Conte wants more Napoli goals to avoid late scares

Antonio Conte urged his Napoli side to be more clinical in front of goal as he aims to avoid late “heart attacks”.

Napoli laboured to a 1-0 win over struggling Venezia on Sunday, with substitute Giacomo Raspadori grabbing the decisive goal late on.

Raspadori’s winner, which sent Napoli onto 41 points, level with Serie A leaders Atalanta, came after Romelu Lukaku had seen a penalty saved in the first half.

And Conte demanded more from his team when it comes to putting their chances away, having seen Napoli have 25 shots, with those chances worth an accumulative 2.0 expected goals.

“I am pleased, because the team is improving, but if we can score a few more goals then we’d all be more relaxed and avoid a few heart attacks in the closing stages,” Conte told DAZN, as reported by Football Italia.

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Conte has now hit 500 Serie A points as a coach, and explained his competitive edge is what keeps him hungry for more success.

“Even when I play cards with my daughter, I want to win,” Conte said.

“I would never sign on for minimum goals. Personally, I always aim for the maximum, finding ourselves on 41 points was very difficult to predict, in my opinion.

“The squad is improving and works, game after game. We need to avoid injuries, the players and the fans are getting a lot of satisfaction.”

Conte also reserved praise for Raspadori, who scored his first goal of the season, having struggled to establish himself in Napoli’s starting XI on a regular basis.

“We are [using] Raspadori [as an attacking midfielder] as a choice,” Conte said.

“I’m working on turning him into an attacking midfielder, to add quality during games, which, like today, can certainly be a strategy that works.

“I’m personally happy for Giacomo, he deserves it given the energy and seriousness which he puts into every training session, he is a guy involved in the project.”