Manna: ‘Napoli and Conte saw things twisted by the media’

Napoli director Giovanni Manna insists ‘things were twisted’ by the media around Antonio Conte and the injury crisis is forcing experiments against Atalanta.

It kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 19.45 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s four Serie A games on the Liveblog.

The pressure is growing on the Partenopei after a series of poor results leading into the break for international duty, managing just two draws from the last three competitive games.

This spilled out into Conte’s angry statements and then he took a few days off to go home to Turin while his assistant Cristian Stellini led the training sessions.

“There was too much emphasis on many situations and things were twisted,” Manna told Sky Sport Italia.

“The team worked well during the break for international duty and there have always been meetings to discuss the situation, whether we win or lose. The defeat to Bologna was a painful one, against a strong team, but we are ready to begin again.”

Which situations did Manna believe had been twisted out of shape by the media?

“There have been so many rumours and suggestions about the coach, claims he was ready to resign. It’s natural that we talk with the coach, he sent a message to raise the alarm and raise the bar for everyone. I see nothing wrong with that.

“We are all united, this is a group of professionals with great values, we proved that last season too, so we are not worried.”

Injuries are piling up for Napoli, as they are without Billy Gilmour, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne, Alex Meret and Romelu Lukaku this evening.

It does give Noa Lang and David Neres a rare opportunity to start in a new trident attack with Rasmus Hojlund.

“We don’t have midfielders, there is only Elmas and Vergara on the bench. When we get injuries, it’s curious they all seem to be in the same section of the squad, it happened last season with the wingers,” added the director.

“Lang has the chance to start for the second time this season, we expect a response on the field from him and from everyone.”