Romelu Lukaku proved the matchwinner for Napoli.
"Before the match, I told the lads not to look at the table, but to focus on ourselves and improving what we are working on. I maintain that now too, because we need to take a series of steps to raise the level,” Conte told Sky Italia.
“I was satisfied with the performance for a good 65 minutes today, we could’ve taken more of our chances and were up against a strong Roma who have great players. We needed to be more wary on set plays, as that allowed them to hit the crossbar.
“Roma were also making their debut under a new coach and therefore were very eager to prove themselves, but we still should’ve dealt with the final 15-20 minutes better, as we sat too deep and made it complicated for ourselves.”
Conte also discussed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's visible frustration when he was taken off in the second-half.
“I think his first half was one of the best since I’ve been at Napoli. He returned from international duty with a few adductor issues, so hasn’t been training fully. Khvicha did what he needed to in the first half, but once we scored and I saw the team needed fresh legs, as well as not to risk doing any muscular damage to him.
“He’s training well, we should all be happy and ready to be part of this journey. I am very pleased with how he played in the first half, he had scoring opportunities too, but we can all keep working together and slowly improving together.”
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