Conte: 'This is the day I hate being a coach'

Antonio Conte admits he is not happy about having to change Napoli's tactics after losing Scott McTominay.

Conte admitted he had just had a challenging day at work.

In the early morning of March 31, in round 30 of Serie A, Napoli faced many difficulties in terms of personnel but still excellently defeated AC Milan 2-1. "This is one of the days I hate being a coach", Conte shared after the tense match at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

The Napoli boss was forced to make last-minute changes to his line-up as McTominay was absent with flu, while Leonardo Spinazzola was injured and Stanislav Lobotka was forced off late in the game with a knee problem. Conte even had to risk bringing on Frank Anguissa despite the player not being fully fit.

“We lost McTominay at the last minute, so I had to take a risk,” Conte said. “That made me not enjoy it, and I really hated my job as a coach.”

“I was going to play 4-4-2 with Jack Raspadori, but losing McTominay threw everything out of whack. I just wanted to take painkillers because of the terrible headache,” he added.

Napoli made the perfect start to their crucial clash with Milan, taking a 2-0 lead after just 19 minutes thanks to goals from Matteo Politano and Romelu Lukaku. However, Luka Jovic's equaliser from Theo Hernandez's assist turned the second half into a stalemate.

“We lost intensity and started to get nervous,” Conte admitted. However, the win kept Napoli close to Inter in the standings and put them within striking distance of fifth place. With Atalanta losing 1-0 to Fiorentina in the same match, the Serie A title race is now down to Inter and Napoli.

“Today’s victory is very important. The next match against Bologna will be difficult, but we are still in the top group,” Conte emphasized. After 8 months in the job, he believes Napoli can dream of something extraordinary, although Inter is still a “tank” that is superior to the rest. In the current Serie A rankings, Inter is still leading with 67 points after 30 rounds, Napoli is second with 64 points.

Source: https://znews.vn/conte-day-la-ngay-toi-ghet-lam-hlv-post1542050.html