Antonio Conte admits Napoli are ‘conceding too many goals’ recently after their 2-1 defeat to 10-man Milan, but defends his decisions for the starting XI and substitutions.
“It’s a pity we conceded so early, the team as a whole could’ve done better on both those situations,” Conte told DAZN Italia.
“Starting at San Siro and being a goal down after four minutes is not easy. We played our game overall, I liked the team in the first half too, we pressed Milan very high, created scoring opportunities, but there’s work to do, because we’ve been conceding too many goals lately. If you look at the two against Pisa and the two today, they are adding up.
“Defending has always been our greatest strength, so we’ve got to keep working and improving. However, coming here with this kind of authority against a solid Milan side at San Siro, that still ought to give us positive sensations. At the same time, we know that there’s work to do and improvement in certain areas.”
This result means that Napoli are now caught at the top of the Serie A table on 12 points by both Milan and Roma, losing their perfect start to the season.
“It was our first defeat in five rounds, which was against a very strong Milan side at San Siro. It can happen for them to score two goals, but the lads also know we must do better as a team. I want to reiterate, it’s about the whole team needing a little more focus and concentration, because we made life difficult for ourselves at 2-0 down.
“We still pushed hard and created scoring opportunities, but you’ve got to finish them too.”
“On Wednesday, we hope that nothing happens to Juan Jesus and Beukema, because we don’t have any other centre-backs. Di Lorenzo is suspended in the Champions League too, while Spinazzola and Olivera have muscular problems.
“When you play every three days and the entire defence gets injured, you have to make evaluations,” added Conte.
“We must recognise that these players arrived not to replace the first choice stars, so we will need time and patience to let them grow. At the same time, they need to play in competitive games to go through that process”.
