Antonio Conte and Simone Inzaghi are similar in some ways and different in others, but one commonality they would have preferred to avoid is the circumstance in which they were forced to experience the last round of the Serie A.
Both managers were shown red cards in their penultimate league games, Conte in Napoli’s 0-0 draw against Parma for angrily confronting the opposition bench and Inzaghi in Inter Milan’s 2-2 draw against Lazio for dissent. This meant they were stripped of their right to patrol the touchline, bark instructions to their players and exhort their teams from close quarters.
Problem solvers
Both managers have had to deal with setbacks, irritations and disruptions during the course of the Serie A season, but they found solutions in adversity to produce a thrilling title race.
Conte, a serial winner with a history of prickly exchanges with club owners, has had a strange, uneasy relationship with the Napoli fans. He took over after last season’s disappointing title defence when the club finished 10th in the standings, and, in a remarkable turnaround, made Napoli a headline act in this season’s Scudetto race, but the fans have not quite embraced him.
Throughout the season, Conte has spoken before about the atmosphere surrounding the club, the high expectations of the media, and the criticism of his side. He hasn’t been pleased with having to confront these topics again and again, once saying, “If you keep asking me this question, it means there’s something wrong, doesn’t it?”
At a press conference before the home game against Genoa, when Conte was asked if the fans were asking him about his future, his response included the words of a famous Italian song. “Trust me, the fans in this moment don’t ask me this question,” Conte said with a smile. “The fans, apart from thanking me, ask if we will win. And I answer that we will certainly try. This is their only question. The rest? It’s boredom, Franco Califano, ‘Everything else is boredom’.”
In 2024-25, Conte showed why he has won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. He started with an inventory of the resources at his disposal, and decided to prioritise the league campaign and rotate heavily in Coppa Italia, calling it “a very well-considered choice”.
A pragmatic tactician with strong principles of play, the 55-year-old has found success with three-at-the-back systems, but he always tailors his methods to the players he has.
At Napoli, the signings of midfielders Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour, striker Romelu Lukaku and winger David Neres in the final days of the transfer window saw Conte begin with a narrow 4-2-3-1 before settling on the 4-3-3, with the wingers wide.
“There have certainly been changes since the beginning of the summer, especially as I am still trying to find the right tactics for this team,” Conte told DAZN. “The arrival of Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku, in particular, made a big difference to the switch to 4-3-3. ”
Handling instability
But Conte was forced to tinker with the successful system when Napoli sold star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Paris St. Germain in the January transfer window. In a bid to find goals, he has trialled two-striker solutions, with McTominay making driving forward runs in support. Conte has also had to deal with the instability created by Kvaratskhelia’s exit.
Unbreakable: Simone Inzaghi has risen to the challenge of sustaining a battle on three fronts with a squad depleted by injuries. It’s a remarkable feat, considering that the resources he has access to are dwarfed by those of his continental contemporaries. | Photo credit: Getty Images
“Victories are built, they are not invented, but what I can guarantee is to rebuild solid foundations that can last,” he said. “When you build teams, you have to put in many ingredients.” Given this stated approach, it’s interesting that Conte has managed to find immediate success.
Where Conte has prioritised the league, Inzaghi has had to devise methods to sustain a battle on three fronts. In addition to mounting a Serie A title defence, Inter has had to deal with the rigours of a semifinal run in the Coppa Italia and an extraordinary Champions League campaign — and all this with resources dwarfed by those of Inzaghi’s continental contemporaries.
“Inter have never chosen the league, the Champions League or the Coppa Italia,” he said after the manic semifinal win over Barcelona on a thrilling European night. “It’s Inter, they have to play on all fronts, it’s nonsense that we sit down and choose something.”
Inzaghi has risen to the challenge of balancing domestic duties with the looming Champions League final against Paris St. Germain on May 31 with an injury-depleted squad. He has found ways of maximising the players he has, implementing tactical and training solutions to ensure his side can continue to play with the compact intensity that it is renowned for. But it has still come at the cost of the Serie A title defence, because you can only stretch a thin squad so far.
“I need to give some players rest time after a long and hard season,” he said. “People say Inter have a small squad but we don’t have the budget of PSG, Manchester City or Bayern Munich, so we need to be better in terms of organisation. With this heart, we can fight it out with everyone. We have to stay focused even when we sleep, the kids know that. [Having] many absentees is not easy for us coaches, so it is important to always recover our strength.”
Creating team spirit
Inter, like the rest of cash-strapped Serie A, can no longer attract the world’s top stars, so Inzaghi has had to create a team unit, a spirit that shines through whenever the side plays, but especially so on the big occasion. It’s a remarkable feat, given that he joined a club in turmoil in 2021 following the departure of both Conte and a clutch of star players, and he was close to the sack not long before Inter reached the Champions League final two years later.
Inzaghi’s ability was questioned after Inter lost a dramatic Serie A title battle with Milan in his first season and then finished 18 points behind 2023 champion Napoli. But he has since risen to become one of football’s elite coaches. In addition to last season’s league triumph, Inzaghi has led the club to three Italian Super Cups and two Italian Cups.
The 49-year-old’s well-drilled 3-5-2, led by the attacking duo of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram, kept Inter in the Serie A title hunt despite only two outfield players in the squad making more than 30 league starts before the deciding round.
While managers, in public discourse, are judged by trophies they win, a better assessment — given they don’t all have access to the same resources — involves judging them against the potential of their sides. Were they able to extract the most from the players they had? By that benchmark, both Conte and Inzaghi have had a stellar 2024-25. And they deserve bonus points for taking the Serie A title race down to the wire and keeping football fans invested.
Published – May 23, 2025 11:30 pm IST