Napoli Must Prove This Is Not A Jose Mourinho Story

Even by Antonio Conte’s standards, his March 2023 exit from Tottenham Hotspur was explosive.

Fuming after his team surrendered a 3-1 lead against lowly Sheffield United, the Italian manager unloaded on the media in shocking fashion.

“Tottenham’s story is this. Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something, but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here?” He told a room of astonished reporters.

His position in North London would always be untenable after that moment, and it was of little surprise that he departed not long after.

Conte has not been averse to delivering harsh words about his employers or staff publicly.

Whether it was telling Juventus its transfer activity was like sitting “down in a restaurant where you have to pay €100 to eat” and “attempt[ing] to pay €10” or accusing Inter’s owners of providing “very little protection from the club,” the list of bust-ups is extensive.

Yet his outburst at Spurs felt different. He’d never made such a terminal declaration about a team he’d managed. No matter how brutal the criticism, there was always a way back.

So it was tempting to wonder whether something had broken irretrievably inside Conte after that outburst.

After all, we saw a similar pattern from Jose Mourinho, in which his explosive, hypercritical internal attacks started derailing a project before it had barely begun.

When Conte was appointed manager at Napoli, a club that can be turbulent even with the calmest maestro at the helm, the feeling that this would test whether he’d gone the same way as the Portuguese coach was overwhelming.

After a 3-0 opening-day defeat to Verona, a furious Conte described his team as melting like “snow in the sun” and it was tempting to wonder if things were over before they even began.

“We must humbly apologize to the Neapolitan people who follow us with passion,” he told the media.

“I am the coach, and it is right that I take full responsibility.

“I humbly apologize because the second half was unacceptable.

“A performance that was the result of something, but we need to work hard from all points of view. I arrived in Naples with great enthusiasm, great desire. I can make myself available in any situation, if I can help Napoli I will. We must apologize to the Neapolitan people who show us so much affection and passion. I take full responsibility because I am the coach.”

As always, that anger was combined with the demand for fresh talent. When asked how many players he wanted to bring in, the coach replied: “One, two, three, four could arrive, as many as the club wants to sign. The problems must be faced head-on, and they are not necessarily easy issues to fix.”

Since that humiliating defeat, however, the opposite has happened. Napoli won every single game except a 0-0 draw with Juventus.

Conte 2.0

Conte’s rhetoric was no longer about melting snow but about strong mentalities.

“What I can promise is seriousness, a word that is often underestimated,” he said.

“Seriousness in giving everything for Napoli, in transmitting my culture at work, my mentality.”

After an impressive 2-0 victory over AC Milan at the San Siro, Conte spoke with even more fervor about his admiration for his team.

Singling out the performance of one of his summer recruits, Romelu Lukaku, he highlighted his focus and desire.

“There is great empathy with Romelu, he wanted to come to Naples at all costs, he waited until the end and gave up English teams,” he said.

“He wanted to come back to work with me, he is a good guy like everyone here in Naples, we are lucky to have a group of guys who are truly exceptional. I have guys who are ready to die for the team they play for.”

But, in the purest indication that this is a refreshed and focused Conte, he went even further.

“This is one of the best groups I have had in my career, everyone looks at the same goal,” he added.

” Even between me and the club and the whole environment we have created in Castel Volturno [where Napoli’s training center is] from the warehouseman to the gardener. I breathe beautiful and clean air, passion and enthusiasm. When I happen to find this type of situation, I live it with passion.”

Rather than seeing this as a Mourinho-esque spiral into obscurity, we should see Conte’s Tottenham experience as the outlier.

Clearly, the sands of time have not dulled his feelings. When asked about it recently, the Italian coach remained defiant and appeared to show few regrets about how things ended.

“I think Tottenham did incredibly well because they were ninth when I arrived and we got into the Champions League.

“The two years after I left, which was for personal reasons, they did not qualify for the Champions League.

“I think I achieved a lot there too. If people ask me for miracles, then I can speed them up and get the best out of the squad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we can win. I think I got the maximum possible out of that Tottenham side.”

This will be of little comfort to Spurs fans, but it will undoubtedly give Neopolitans confidence that the Conte they’ve got is back to his best self.