads in the transfer market].
“I won’t say we are at ‘Year Zero’, but we’re close. It doesn’t frighten me, but we must be clear [about where we’re at] so we know what we’re heading into. I don’t know how long it will take for Napoli to become competitive again. Whether it takes six months, 12, two years, I couldn’t say.”
Rather remarkably, it’s only taken a couple of months.
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Getty ImagesThe Osimhen issue
Conte knew as soon as he took over at the Maradona that star striker Victor Osimhen would be sold to the highest bidder. He’d no issue with that, particularly as he knew that Romelu Lukaku, with whom he had won the Scudetto at Inter, was desperate to join him in Naples.
The problem was, though, that Napoli couldn’t find a buyer for Osimhen. None of Europe’s elite wanted to sign the Nigerian – at least not for the nine-figure fee Partenopei president Aurelio De Laurentiis was demanding. Even when he lowered the asking price, to around €70 million (£58m/$75m), there were no takers.
In the end, Napoli were forced to loan Osimhen to Galatasaray, in the hope of a permanent home for the forward during the January transfer window. By the time of his September 4 transfer to Turkey, though, Napoli had already strengthened Conte’s squad. The Verona defeat had made it painfully clear that reinforcements were essential – even without the funds De Laurentiis had hoped to raise from offloading Osimhen.
Consequently, four players were signed in the final 10 days of the summer window: David Neres arrived from Benfica, Lukaku was signed from Chelsea, while Scotland duo Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour both joined on deadline day.
Neres made his debut as a late substitute on August 25 and set up a goal in a commanding 3-0 win over Bologna, while Lukaku hit a 92nd-winner against Parma the following weekend. Gilmour has worked his way into the starting line-up after taking a few weeks to get up to speed, but it is McTominay who has unquestionably made the biggest impact so far.
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Getty Images SportMcTominay’s immediate impact
McTominay polarised opinions at Old Trafford. Some Manchester United fans were glad to see the back of him – particularly for €30m (£25m/$32m) – but others lamented the loss of a player whose commitment could never be questioned.
At the Maradona, though, Napoli supporters are already in total agreement: McTominay was a bargain buy.
Several pundits were initially underwhelmed by his acquisition, but also acknowledged that Conte had previously picked up Premier League rejects to excellent effect at Inter, so were thus willing to reserve judgement. Such an approach has proven prudent, because the addition of the 27-year-old all-action midfielder has transformed Napoli, in every sense.
In McTominay’s first start, against Juventus last month, Conte changed his formation, ditching his preferred three-man backline as he felt McTominay was best suited to playing on the left-hand side of midfield in what is ostensibly a 4-3-3 formation.
The tactical tweak has worked a charm. McTominay is excelling both from a defensive and offensive perspective (he’s been involved in three goals in his first five starts in Serie A), while Napoli have won four successive Serie A games since holding Juve to a 0-0 draw in Turin, and conceded just once in the process.
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GettyBackline reboot
Another shrewd signing has been integral to Napoli’s tally of six clean sheets so far this season, with Alessandro Buongiorno already looking like a steal at €35m (£29/$38m). Certainly, you’d be hard pressed to find a defender performing more impressively in Serie A right now, and his signing has quite clearly played a pivotal part in the revival of fellow centre-half Amir Rrahmani, who suffered a dramatic dip in form after the historic 2022-23 title triumph – not least because of De Laurentiis’ failure to adequately replace Kim Min-Jae.
The turnaround in Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s fortunes has been even more surprising, though. The captain looked completely lost during Italy’s Euro 2024 campaign – particularly while being given the run-around by Spain winger Nico Williams – and he pushed to leave during the transfer window because he felt underappreciated by the Partenopei.
Conte, though, played a key role in convincing the captain to stay. “The coach was immediately honest with me,” Di Lorenzo told DAZN, “and I appreciated his words.”
The versatile right-back certainly isn’t regretting his decision to continue, with three goals already this term, including the winner against Lecce on Sunday.
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(C)Getty ImagesOne of the ‘great coaches’
There was nothing particularly pretty about Napoli’s latest victory, but Conte bristled at the suggestion that it was an ugly win, arguing that it was instead both a “deserved” and “dominant” victory. That was open to debate, but what the performance did prove beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Conte has quickly reinvigorated a squad – and indeed a fanbase – that looked lost during last season’s disastrous title defence, while at the same time quickly integrating new players into the group.
For example, before rotating his squad last weekend, he stated, “The guys are all starters, I don’t like talk of ‘turnover’. I’ll try to put the best line-up on the pitch to continue to get results.”
His approach is certainly paying dividends. Rather tellingly, McTominay simply wrote “spirito di squadra” (team spirit) under his Instagram post after the Lecce win, while Lukaku is in no doubt that Conte is one of the best man-managers in the game.
“I think that the way he coaches is so beautiful. Conte manages to create a sort of partnership among players,” Lukaku told Friends of Sport. “Pep Guardiola does it too, also (Jurgen) Klopp, (Jose) Mourinho and (Carlo) Ancelotti. These are the great coaches.
“If you watch all the teams that win, there’s always a coach that has a good tactical plan, but especially one that manages to create a united team, with players that work well together.”
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Getty Images‘What about the Scudetto?’
The difficulty now for Conte is managing expectations surrounding Serie A’s surprise pace-setters. “I hear a lot of nonsense going around,” he said last week. “But those who have won know what needs to be done to get back to the top, and to build solid and lasting foundations… We are a work in progress.”
It’s certainly very early days and Tuesday’s trip to San Siro represents another stern examination of Napoli’s title credentials. However, there is an undeniable feeling that things are falling nicely into place for the Partenopei.
Even before the Derby d’Italia draw between their two title rivals, Milan’s scheduled clash with Bologna on Saturday was postponed, meaning that two of the Rossoneri’s key players, Theo Rijnders and The Hernandez, will instead be suspended for the visit of Napoli rather the visit to the Dall’Ara.
Looking at the bigger picture, the fact that Conte’s team won’t be burdened by European football because of last season’s terrible 10th-placed finish is a massive advantage, with Inter and Juve likely to be involved in the expanded Champions League until at least the spring.
As has so often been pointed out, Conte is a truly formidable foe when he has a week to prepare for games, as he proved by winning titles in his first seasons at both Juve and Chelsea. For that reason alone, Fabio Capello says that while he’s not sure if Napoli will win the Scudetto, he’s certain that they’ll fight for it. “They have a great manager,” the coaching icon told the Gazzetta dello Sport, “a well-equipped squad and a city able to pump up a team like few others.”
Indeed, Conte has admitted that as soon as he gets recognised when he’s out and about in the city centre, the first thing he’s asked is, “What about the Scudetto?!”
“You need patience,” he keeps saying, before pointing out that Napoli finished an awful long way behind the likes of Inter, Juve and Milan last season. In that sense, it’s understandable that he’s slightly irritated by such giddy talk. However, it should also be a source of satisfaction.
Conte’s coaching credentials were questioned after his tumultuous Tottenham tenure, but he’s obviously not lost his almost-unique ability for quickly cleaning up a mess someone else has left behind. After all, in a little over two months, Conte has gone from begging for the fans’ forgiveness to trying to quell talk of a potential title triumph.
Say what you will about the man, but he’s clearly still got it.
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