Conte: ‘Hojlund has improved a lot, but Napoli not at top level’

Antonio Conte outlines how Rasmus Hojlund has improved after the winning brace against Cremonese, but reiterates Napoli are ‘not at the same level’ as Juventus, Inter and AC Milan.

The Partenopei were brimming with confidence after their Supercoppa Italiana triumph in Riyadh on Monday, but also knew they had to get back on track in Serie A after the defeat to Udinese knocked them off top spot.

Hojlund was the star of the show in Cremona this afternoon, bagging both goals in the 2-0 victory and coming close to a hat-trick.

“We celebrate a wonderful year where we in my view did something truly unexpected and extraordinary with the Scudetto, then capped off with the Supercoppa, as beating teams like Milan, Inter and Bologna in that tournament was special too,” Conte told DAZN Italia.

“It was such a great calendar year full of satisfaction, and the celebrations in Naples are truly different to other places. We celebrated the Scudetto and the Supercoppa, now in Serie A we are up there, trying to stick close to the top spots.

“We are facing numerous problems this season, some of them very serious, but we’re dealing with them as courageous men. I always tell the lads, they can win or lose, but they want to honour that Scudetto symbol on their jersey and make the fans proud.”

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic rarely had a save to make at the Stadio Zini, despite the presence of Jamie Vardy upfront, while Hojlund has already scored more goals at Napoli than throughout all of last season with Manchester United.

“Hojlund is a player who is very young, he’s still only 22 years old, and can improve a great deal. Since he first joined us, he has already progressed to become a dominant player in that role, because he’s starting to understand the right positions to take, how to defend the ball, when to come towards it or back off,” explained Conte.

“He is really well connected with the team. In my style of football, the strikers have a very important and special role in the overall approach, and he has huge margin for further improvement.”

It was again a weakened squad, as Romelu Lukaku, Sam Beukema, Mathias Olivera, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, Billy Gilmour, Alex Meret and Kevin De Bruyne missed out.

The absence of alternatives in midfield prompted Conte to reshuffle their tactics to a 3-4-2-1 formation that seems to be working very well.

“Hannibal said if there isn’t a road through, then we’ve got to build one,” smiled the coach.

“We are building our road with hard work and dedication, facing those difficulties as this is the last game of the year, once again we were missing a lot of big players. All I can hope for is that they all come back in 2026, hopefully as soon as possible, although the Lukaku and De Bruyne injuries were very serious, so we cannot rush them and must show patience.”

Conte said after winning the Supercoppa Italiana that he did not feel Napoli were “ready to be a dominant force” in Italian football, so why is that?

“For many reasons, because in my view we just started this journey. Our infrastructure isn’t ready, I feel Juventus, Inter and Milan have the structure, strength in depth and wage bills that are above all the other clubs,” replied the coach.

“Every time someone other than that group wins a trophy, it means something truly extraordinary has happened. We mustn’t bury our heads in the sand and act like we are on the same level as these clubs.

“We try to bridge the gap as much as possible with hard work and dedication, but we cannot ignore that gap exists.”