Conte: ‘Napoli were too worried, we have to improve away record’

Antonio Conte admits that his players were ‘too worried, too fearful’ and that they have to improve on their record on the road after slipping to their seventh away defeat of the season in a 1-0 Serie A loss against Udinese on Sunday afternoon. 

A lone goal from Udinese’s Jurgen Ekkelenkamp was enough to defeat the reigning Serie A champions, who are now sat in third place and could be two points off the lead of the table by the end of Sunday evening. 

You can see how the action from all of Sunday’s Serie A matches unfolds on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Napoli have had a tough time of it with injuries over the last few weeks, with Kevin De Bruyne, Stanislav Lobotka, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Billy Gilmour, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Jesus and Alex Meret all having spent time on the treatment table over the last few weeks, and months in some cases.

Aside from swapping Leonardo Spinazzola for Mathias Olivera on Sunday, Conte has named the same starting XI for three games in a row, within the space of seven days. 

“We didn’t concede any shots on goal in the first half, we could have made better of the chances we had. We struggled at the beginning of the second half, and you could tell there was a bit of fear from there on,” Conte told DAZN while reviewing his side’s performance against Udinese. 

“Two disallowed goals and a crossbar at the start of the second half,” he continued. “We were too worried and too fearful, we needed to work hard. We have to play well, even in the difficult moments. We have to manage situations and we definitely have to improve.

“We have to be better at managing these moments, we have to tackle them with experience. We can’t lose courage or become overwhelmed. If you play like that, you run the risk of conceding, and we conceded. 

“I have nothing negative to say about the guys who are giving their all in this emergency. We have to be better at managing games and bringing out more character away from home. On a psychological level, we try to work on it and find the right way. We can grow, we have great guys here.” 

Conte was asked if he is worried about injuries derailing his side’s season. 

He replied: “I sounded the alarm even after we were winning. There’s not much to say. 

“At the beginning of the season, when you’re playing in a lot of competitions, you worry about building a squad that is up to scratch. (What can you do) when the squad is weakened because of external factors? 

“This year won’t be easy for us. The important thing is to be united and compact, facing challenges while sticking together. The whole club needs to stand together, this year won’t be easy. We want to work and fight. We’ve lost seven away games, we have to improve that a bit.”