The Azzurri weathered Cagliari's attacking attempts to strike clinically for the victory.
"Cagliari is a very difficult place to play, the pitch was very dry, it was extremely windy and so you had to calculate the flight of the ball,” Conte told Sky Italia.
“We started well, the interruption for the fireworks and objects thrown stalled our momentum, then we saw in the second half what we should’ve done better. We need to keep improving on the duels all over the field, keeping focused and concentrated, because that is what you require in Serie A.
“This is a team in my view that over the years didn’t like to get its hands dirty. After what happened last season, the switch was more about mentality than organisation and tactics. We did better in the pressing today and that led to one of the goals, so it is improving, but it is not easy to build that kind of mentality.
“I denounced certain things after that first game and knew that the players were good lads, they understood and are working on their determination, grit and ferocity, which we saw in the way we fought and suffered today to keep a clean sheet. There is certainly improvement.”