Antonio Conte inherited a mess as Napoli manager, but has since transformed the Partenopei who are genuine Scudetto challengers once again.
Napoli’s season hardly could’ve got off to a worse start. An opening day defeat to Verona reflected a chaotic summer that culminated with a public plea by Antonio Conte for new signings. Piotr Zielinski had left the club. Victor Osimhen was on his way out. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia would follow him six months later. Many Napoli fans were braced for a difficult campaign.
Instead, Conte has moulded Napoli in his own image. They are sitting top of the Serie A table having won their last seven league games in-a-row with the recent victories over Atalanta and Juventus a sign of how formidable a force Conte’s side have become. The turnaround from the start of the season has been remarkable.
Of course, Napoli’s success isn’t surprising in the context of Conte’s managerial career. He is the greatest Italian coach of his generation having won titles in Italy and England. The 55-year-old is a natural born winner with an unwavering strength of character that makes him a formidable force of nature in the dugout.
Even accounting for this, though, what Conte is doing right now at Napoli is unprecedented. He had better squads at Juventus, Inter and Chelsea. He had never before taken over a club in such a damaged condition. All things considered, winning the Scudetto with Napoli this season would be the greatest triumph of Conte’s career to date.
Conte had to tactically rebuild Napoli from the ground up. Under Luciano Spalletti, they had played a high-energy, high-intensity game that made Napoli one of the most entertaining teams anywhere in Europe, but ultimately wore them out. The drop off was evident last season as the defending champions finished a lowly 10th.
Handed a group of players in desperate need of revitalisation, Conte focused most of all on his midfield. This is the engine room of any Conte team and it would be the same for Napoli. Scott McTominay was signed from Manchester United with Billy Gilmour also brought in from Brighton for depth.
Moving away from the back three for the first time in his managerial career, Conte established André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka and McTominay as his starting trio in the centre of the pitch with Anguissa and McTominay given the freedom to get forward, leaving Lobotka as the anchor.
This set-up was clear in the way Napoli attacked Atalanta in a season-defining win over the Bergamo outfit two weeks ago when McTominay found the back of the net from a box-crashing run and Anguissa recorded two assists. The two free number eights have been central to Napoli’s resurgence this season.
Romelu Lukaku has also become a central pillar of Conte’s team, silencing those who believed the Belgian striker was washed up after a difficult period at Roma. He has registered a goal involvement in his each of his last four league appearances with Lukaku once again the focal point of a Conte team targeting trophies.
In some ways, Conte has changed his ways to point Napoli in the right direction again. There wouldn’t have been a role for a player like McTominay in his previous title-winning teams. As already referenced, he has abandoned the back three shape that had worked so well for him in the past. There are no wing backs as such in this Napoli side, although Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mathías Olivera are still expected to get forward.
At the same time, though, Conte has instilled so many of the same principles that turned Chelsea, Inter and Juventus into frontrunners. Conte’s players don’t just play for him, they fight for him. When Matteo Politano won a throw-in to wind down the clock late on against Atalanta, he celebrated like he’d scored a goal. This was after Giovanni Simeone made a tackle on the floor with his head.
“We must never extinguish the enthusiasm because it’s our lifeblood,” said Conte when asked about the spirit that has grown within his team over the course of the season so far. “However, we must stay grounded because what we’ve done so far is extraordinary. It’s nice to see that, despite the difficulties with the [transfer] market and injuries, nothing changes.”
There’s a long way to go for Napoli to win their second Serie A title in three seasons. Inter still have a game in-hand that could take them to the top of the table. The Nerazzurri’s superior depth might give them the edge down the final stretch of the title race. Having already matched their points tally from last season, though, Napoli could achieve something special, even by Conte’s standards.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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