Napoli’s narrow win over Genoa leaves Conte unimpressed

GENOA: Napoli manager Antonio Conte was far from satisfied despite his side’s narrow Serie A win at Genoa on Saturday, making it clear that the performance from his players did not meet his expectations.

Napoli secured a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Amir Rrahmani in the first half, along with a heroic effort from keeper Alex Meret in the second as Genoa dominated much of the latter part of the match.

“If you only see the result and three points, you don’t build anything. Our first half was our best of the season and I really did not expect the second half to be like that. Maybe I felt it in the locker room at halftime,” Conte told DAZN.

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“The players need to realise they must play from start to finish, with their foot on the gas at all times. I did not like a single thing about the second half. Defend by attacking, that has to be our mantra.

“I have players who know where they need to improve and they will go home disappointed today at almost throwing away three points.”

Napoli are back at the top of Serie A, but that might be temporary as Atalanta play Empoli on Sunday and are one point behind.

“If we want to have the least bit of ambition and be up there causing trouble for the top spots, then we need to be on it for 95 minutes,” Conte said.

Genoa manager Patrick Vieira was happy with his side’s efforts despite their six-match unbeaten run coming to an end.

“We showed that we could play good football but in the end we did not take any points. After the game I told the boys that if we continue to do as we did in the second half we will win more games,” he told reporters.

“It was a first half where we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. But I think the quality of the opponent also put the team in difficulty.

“In the second half we were more aggressive, we grew and I think the team deserved the point. I feel sorry for the players.”