Napoli, Conte and the “rule of two”: second season whirlwind | OneFootball

After the collapse in Eindhoven, the recurring theme of Antonio Conte’s career resurfaces: great starts, but relationships that wear out in the second year. Repubblica: “He realized that with De Laurentiis it would be complicated.”

Napoli, Conte and the “rule of two”: the club in the vortex of the second year. The analysis by La Repubblica

After the crushing 6-2 defeat by PSV Eindhoven, it’s time for assessments at Napoli. In Castel Volturno, Antonio Conte has tried to piece together a team that appeared lost and fragile, but as Maurizio Crosetti writes in la Repubblica, the problem might be deeper and directly concern the coach himself.

According to the Roman newspaper, in fact, the coach from Salento is reliving a script already seen in almost all his previous experiences: a whirlwind first year, followed by a second marked by tensions, friction, and a drop in performance. Crosetti explicitly speaks of a “rule of two,” a constant that has accompanied Conte’s career since his beginnings.

The “rule of two”: Conte, great starts but fragile relationships over time

Crosetti writes: “Antonio Conte as a coach in his early days stayed only one year at Bari, Bergamo, and Siena. And apart from beloved Juventus, where he remained for the unheard-of eternity of three years, he has never deviated from the rule of two: two years at Chelsea, two at Inter, two at Tottenham, two with the National Team.”

Only the Juventus stint, which ended abruptly in 2014 with a departure after training camp had already begun, extended beyond the threshold. For the rest, Conte’s career has been a succession of intense and brief cycles, characterized by immediate impact, excellent results in the first year, and a rejection crisis in the second.

Crosetti sums it up like this: “Whoever hires Antonio Conte knows the guarantee lasts two years.”

From Chelsea to Tottenham, a script that repeats itself

His experiences abroad confirm the trend. At Chelsea, the first year ended with a Premier League title and the fans’ enthusiasm, the second with internal friction and a controversial farewell. Same script at Inter: the scudetto in 2021, followed by a consensual separation a few weeks later. At Tottenham, again two seasons, with a promising start and then the deterioration of the relationship with the club and the dressing room.

Conte, Crosetti notes, “sniffs the air and, if possible, gets out before the situation collapses.”

Napoli, second year nightmare

Repubblica’s analysis explains how the Neapolitan experience is also following a similar trajectory. “He had practically already left Naples by late spring, when the season ended. Then Juventus didn’t materialize and Antonio, in Ischia, reconsidered.” A return dictated also by pride, but accompanied by clear awareness: Conte knew that the second year with De Laurentiis, and with a lavish but unpredictable transfer market, would be complicated.

The disaster in Eindhoven, with a Napoli that appeared confused and lacking balance, seems to support this theory. The coach himself, after the match, used a significant term: “complicated,” a word that for Crosetti encapsulates the sense of a tense relationship between the coach and the club environment.

Conte and the De Laurentiis management: unstable equilibrium

The relationship between Antonio Conte and Aurelio De Laurentiis has always been characterized by mutual respect but differing sensibilities. The coach demands total control and consistency in transfer decisions, while the president loves creativity and independent choices. The result, writes Repubblica, is a high-risk coexistence, especially when the pressure mounts and results don’t come.

Last summer, after weeks of reflection, Conte had seriously considered leaving Napoli, before the failed agreement with Juventus convinced him to stay. A choice that today, after the European flop, seems more fragile.

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