Antonio Conte apologised to Napoli fans following Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Verona in his debut Serie A match in charge, while Udinese held last season’s surprise package Bologna to a 1-1 draw.
Verona newcomers Dailon Livramento and Daniel Mosquera, both with braces, scored in the second half at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, handing Conte a nightmare league start against struggling Napoli.
“We have to say sorry to our supporters because it was a second half that was, well it’s difficult even to assess what happened,” said a baffled Conte to DAZN.
“In the first half there was only one team on the pitch and it was Napoli. Then we came out for the second half maybe too satisfied with ourselves for the first half performance even though we were still goalless. But it wasn’t the same attitude as in the first half.”
Conte blasted his team, who only scraped past Serie B outfit Modena on penalties in the Italian Cup last weekend, for melting “like snow” once Livramento put Verona ahead four minutes after half-time.
“It is really worrying. Good teams react to difficult situations… but we completely fell apart,” added Conte.
“I’m the coach and it’s my responsiblity, so I apologise. It was a debacle and it’s my fault.”
On Saturday Conte described this season as “year zero” after Napoli finished 10th as defending champions in their previous disastrous campaign in which they went through three different coaches.
