Conte on new McTominay and Hojlund injuries: ‘Won’t force anyone’

Antonio Conte gives more insight into why Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund were out of the Napoli squad against Torino. ‘I won’t force anyone to play.’

The Partenopei suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to Torino this evening, their second Serie A loss in the last three rounds, decided by a single Giovanni Simeone goal.

They were hit hard by an injury crisis, which ruled out Stanislav Lobotka, Amir Rrahmani, Romelu Lukaku and Nikita Contini, with Alessandro Buongiorno and Matteo Politano only fit for the bench.

The big surprise was that McTominay and Hojlund were not even on the bench, so Conte was pressed for details in the post-match press conference.

“If they had made the trip, it’s because I intended to use them,” said the coach with some irritation.

“The problem is that McTominay had six stitches put in just above the ankle on Thursday after a clash. He tried to train, but preferred to sit it out.

“Hojlund returned tired from international duty. He had not been playing at all for Manchester United, then suddenly played every game with us and Denmark, so it took its toll with a quadricep issue.

“We play every three days, so even a strain can become a problem. There’s no point running extra risks, as we have alternatives. It’s better to use a healthy horse than a lame one.”

However, when it comes to seeing these Napoli stars in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, it is still up in the air.

“We’ll see. I won’t force anyone to play, let that be clear. We have a squad, we worked on the transfer market for this possibility,” added Conte.

The coach has been critical of those who call Napoli the Scudetto favourites this season, even though they are the reigning Champions of Italy and brought in new players during the summer.

“I never talk about absences, I don’t like doing that and it’s not right for those who gave their all on the field today,” added Conte.

“It is important to separate the result from the performance. We controlled the game overall, and were just trying to be a bit too pretty. Torino deserve credit for making the most of their opportunity.”