Feb 23 – Napoli manager Antonio Conte said his side lacked hunger in the second half of their shock 2-1 defeat by promoted Como on Sunday which denied them the top spot in Serie A, but the Italian refused to blame his players.
Napoli’s first defeat in 11 league matches dashed their hopes of reclaiming the top spot and they remained second with 56 points from 26 games, one point behind reigning champions Inter Milan, while Como are 13th.
While Napoli did well to recover in the opening half after centre back Amir Rrahmani gifted the lead to Como in the seventh minute with an own goal, they looked far from their best after the break as winger Assane Diao netted a 77th-minute winner for the home team.
“It’s inevitable that the second half didn’t satisfy me and it didn’t satisfy anyone… I’m sorry we lost it on hunger and nastiness. Sorry, but surely we must all together try to understand why,” Conte told reporters.
“Congratulations to what these guys are doing, we found ourselves with pressure on us for our own merits, now we have to understand if we are good at carrying it.
“We have to take steps and lick our wounds but we are sorry because you can lose tactically but not in terms of hunger and nastiness. I am the first responsible because I was not good at transferring this aspect.”
Napoli headed into the game on the back of three Serie A draws and Conte said his team were putting pressure on themselves, as Inter continued to breath down their necks.
Napoli, who won the Scudetto in the 2022-23 season, finished 10th in the last campaign.
“I’m not looking for excuses. Today we did Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and it wasn’t the first time. As soon as we slow down mentally and in terms of nastiness anything can happen,” Conte said.
“I’m sorry but the boys had nothing to do with it, it was me who didn’t notice a slowdown in focus and nastiness. Having said that, we are putting the pressure on ourselves. It is written neither in heaven nor on earth that we are where we are.
“We must maintain what we have done. We have to give our best, it burns us because defeat must not be tolerated.”
Napoli next host Inter, who beat Genoa 1-0 at home on Saturday, in a blockbuster top-of-the-table clash at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona next Saturday. Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia Italy Como Napoli
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