Antonio Conte believes that Paulo Fonseca inherited a far better situation at AC Milan than he did at Napoli, but he has quickly overturned things.
Milan suffered a big blow to any Scudetto hopes they might have as they were beaten 2-0 by Napoli at San Siro on Tuesday night. It is a result that puts them 11 points behind the league leaders in the table, albeit with a game in hand that feels very distant.
Both goals came in the first half for Napoli as Romelu Lukaku got the opener early on before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia doubled the advantage just before the break. Milan otherwise dominated the game and yet Alvaro Morata’s offside goal was the closest that they came to getting back into the contest.
Conte spoke in the press conference room at San Siro immediately after the full-time whistle, with his side now seven points clear at the top, and his answers were relayed by MilanNews.
Does this victory change the meaning of the season?
“The ‘Work in progress’ sign is there and will remain. I repeat: Napoli, like Milan, have changed coaches and have started a new journey.
“The difference between us and them is that they had a 22-point gap over us last year. They also have the ‘Work in progress’ sign [above them], even though I believe that Fonseca has found a stronger foundation than us to work on.
“Every club sets goals at the start of the year and Napoli’s is to return to Europe, entering through the front door, but there are those who want to steal our idea, there are five or six teams. Nothing has changed compared to the past.
“Let’s remain humble. These are three important points. No one, no one could have expected 25 points after what happened last year. We have put some hay in the barn in view of the negative periods.”
What are the margins for improvement?
“Growing all together, in terms of mentality. We must continue to raise the bar. Each individual must improve their performance, must become stronger. We are working on many points of view.
“We can still do better. However, we came to play at San Siro, not on the pitch near my house… I know what emotional impact San Siro has on opposing teams, San Siro is the home of football.
“Coming here, to play against Milan, to put in a good performance and get the three points must give us confidence and morale, without making us lose our clarity. We know that we have limits and that we must overcome them to be better”.
What are these limits?
“What I like about Napoli is the atmosphere that is being created between us. Everyone feels very involved, very much involved in the project: this is the best thing I could receive.
“There is a positive atmosphere and this gives me so much energy, so much enthusiasm and so much responsibility. In Napoli, passion is everything: the fans must know that we work day and night to make them proud.”
I don’t know why, but I feel from reading his interview that Conte really wanted to coach AC Milan till the end. But maybe that’s just me.
Milan had no foundation..leakey def and get the ball to leao atk..
Is that foundation?
Not to mention literally 0 balance in teammates.. napoli had a much more balanced team
Naw mate he’s 100% spot on. Fonseca got the second place finishers in addition to 100 million worth of transfers. Napoli lost their top player in the summer. Our squad is far from perfect, but it is better than Napoli’s (and the rest of serie a apart from Inter and perhaps Juve).
All napoli needed was a cb and some depth. Our squad was never better, Napoli was just underperforming last season.
They also replaced their star striker, and half of their midfield (with scots no less ;)) And they still only have only one really solid CB. That’s why Conte doesn’t use 3 CBs like he usually does.
Even Conte himself seems surprised at how well their doing, and seems to suggest that this should be balanced out in future games
They did do that. But all they needed was a cb..
And conte is playing 433 because that’s what’s best for the team. He could easily play with 3 in the back if he wanted to. If memory serves at Chelsea he made azpilicueta the 3rd cb
Yet every other new coach who took over a team which ambition is CL qualification or Scudetto are showing progress after change.
But not us. No. We’re still seeing improvements in play and we’re getting better and better despite losing games.
Great coach, too bad the amateurs in management picked an amateur. Milan is an amateurs club in 2024, after all that famous history.
LMAO 🤣🤣🤣 Conte really has a way with words while ours is wondering why it’s so difficult to coach a top club. It’s like say hey we are 22pts worse than you in quality yet we spanked you 2-0 in your own home. Lol well done 👌I like that sort of banter.
Btw, Ibra should pay attention on how to not burn bridges “However, we came to play at San Siro, not on the pitch near my house… I know what emotional impact San Siro has on opposing teams, San Siro is the home of football.” Basically hey we beat you but I know how big a club you are while leaving it open to come coach us.