Napoli coach Antonio Conte admitted he had a frustrating and frustrating first half but survived in the second half to beat Empoli 1-0.
Napoli’s got the winner from a penalty by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to give Conte’s side all three points and maintain their lead at the top of the Serie A table after eight games.
Napoli travelled to Tuscany knowing they needed to pick up points to retain the sole lead of Serie A following Juventus’ victory over Lazio the night before.
It was the first game since April 2022 that Napoli were without injured Slovak midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, leaving new signing Billy Gilmour, who started his first Serie A game and stayed on the pitch for the rest of the game.
“Gilmour could have given us a good option but he was too scared in the first half. The whole team wasn’t on the right track. Everyone knows I wasn’t happy and I played better.”
“Empoli and Roberto D’Aversa deserve credit because they played very well.”
“I didn’t like the first half. It wasn’t the way we usually play. We were too cowardly. Maybe it’s because Napoli have a bad record against Empoli.”
“I changed something in the second half and it was completely different. We UFABET deserved to have taken the lead, but if Empoli score, we cannot complain,” Conte said.