Antonio Conte insists he would not have believed you if you told him that Napoli would be top of the Serie A table three months ago, and explained why Como were the ‘worst’ team for Napoli to face this weekend.
The Partenopei rose to a 3-1 victory over Cesc Fabregas’s side at the Stadio Maradona on Friday evening, thanks to a goal after 25 seconds from Scott McTominay, plus second-half strikes from Romelu Lukaku and David Neres.
The victory puts Napoli four points clear at the top of the Serie A table, a position they will now keep until after the international break at a minimum. Despite their victory on Friday, Conte is not convinced that his team truly deserve their lead.
Conte doesn’t believe Napoli deserve Serie A lead
“I don’t know if this is currently a Napoli that deserves to be in first place in the standings, but we are first and that is a fact,” he said in his post-match interview, reported via TMW.
“If someone had told me this three months ago, it would have been difficult to believe,” he continued.
“We know that we’ve had to work hard in every game, including today against a team that is perhaps on the best form in the entire league, coming off the back of almost three consecutive victories.
“I was very pleased to see such a great reaction after a difficult spell at the end of the second half after conceding.
“We are growing, in terms of the ability to play in different styles, to play football, but also get our hands dirty when we have to. It’s an excellent sign, and we have to take this chance with both hands.
“The lads said that we could go into the break keeping hold of our position in the standings, one that nobody could have predicted at the start. Only a few games have gone, but we have got 16 points, which will be useful for our future objectives.”
Assessing his team’s performance against Como, Conte added: “We started well in the first half, scoring a great goal, the result of our hard work. Then we gave Como a bit of space and we were unable to counter their dribbling and shooting.
“Then we changed things tactically in the second half and they were no longer in the game. We lost too many duels, but that’s part of the process of rebuilding confidence and self-esteem.
“We regrouped well in the second half and had a half where we were clearly growing. Como was the worst team to face at this moment, though.”