Napoli’s narrow Serie A win over Genoa leaves coach Antonio Conte unimpressed
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Napoli coach Antonio Conte made it clear that the performance from his players did not meet his expectations.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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GENOA – Napoli coach Antonio Conte was far from satisfied despite his side’s narrow Serie A win at Genoa on Dec 21, 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 goalkeeper Alex Meret in the second, as Genoa dominated much of the latter part of the match.
Andrea Pinamonti pulled one back for the home side six minutes after the break.
“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 half-time,” Conte told Dazn.
“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 Dec 22 and are one point behind. The result of that match was not available at press time.
“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 coach 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.”
Over in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick scored four times and Florian Wirtz added another to hand the Bundesliga side a commanding 5-1 home win over Freiburg on Dec 21, as the defending champions picked up their fifth straight league victory.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick celebrating a goal in a commanding 5-1 home win over Freiburg on Dec 21.
PHOTO: AFP
Vincenzo Grifo scored Freiburg’s goal to reduce the deficit to 2-1.
The win puts second-placed Leverkusen on 32 points, four off Bayern Munich, who thrashed RB Leipzig 5-1 on Dec 20.
“I scored four goals against (second-tier Greuther) Fuerth once, and again today,” Schick said. “It wasn’t my best game, but of course it’s special to score four goals. But apart from that, I can still play better.”
His coach Xabi Alonso added: “The result may have been spectacular and Patrik scored four goals but the game was not as easy as it seemed. We had a good opponent and we had to prepare our actions intelligently.” REUTERS
