Conte: 'Possession for its own sake' not what Napoli want

Antonio Conte Napoli (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Antonio Conte explains why his Napoli does not believe in ‘possession for its own sake’ and facing Lecce brings back memories of his unusual first Serie A goal.

It kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game and Atalanta-Verona on the Liveblog.

The Partenopei are already top of the table, but can extend their advantage this weekend because Inter and Juventus go head-to-head on Sunday evening.

The former midfielder is from Lecce and his first Serie A goal was scored against Diego Armando Maradona’s Napoli during a 3-2 defeat here in November 1989.

Most surprisingly he was wearing the Number 10 jersey that day, at a time when the numbers were still handed out on a game by game basis.

“I was a 10 by accident, I am more of a water-carrier! Without getting big-headed, I’d be a 4 at most, so I took it straight off again,” Conte told DAZN.

Conte keeps Napoli on their toesNAPOLI, ITALY – AUGUST 31: Romelu Lukaku of SSC Napoli talks with his coach Antonio Conte during the Serie A match between Napoli and Parma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on August 31, 2024 in Napoli, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

With a midweek round against Milan coming up, the coach does a little squad rotation, resting Matteo Politano and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to give David Neres and Cyril Ngonge their first Serie A starts.

Billy Gilmour continues to stand in for injured Stanislav Lobotka and Alex Meret returns in goal after more than a month out with a muscular issue.

“We made four changes from the side that beat Empoli. The important thing is to win, not to rest players, because there is absolutely no guarantee we are supposed to win today,” explained Conte.

Napoli do not tend to have a great deal of possession compared to many other teams in Serie A, but they are top of the table, so are there other characteristics?

“It’s important to have a bit of everything. Having possession with horizontal passes becomes a bit like keeping the ball for its own sake and that doesn’t interest me. We try to have possession with the objective of attacking the opposition goal, so inevitably we can make a vertical pass, it gets intercepted and we lose the ball, but the objective must always be trying to score goals.”

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