Napoli are good again

Welcome to Calcio Square, an email newsletter dedicated to Serie A and Italian football. Every Thursday, Anthony Lopopolo picks out a player, team, or trend that's the talk of Serie A.

In the previous issue, I misspelled the name of one of our contributors. His name is Francis Obita, and you can find him on X here. Thanks again to Francis for sharing his thoughts about San Siro.

Feel free to email me with your thoughts about Napoli or anything else in Serie A here.

Now, onto today's issue.

Antonio Conte isn't a manager who needs an endless supply of time. It's been 148 days since he inherited the shattered remains of Napoli's title-winning roster, and he's already restored it back to life, guiding it back to the summit with the best defensive record in Serie A.

He's add some parts, too. Scott McTominay has been a two-way force since joining from Manchester United, and Romelu Lukaku has struck up a fruitful partnership with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the so-called one-season wonder who's still scoring goals for fun. Billy Gilmour and David Neres have also added some depth to Conte's squad, which has shed practically all of last year's deadweight, many of them signings as miscalculated as Aurelio De Laurentiis' decision to hire Rudi Garcia as Luciano Spalletti's ill-fated successor.

But it's the players who won there before that are winning again now. Conte has trusted them to recapture the spirit that made the champions. Defenders Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Amir Rrahmani, along with midfield lynchpin Frank Anguissa, have played in all 10 Serie A matches to date. Di Lorenzo, in particular, has impressed, scoring three goals while splitting duty in a ever-shifting back line.

Di Lorenzo didn't even want to be there when Conte showed up. His agent started all kinds of rumors, and De Laurentiis didn't like it. But Conte intervened, defused the situation, and rebuilt a player who had lost his way. While he can quite easily dismiss anyone who doesn't fit into his plans - as he did with Victor Osimhen - he can just as easily show players the affection they need to get their career back on track. That's one of Conte's strengths and why so many players go to war for him.

Conte has shown quite a bit of flexibility with this team, ditching his usually immovable 3-5-2 for a flexible 5-4-1 that weighs on the attacking side when the team has possession. It makes for much better viewing than you might expect from one of Conte's teams. It's not just about defending in low blocks and absorbing pressure. Napoli can play intricate passes and move the ball quickly up the field and create chances.

They did all of that and more in Tuesday's 2-0 win over AC Milan. And when they built up enough of a lead, they retreated to base, put up the barbed wire, and defended their way to their eighth win of the season.

This is what Conte could achieve with Napoli in five months. Imagine what he could over an entire season.

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