Complaining Conte is the real irritant, not Napoli

Antonio Conte says that Napoli being at the top of the table is ‘irritating’ to some, but Susy Campanale argues his constant moaning is the real irritant, and it’s getting old.

Coaches love to churn out books for the Christmas market, so Conte has been regularly contributing to an unofficial tome we can name ‘The Little Book of Football Alibis.’ Flip through and find every excuse imaginable for failure, including injuries, suspensions and refereeing bias.

Of course, anyone can do that. Where Conte truly excels is his ability to do the double bluff of alibis, where either side of the coin can suit your requirements. Fighting with Inter to the final day for the Scudetto? That’s because you have too few players, they cannot compete with a team built to participate in the Champions League! Struggling to maintain the same momentum from last season now you are also in Europe? That’s because you suddenly have too many new players, they cannot be expected to gel so quickly!

My personal favourite is an Italian classic of the alibi, the ‘just asking questions’ approach that flips an accusation from others against themselves. When Inter complain that a refereeing decision went Napoli’s way, Conte immediately states that he really hopes this doesn’t put undue pressure on the referees to resist the suggestion of bias by therefore refusing to give them 50-50 verdicts. Cunning. It’s hardly new, of course, this was a regular comment made by Luciano Moggi and the like back in the days before the Calciopoli scandal. He was a master of turning himself into the victim.

Each time Conte opens his mouth, one wonders what ill-tempered tirade is going to come out next. That’s just after victories, as every success becomes an excuse to list off all the reasons why this is a miracle that nobody could’ve ever predicted, despite it being a team that won the title 13 months before he took over and without the strain of midweek commitments. No, it is a huge coup to be treated with reverence, like pulling the sword from the stone. Nobody can be more insulting about the quality in the Napoli squad than Conte, who seems to delight in stomping down on their self-esteem.

When Napoli lose, that is when he goes into overdrive with the post-match moaning. Complaints about attitude, fitness levels, focus, lashing out at the media and fans for daring to think the reigning Champions of Italy might be one of the candidates to retain the crown. What an outlandish idea! It is all our fault for putting unrealistic expectations on this poor, tiny, underfunded club.

It has been said over the years that Conte never stays long at any club because he squeezes them dry. He has largely shown that he knows when to get out, straight after the title at Juventus and Inter, which is why it felt likely he’d walk away during Napoli’s Scudetto celebrations. You can practically sense his regret at not doing so, realising he cannot keep hiding behind an underdog status, that he now has to face his nemesis in Champions League football, where only in his first ever season did he get beyond the Round of 16.

Stanislav Lobotka’s agent insisted his comments about pushing to leave if Conte remained were a joke based on the intensive training methods, but not all of it could be excused away so easily. Complaining that even with reinforcements, the coach still uses the same players in every game and inevitably this leads to fatigue and injuries, that’s not sarcastic. If Napoli have so many muscular problems, it can’t just be because of bad luck or the training pitches. He has never known how to rotate and is not suited to dealing with multiple major tournaments.

This is Antonio Conte, though, so the only times he will take the blame for anything will be when it’s obliquely an insult to everyone else. “It means I am not doing a good job, or that someone doesn’t want to listen to me.” Always the victim.