A Khvicha Kvaratskhelia penalty was enough for the win, as Conte was pleased with the debut of Billy Gilmour on the day.
The good news is the victory but also what came from the bench?
"What definitely satisfies me is having seen a reaction in the second half, the first was very negative. I changed something from a tactical point of view in terms of possession. I think it bore fruit, because we saw another match. In the first half we were spectators, I didn't see what we had prepared and I saw a lot of nervousness.
"This is a difficult pitch, I don't know if it was due to defending the first position, but it makes me smile when I think about last year or how we started. We must not be nervous, otherwise it becomes dangerous. We must enjoy the journey trying to improve, facing the matches without the weight of the other competitors.
"We think about ourselves. The match was difficult, Empoli proved to be one of the two or three revelation teams of the championship. If today we don't raise the revs in the second half, today we would have gone home with a good thrashing. We must try to be as balanced as possible."
Was it possible to think of a double striker with Simeone and Lukaku?
"When you work during the week you prepare the game in all phases, we had prepared it in the defensive phase with 4-5-1. Also to put pressure on Pezzella. If you work on a situation for ten days you can't overturn everything. Something has to change in other situations, in the duels, in the incisiveness."
How did you see Gilmour?
"It was his first game, he was improving. In the first half he struggled a bit to find the right measures, in the second half he did much better like the whole team. I'm happy we have him, he's an excellent player. It wasn't easy today in Empoli, the performance was positive overall, he's an important option."
On the eve of the match you had put this match on alert. Did Napoli know how to interpret a bad first half differently?
"I repeat, the first half did not satisfy me. We did nothing of what we had expected, then we recovered. We are building and let's enjoy what we are doing without getting too excited. This position in the standings must not weigh us down."
How do you rate Kvaratskhelia's performance?
"The same thing applies to him as I said to the others. No one in the first half achieved a passing grade, in the second half everyone performed better. The goal is to build a foundation, we also have to rebuild ourselves as a team. When you make changes like this it is fundamental, every year we will have to raise the quality of the team."