Conte tears down Napoli Scudetto ambition: ‘Reality is we’re far off’

Antonio Conte threw cold water over the ambition of Napoli fans after becoming Serie A leaders, warning ‘the reality is we are very far’ from a Scudetto run, despite fresh President Aurelio De Laurentiis comments.

The coach warned after the opening 3-0 defeat to Verona at the Stadio Bentegodi that there could be no Scudetto talk, but fast forward to Week 6 and they are top of the Serie A table with four wins and a 0-0 draw away to Juventus.

This evening they swept Monza aside 2-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with early goals from Matteo Politano – his first since April – and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

It is the first time Napoli have been alone on top of the table for 18 months – since Luciano Spalletti won the Scudetto – and they are the only major contender not involved in European commitments this season.

President Aurelio De Laurentiis posted this on X, formerly Twitter, this evening: “For reasons of superstition, we’ll say nothing” followed by a smiling emoji.

Conte will not stand for Napoli title talk

“I always say there is an advantage that we can train the whole week, but the disadvantage is that our squad is not as competitive as those who play in Europe,” a visibly irritated Conte told DAZN.

“Having said that, we try to work to fuel dreams, as they can also come true, but I have to look at the reality and that says we are very far from flying high. We’ve got to sweat it out game after game, like we did today where we had to sweat hard to earn those points.

“It hasn’t even been three months since the President talked about a total reconstruction of the squad. We lost 14 players and brought in seven. We lost players like Osimhen and Zielinski.”

He may talk of a reconstruction at Napoli, but with his history of winning the Scudetto at Juventus and Inter after fallow periods for those clubs, Conte knows the ambition follows him around.

“I realise that a lot is expected of me, as I have done great things in the past. As I said, we can let the fans dream, but I have to keep my feet on the ground and realise there are teams ahead of us for many reasons. We are chasing them down and will try to do our best,” continued the coach.

“I have enough experience to say we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground, as sometimes I hear things said from people who don’t have the experience of winning titles and don’t know what they are talking about.

“The aim is to get Napoli competitive again, not like last season when we were 10^th and 40 points off Inter. That is my warning to everyone.”

With Scott McTominay now starting in midfield, it inspired Conte to change his usual tactical approach and use a 4-3-3 system, supporting Politano, Romelu Lukaku and Kvaratskhelia, but the Belgium international has not been as sharp recently.

“The important thing is that Romelu, whether he scores or not, participates actively in the game and gives his contribution to the team objective. That is true for everyone,” added the coach.

“He is working hard and doing tougher training than usual because he was not in perfect condition when he arrived, but he can still tip the balance. It’s even better if he does score, but he needs to be active.”

When DAZN pundit and his former teammate Ciro Ferrara made a joke that Lukaku might prefer to be called on international duty for Belgium rather than remain with Conte’s notoriously tough training regime, he didn’t enjoy the humour of that.

“All the teams train hard, it’s laughable. The problem is those who don’t train the players. I get them trained in what I consider to be the right way. During the break for international duty, those who remain will work to get back into shape.

“Don’t forget we signed players in the final days of the transfer market like Lukaku and David Neres, so we will use that time to get them closer to perfect shape.”