PSV-Napoli, Conte: "Don't underestimate Napoli, step up our game" | OneFootball

It will be a long night for the Napoli players and all their fans after the bitter European defeat that the Azzurri suffered against PSV, who won 6-2 in a match poorly set up from a mental standpoint. Napoli's coach, Antonio Conte, spoke to journalists at the press conference, also giving some harsh responses that describe the moment the team is experiencing.

PSV-Napoli, Conte at the press conference: “Neapolitans should not be taken for a ride! We need to rev up the engine”

These are the words of the coach from Lecce: “On the second goal, we had possession of the ball, but what we did afterward were many mistakes, and they counterattacked. Regarding the defensive phase, I say that when you concede the goals we did today, it’s hard to provide explanations, and there are errors from individuals, not the team. Last year, we only played in the league and were good and lucky to almost always have the starting defense. There were fairly established mechanisms to work on during the week, but this year due to some injuries, we had to deal with many new situations, recovering players quickly.

Surely, last year there was more stability, both in terms of formation and decisions. This year, due to injuries, we are bringing in players to help us, and that’s okay. With Sporting, we played with a new defense; last year Rrahmani played 38 matches and today only two. Buongiorno has been seen with two matches and today he was a starter. What needs to be done is to work, integrate the new players, and make them understand things as soon as possible: it will take a bit of patience. All matches must be analyzed; if you label them as a negative evening, you prepare to have another one. Evaluations must be made, the players know what I think, and I tell them spontaneously.

We need to rediscover the spirit of last year, the one that allowed us to go beyond our limits, myself included. We need to recreate the chemistry we had; it’s not easy to integrate nine players into a group, but we had no other choice. Someone is selling smoke, throwing smoke in the eyes of Naples, in a place where the truth must be told: we have shared choices with the club, and I reiterate that this year will be very tough. I’m not interested in personal glories; everyone needs to rev up the engine, including myself. If we want to grow and build something that can make Naples proud, we need to understand that we must rediscover the spirit and unity we had last year with a single goal: Naples.

This must return to being the case, the good of Napoli, not my good or that of a player. The good of an individual is useless; due to many things that have been built up and pushed, shameless situations have been created that have warned me. Naples and Neapolitans should not be taken for a ride!”

Mario Di Domenico

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