Napoli head coach Antonio Conte was left disappointed after watching his side fall to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Serie A strugglers Como at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Sunday.
An own goal by Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani saw Conte’s men go behind seven minutes into the match, but Giacomo Raspadori leveled matters just ten minutes later. However, Como’s Assane Diao found the back of the net with less than fifteen minutes of normal time left to win the game for the home side.
The defeat saw Conte’s Napoli relinquish their place atop the Serie A standings, with defending champions Inter Milan now ahead of the Partenopei by a single point following their narrow 1-0 victory over Genoa on Saturday.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, the Italian boss tried to make sense of his team’s performance.
“I’m not looking for excuses, but we played Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde,” Conte said via CalcioNapoli24
“We had two faces. It’s happened before. We’re a team that has to earn our living, I’ve said every time that victory has to be earned because if we slow down a little mentally, anything can happen.
“It’s a shame, the lads have nothing to do with it. I was the one who didn’t notice a slowdown in terms of attention and nastiness. We work every day and try to do our best. We have pressure on us today but it’s our own merit, there’s no way we’re where we are today. Compared to Inter, we’re at – 1 but we’ve recovered 40 points from last year, and many on the others.
“We’re doing something extraordinary, but at certain point we have to maintain it. It’s not a given that we can hold out until the end, but we have to give our all and you know what has to burn us, Defeat must not be tolerated, the environment knows it and those who are with me know that I hate losing, we have to stay on top of things and the lads have done something extraordinary.
“Then the more you are at the top, the more you have to be prepared, even mentally: we have to continue to grow, the boys are doing something extraordinary. We have to seek excellence: it’s hard work, and it also comes from situations like these. But the nastiness we have to show must not be the one seen recently, when we let ourselves be overtaken.”
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