Antonio Conte after Napoli’s draw v Venezia: “We played the game on a difficult pitch” | OneFootball

Serie A side Napoli were held to a goalless draw by Venezia earlier today and manager Antonio Conte has some things to say about the pitch after the tie.

While Venezia didn’t create much, they managed to keep the Partenopei at bay. Napoli did have their chances but could never put the ball into the back of the net.

Conte spoke to DAZN about the game and had criticism for the pitch. He said, as relayed by CalcioNapoli24: “What didn’t we do well today? I think that in terms of the game they didn’t put us in difficulty, we played the game on a difficult pitch and against a healthy team that made everyone work hard.”

He also criticised the carelessness from the Napoli side which led to them giving away a very good counter-attacking opportunity at the end of the tie.

“We did what we had to do, but if you have a lot of chances you have to score, What mustn’t happen and what bothered me a lot, is the two-on-six counterattack taken at the end. This means that your head isn’t there and it mustn’t happen, because you risk taking a defeat that would have been different than a draw at this point in the championship.”

Speaking further about the pitch, Conte revealed that he spoke to Venezia boss Eusebio di Francesco about why the pitch was how it was.

“We played the game, on a difficult pitch that hadn’t been wet and the ball wasn’t flowing. Maybe it’s the first time l”ve seen it this year, I asked Di Francesco and he told me it wasn’t their idea.”

The draw means that Napoli are at risk of falling behind Inter, who play Atalanta later. If La Dea win that game, Inter could fall to third in the table.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN