Antonio Conte was pleased to have Romelu Lukaku rescuing Napoli on his debut against Parma, but ranted at the ‘absurd’ transfer market being open this late into the season.
The Partenopei were trailing for much of the game, even against 10 men when Zion Suzuki was sent off, until Lukaku came off the bench to transform their fortunes.
He scored the equaliser by turning a defender with a trademark move, then David Neres provided the cross for a stoppage-time Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa header to win 2-1.
“When Lukaku scored, I immediately told the lads to get back into midfield and start again quickly, because it was only an equaliser and we needed to keep playing,” Conte told DAZN.
“We managed to score the second and this was a performance of real heart against a very good Parma team. I had warned everyone in my press conference, because Parma have excellent players and you cannot leave them room to attack.
“We could’ve done a lot better on the goal that we conceded, but we take the three points knowing full well there is a lot of work to be done.”
Lukaku finally arrived from Chelsea, but 48 hours later was already playing and scoring, while Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour were presented to the fans before kick-off.
Conte raging at timing of transfer market
It is no secret that Conte has been frustrated by the situation of the transfer deadline being on the eve of the third round of the Serie A season.
“It is an absurd situation, coaches have to train players who are going to leave and wait for players we’ve never worked with and don’t know in what condition they’ll be when they do arrive,” said a visibly furious coach.
“Football is evolving all the time, but there needs to be someone looking at this ridiculous rule that damages all coaches and clubs.
“We had zero midfielders on the bench today, as yesterday Iaccarino and Saco went on loan. We had to pray that nothing happened to Lobotka and Anguissa, I hope that things can change in future, seeing as everyone is ready to change formats and rules.
“Lukaku had two training sessions in his legs, Neres only arrived recently, now we’ll try to make the most of the break for international duty. Having said that, we won’t have McTominay and Gilmour until next week, so it becomes really difficult to work this way.”
As for the match itself, Conte admits Napoli could’ve been in a worse situation after Parma hit the woodwork twice in the first half.
“The match was complicated, we need to find goals from everyone, not just the strikers,” continued the coach.
“We must be more incisive from set plays, with shots from distance to create situations. We started the reconstruction of this team with 10-12 new players, even if some of them arrived very late.
“As you all know, our transfer market was stalled by certain situations,” said Conte in reference to the failure of Victor Osimhen’s negotiations with Al-Ahli and Chelsea.
“We did not just bring in players to build on an existing team, but to fill certain empty slots, and I am happy with the work done by the club.
“If we had been able to sell Osimhen, it would’ve been an even better situation, but what happened cannot be changed and we move on.”