After the outburst, normality is needed, the coach draws from the past: against Atalanta we move towards 4-3-3 with Neres on the wing and Elmas as midfielder
Where were we? Bologna, 9 November 2025, five o’clock or so on a Sunday of a day that would become dog-like, “among the dead” who do not accompany each other, “little gardens” cultivated for one’s own purposes and the disheveled sense of rubble that could not even be glimpsed at least two hours before “that” match began. Or not, maybe it will be Saturday 25 October 2025, the light time of a smile, Inter clearly moved and the recognition and pride “for those real men”. There is a thread of light in this microcosm that has remained disoriented, it has spent a week inside a poisoned bubble, it has brought with it the echo of Antonio Conte’s outburst, it has clung to the composed expression of De Laurentiis (“there has always been a special harmony between me and Conte that certain men have in common”), it has felt a little shaken by little winds who know how slanderous about alleged intentions and real movements underground, and then he discovered that, breathing in and out, this storm is over: at 3pm we start again, and who knows how, certainly not pretending nothing happened, because something may have remained.
Normalize
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There is a mission in this Napoli team that has to face an unusual situation, from the top of a third place, two points from first in the league and with qualification for the Champions League play-offs which is not utopia: to normalize. And this means letting Conte’s return belong to the natural routine of a football team that reappears after a holiday weekend and sees its coach again, fresh from an unusual, powerful and powerful outburst: Giovanni Manna, the sporting director, will be there, as always, and Aurelio De Laurentiis has no irregular trips on his agenda.
Interviews
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Because De Laurentiis and Conte, Manna and Conte, clearly had a long dialogue, in inevitably long phone calls, necessary to discuss, and to analyze the difficulties of a team that has stopped scoring in the last three games and therefore stopped winning. But the problems have not been lacking, in fact they have increased: Conte will return and will also see Anguissa confined to therapy, one pillar less to go to “wage war with footballers who follow me and who deserve gratitude”.
We start again from three
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And looking here and there, in a team that is then weakened by injuries but certainly not limited, something is found: the trident reappears, in its shine, it is fine, it smacks of avant-garde football, it represents a leader of the Napoli maison who has contributed to enriching history: there was some in the years in which Spalletti achieved the miracle-scudetto and in Conte’s masterpiece, for the fourth title. There is still more, on the other hand this team was born to be in the 4-3-3, then set aside so as not to give up one of the Fab Four. In defence, there’s no mistake, now that Olivera will return close to the match against Atalanta and that Spinazzola will have to get into his role: from left to right, one can imagine that Gutierrez is asked to support the exits and diagonals and the rest, well, he doesn’t make a pleat, with Buongiorno, Rrahmani and Di Lorenzo guardians of Milinkovic-Savic. In the middle, without Anguissa and De Bruyne, it’s another football, but Lobotka is still him, he knows the times to direct the attack and has the wisdom to act as a breakwater. Around, on one side Elmas, who knows how to do various things but the midfielder much more, and McTominay, who can take back his role, the one in which he exalted his nature, first at Manchester United and then as MVP of a solar season. It is in front that a book reopens to the previous pages: the first Neres often went to the left; and now, if he wants, the armband is returned to him, he will have to guarantee the balance that is offered by Politano on the other side and then dialogue with Hojlund, who is different from Big Rom, if anything he loves to stretch, go into depth. Not the atmospheric ones of this dark week, full of afterthoughts.
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