Napoli manager, Antonio Conte has sounded a note of warning to his players about how dangerous Ademola Lookman could be as they face Atalanta in a Serie A game on Sunday.
Conte, according to Football Italia has warned Napoli that if Arsenal had to make tactical sacrifices to deal with Atalanta, then so will they on Sunday, saying it is not possible for them to underestimate the match.
The Partenopei are running away at the top of the Serie A table and have won every match except for a single draw away to Juventus since the opening weekend.
As for La Dea, they have won four on the bounce domestically, scoring 15 goals and conceding two.
Worthy of note is Lookman’s wonderful performances so far this season with the Nigerian international having scored five goals and contributed as many assists in 11 games across all competitions for Atalanta.
As such, Napoli gaffer, Conte has warned his players about Lookman even as he is planning to make use of a five-man defence in their Serie A game versus Atalanta.
“This is a big danger, because Atalanta are a strong team, they won the Europa League by ending Bayer Leverkusen’s season-long unbeaten record,” said Conte in his press conference.
“It is not possible for Napoli to underestimate this match. If anything, it could be Atalanta who underestimate us, seeing what happened last season. You all keep telling me it is an advantage not playing European games, but I warn you it is a disadvantage because we don’t have such a deep squad.”
He also noted that when Atalanta drew 0-0 with Arsenal in the Champions League, the Gunners made tactical sacrifices.
“It was Matteo who gave me the idea to drop down if needed when under attack. Against Atalanta, Arsenal put Thomas Partey on Ademola Lookman to form a five-man line, sometimes Arsenal also brought Saka and Martinelli deep.
“There is an evolution, you attack in one way and defend in another. It’s not just about defenders but the whole team working together to defend.
“I have really drummed the tactical issues into the players ahead of this game and we’ll see what happens.”
