CorSport: Conte urges Napoli to get back to normality | OneFootball

Long Discussion Between the Coach and the Azzurri: What Happened

Antonio Conte will not speak today at the press conference on the eve of the match at Maradona against Atalanta for the resumption of the championship. He will do so tomorrow evening at the end of the match and then on Monday on the eve of another crucial challenge, Tuesday's Champions League match against Qarabag. What he had to say, his thoughts, he expressed yesterday to the team with the group for the first time fully assembled after the return of all the national players. In the video room, during the usual moment of discussion between one match and another, Conte stayed with his players for quite a long meeting where the main topics were the Bologna match, the mistakes on the field, and everything that happened afterward with the internal crisis sparked by the coach's words – the lack of heart, the personal agendas, and the phrase "I have no intention of accompanying the dead" – followed by De Laurentiis' support via social media. All this happened with the players immediately traveling for national duties, the resumption without the coach (who stayed in Turin and returned to work on Monday), and then the great anticipation to restart, to return to normalcy.

Yesterday, the last national players returned to Castel Volturno: Elmas, Olivera, Rrahmani, Hojlund, and especially Scott McTominay, hero of his national team for his overhead kick in the 4-2 win against Denmark, with which his Scotland reclaimed the World Cup 28 years later. Lobotka (with Lang) returned on Wednesday, and before them, the Italians Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno, Politano. In short, everyone was present yesterday, and Conte took the opportunity for a long discussion, looking everyone in the eye, saying what was needed to restart. Napoli also did it on the field, with an afternoon session characterized by heavy rain, bad weather that has persisted since the beginning of the week. From words, now, to actions. Conte expects a strong, determined reaction from his team. He wants to rediscover his Napoli, the real one, the one of the championship, and tomorrow's challenge – tricky and against a team that has just changed coach – represents a golden opportunity to silence quite a few controversies. The responses must come especially from the attitude and a cohesion and unity of purpose, from a team that must return to being a team, leaving behind the remnants of the recent period, with maximum attention in defense and returning to strike forward since the last goal dates back to October 28 in Lecce.

Speaking of national teams, Lobotka and Rrahmani will be rivals in one of the semifinals for the World Cup playoffs. The defender posted a video on social media yesterday while filming Stani in the locker room of the sports center at the time of the draw. It will be Slovakia-Kosovo. There will be time to think about it.

Carlo Gioia

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