CASTEL VOLTURNO (ITALPRESS) – “What has changed in this week after saying that if we want we can? Nothing. I don’t know what should have changed. We continued to train the same way. Nothing changes based on words, you have to do the deeds. Words are carried away by the wind. We are trying to always give our best.” Last Saturday’s draw with Inter, which came at the end of a fine performance, has yes left Napoli in second place but still in the running for the Scudetto, with the conviction that they can play it out until the end.
Antonio Conte, however, knows that confidence and compliments must be translated into points if one wants to continue dreaming. “Ambition must always be the child of work,” he stressed on the eve of the match with Fiorentina, “Surely having played an excellent game against Inter, who are the team to beat, pleased us, it must give us strength. But if we look at the match we lost with Como we weaken ourselves. You have to be even, this is how you win trophies, and I always try to give this balance to the boys.”
Conte reiterates that “Napoli’s goal is to make our fans proud. We are happy to do great performances like against Inter. But then we drew. Even the draw is half a disappointment, we are always talking about a draw, for me it is half a defeat. We have to try to get the three points: Often we have succeeded, other times not as in the last month where we have collected four draws and one defeat.”
If the defense holds up, it’s up front that Napoli needs to grow. “Scoring more? When I talk about building winning structures, which cannot be invented, we have to take steps,” Conte warns. “If you talk about the team not scoring goals then you go and see that in the players’ statistics there are not so many goals. We have to work on that. If a player every year scores one, you can’t expect him to score 10. Inter scored 19 goals on set pieces. It means they are good and structured to hit headers and score.”
Regarding training indications, “McTominay had an overload, he trained less than the others. Gilmour had a great game with Inter. Play whoever deserves to play. There is no fixed place. It has to be 11 battles, there is no credit. Those who are out have to change my mind. Am I angry? There is tension, we are 24 hours before the game. I carry a state of mind that I’ve always had. When I talk about Friday I have a little more time,” he adds with a smile.
A joke finally about the relationship with the square, with which the feeling is strong. “In my experiences I have always tried to experience the city, the moods, because I consider it fundamental. We have to disconnect and drop into the reality where we work. It helps to socialize, you understand the dynamics of the environment. I have the opportunity to be in a city that really offers so much and I try with the family to take advantage of this situation. The only thing I hear from the fans is thank you for what we are doing,” Conte adds, “It is the most important thing because the work is appreciated by the fans and the city. I also meet people of a certain age who say thank you for what is being done with these guys. The important thing is to transfer the fact that at every game we come out with a sweaty jersey.”
– photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
