Conte: ‘Atalanta ought to frighten everyone, stronger than Napoli’

Antonio Conte feels the 3-0 result did not fully reflect Napoli’s performance against Atalanta, but Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are still ‘stronger than we are right now’ and ‘ought to frighten everyone.’

It was already noted that Conte played under Gasperini when both were at Juventus many years ago, and the master still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Leaving Capocannoniere Mateo Retegui on the bench proved to be a masterstroke, as it left the Napoli defence with few reference points.

Ademola Lookman had given La Dea a 2-0 lead by the half-hour mark, with Retegui coming on for a stoppage-time volley to make it 3-0.

“I have to be very honest, I thought it was the right performance from the team. There are certainly some situations on the goals that made the difference, where we can do better, but I cannot fault the team for their hunger and attitude,” Conte told DAZN.

“We saw the statistics, they were very balanced overall. We pressed high and that used up a lot of energy, so I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

Conte insists Atalanta ‘stronger than Napoli right now’

Remarkably, this was only the second time Conte had ever lost a Serie A home match by three clear goals and the other was also against Atalanta, their 5-2 result with Juventus in November 2009.

“We’ve done incredibly well so far this season, we faced a team that in my view is stronger than we are right now. I had said that in the press conference beforehand not to shield myself, but because this is an Atalanta side that has been a regular in the Champions League, that last season won the Europa League beating Bayer Leverkusen and they have a squad depth that ought to frighten everyone,” continued the coach.

“We need to take this type of match, evaluate and learn as part of the process. Let us not forget, Atalanta got into the Champions League last season and we finished 10^th.

“They have an old coach, by which I mean someone who has been working with that club for a long time, not that he’s old! It is no shame to lose to Atalanta, if anything they are a reference point for us to look up to and work towards.”

Isak Hien was man-marking Romelu Lukaku and kept the centre-forward remarkably quiet.

“It’s inevitable when there are individual duels, that Atalanta are very strong. I think we did develop the right situations, but we were lacking in the final ball, whereas Atalanta were very effective there,” concluded Conte.

“They were much better in some situations where they kept the ball, but even then I felt it was overall quite a balanced game.”