Napoli Serie A 2025/26 Season Thread: Amma faticà, ma cchiù assaje

He is the only source of chances we get. A striker. You know the guy who is supposed to get a chance or two for himself, but we can’t do that

 

Italiano > Conte

 

The winner was a bit unlucky for the lads. Deflection, save, and then the ball fell fortuitously for them, but Bologna forced the error, put numbers forward and Napoli was caught in transition.

Italiano preplanned that 3-man sub at around the 80th minute mark. He always had it in his mind to push his players hard for 80 minutes and inject new energy late on. They finished the game stronger as a result, where as Napoli looked a little more sapped. McTominay was finished, but Elmas injected some life into the attack.

 

Yes a soft ass pen and Rowe taking advantage of a goalkeeper error.

 

Calling that a GK error is harsh

regardless we yet again had an xG of less than 1, its simply not good enough especially at home.

 

Less than 1 xG? By my count Napoli had several good chances.

It took two very good finishes and a penalty for Bologna to win. They're a good side, among the best in Italy.

I thought Scott was below his best. He was straining late on, but even prior he looked out of sorts. Bologna were very rough on him.

Napoli showed a lot of quality to draw level. The goal from DiLo really swung the momentum. Bologna became undone for a period.

The players seemed content with a draw and Conte had no further options to win the game. Elmas and Billy were positive changes, but it was not enough. Elmas was left with too much to do on his own while everyone else seemed tired and played for the draw. Billy is still figuring out the ropes.

Bologna came into those final minutes with more energy and that tipped the momentum back to them. Italiano pre-planned the game very intelligently, but at 0-2 Bologna were a bit too complacent and began to sit back too much. They looked very comfortable on the ball in their own third, but less comfortable on the ball in the middle of the park. They need to play a little more out of their own and high pressing all game isn't toally practical.

 

IMO if KdB played, I think Napoli would have won. He was a big miss today.

 

Im soon going to completely give up trying to explain why Conte isn’t great anymore in 2026. Actually he’s quite bad. His biggest strength is player motivation and that shows on his Napoli team, in fact motivation has been carrying Contes Napoli.
Everyone is always motivated for every game we play, not a single one of those players look like they are not giving it their all - now the unfortunate thing is Conte has equipped them with his lackluster tactics and systems.


And who the fk are Bologna for us to drop all points at home? I see a team full of average players.

 

Half of the team hates Conte according to Fabrizio Corona. The full report airs next week

 

I hope he names players.

KdB fractured his cheek. He'll probably play the WC in a mask.

@Sacki

They have some quality players. Rowe is being tipped for a big money move to the EPL. Orsolini was among the top scorers last season at 15 goals. Lewis Ferguson and Remo Freuler are among the best performing midfielders in Serie A.

Bologna are a good team. They press well and keep their composure when they themselves are pressed. Italiano has done excellent work. But once the ball gets into the middle of the pitch, they don't do enough as a team to support their midfield and keep it. They're too devoted to the counter. I'm a big fan of Italiano, but I'm not sure how his approach will translate to a bigger side that can dominate the ball. It's not like Bologna were lacking the players for it. Freuler is among the best passers in Serie A.

I think big part of the problem with Napoli's game is Lobotka. I'm a big fan of Lobo, but his approach is not positive. A lot of stagnant passing. He's not really carrying the ball forward with long runs. He's more conservative in that regard. I say let him go to Juve. Now the question is, do we trust Billy or do we sign someone like Casemiro?

 

Lobo actually likes to do that a lot with Slovakia, for which reason I must assume those are orders he is following.

The Slovak FB webpage that until some games ago had always been positive now completely exploded after yesterday's game. Conte's translated interviews fail to draw any attention to themselves, as if people were no longer even interested in his explanations.

 

Dont get me wrong they are okay. But we are talking men vs boys compared to our squad. Some of the players we have are a level or two above serie A. Lobo, Scott, hojlund, santos and rahmani could all play at the absolute highest level and they all started. If Bologna had just one player of that quality we’d be talking club icon.
Orsolini is shit, sorry but he is. A young politano would wipe his ass with him. He reminds me of Berardi, good in front of goal, useless in almost every other aspect due to lack of physicality, speed or work ethic.
And freuler is 34, that is basically deadline for a box to box.

In regards to Lobo I agree, but I’ve stopped trying to make reason out of it. A lot of the time he has no one good enough to pass the ball to near him. Lobo’s (limited) passing range is what’s creating the problem here, and I think it’s something Conte is failing to address

 

Probably the players he doesn’t use, of which Oliveira must be the most useful one.
But it would be interesting if it’s some of the starters?

 

Soft ass players

 

Very interesting revelations are about to come out.

- Corona claims 3/4 of the squad are pushing for Napoli to get rid of Conte. I’m curious to hear exactly what the grievances are.

- Enzo Raiola says that ADL is the last real president of Serie A. He’s a guy that always played by his own rules. Never was swayed by agent power or forced into transfers that didn’t help Napoli. But since Conte arrived in Naples, he has taken a back seat in order to keep Conte happy. Conte came to Naples with a big staff but also his own network of relationships. This is my speculation, but I really think ADL feels he got fleeced by Conte and agent Beppe Riso with the signing of Lucca. 35+ plus for a guy who is probably worth 10. Beppe Riso is at the center of attention right now

 

The Riso stuff is interesting. SAF did similar stuff at Man U. Anyone remember Bebe?

A bit strange that 3/4 of the squad is pushing to oust Conte. Same, want to hear the reasons.

 

well its 100% not imo:
hojlund, mctominay, allisson, Di Lorenzo, Politano, buongiorno, Vanja, Vergara

they are either just happy to play or respect Conte a lot.

i can imagine the rest could have conflicts regarding playtime, hard training sessions or playstyle

 

If I had to speculate, it’s the combination of intense training sessions where players are over worked. And of course Conte’s insistence on controlling the players minds with non stop tactical drilling

 

And also his insistence on getting results while being the most boring team in the world.

Do not doubt this. We are

 

And, in all fairness, we are not even getting results, we are merely being gay as ********, bcs that is SA now...

 

They’re reporting that ADL and Conte are heading for a reconciliation and that Conte will continue with Napoli for another year. What a ********ing disaster

 

I want this bastard out. I want my Napoli back

 

He will spent another 100+ million on shit. Mctominay will drop to 20-30mill value (from 80) after the season ends. Inter, Juventus and Roma will all finish above us in the table.
He might go to the CL knock out. Might.

I wasn’t this upset when Conte played 433, I could live with it. But this shit with 5 defenders is literal torture.

 

There is no way buongiorno is a better left CB than Oliveira.

 

Again we are 2-0 up with an xG of 0,38.

all our goals have to come from range or random crosses/set pieces.

this won’t work in most games which is the problem and why conte has to be sacked