CorSport – Napoli, Conte returns to Castel Volturno: two targets | OneFootball

The coach returns after a week off: what happened

Antonio Conte will return to the field today with the team, after being granted an additional three days off, wedged between the two rest days given to the group after Bologna and the weekend. Overall, the coach has been away from the city, the training center, and the team for a week: after the dreadful day at the Dall’Ara, marked by the fifth defeat of the season and capped off with a very tough analysis of the situation, he decided to take a break and on Monday agreed on the terms and conditions of the plan with the club. There’s no point beating around the bush: with all the internal cracks and issues publicly highlighted, the coach’s absence did not go unnoticed. Meanwhile, the team continued preparations under assistant Stellini, without eleven internationals and the injured Gilmour, Spinazzola, Meret, De Bruyne, and Lukaku. To this group, Anguissa was also added—he turned 30 yesterday—during Conte’s absence: Frank will return in two and a half months, a new void compared to Bologna.

There will be a lot of work to do, in short. And on many fronts: until Christmas, Napoli faces a tremendous run because it’s long, complex, and decisive for the fate of three out of four competitions: Champions League, Super Cup, and Coppa Italia. Eight matches, maybe nine if they reach the final in Riyadh: it starts off strong with a double fixture at the Maradona with Atalanta in the league (Saturday) and Qarabag in Europe, followed by Roma at the Olimpico (November 30), Cagliari at home in the Coppa Italia round of 16 (December 3), Spalletti’s Juve at Fuorigrotta (December 7), Mou’s Benfica in Lisbon (December 10), Udinese at the Friuli (December 14), and Milan in the Super Cup semifinal (December 18, departure for Saudi Arabia on the 16th). At stake is the fate of three cups and a huge chunk of self-esteem and certainty in the league, with two direct clashes and extremely valuable points. As vital as air and the soul of Napoli in these times.

Here it is, the crucial front of work. Broad and even more delicate than the schedule: the team needs to rediscover the lightness and desire to have fun that seem to have been lost—judging by the matches—but the operation cannot happen without Conte. It’s up to the coach to restore the spirit, hitting the right notes and regaining lost harmony along with the smiles: not an assessment, but rather the summary of the Bologna speech. A watershed moment: it was Conte who opened an internal crisis by citing the lack of heart and selfishness of the players (aka “tending their own garden”) and clarifying that the team is no longer a team. “It’s my fault, I haven’t done a good job, but I have no intention of accompanying a dead man, everyone must take responsibility starting with me,” he said at the Dall’Ara. Words carved in stone and as hard as stone itself, but also a turning point: now it will be up to the coach and the group to decide whether this is a new beginning or a point of no return. Today, meanwhile, Conte will return to the field. And when the group is reunited with the internationals, let’s say midweek, a meeting will inevitably take place to finally sort things out: the first goal is to avoid ruining the season with the team in second place in the league and still competing on four fronts. The second is to regain normality: everything that has been missing since Bologna.

Carlo Gioia

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.