Rasmus Hojlund’s new lease of life at Napoli has hit a bit of a snag after Napoli’s latest game, when Antonio Conte gave a brutally honest verdict on the performance.
The dream start by Rasmus Hojlund at Napoli, which included a goal on debut and immediately becoming undroppable, surprised many.
His success at Napoli has been so rapid that there are talks of Napoli buying him in January instead of waiting until the summer.
Antonio Conte might be putting a hold on that rampant praise for a while, though, if his latest comments after another goalless draw for Napoli are any indication.
Antonio Conte bemoans Napoli’s wastefulness
A common clap-back at Man Utd against those who criticised Hojlund was that the team wasn’t creating enough chances or involving him in the game.
While that was true to a degree, Hojlund also did himself no favours by making poor runs and missing the odd clear-cut chance that fell to him.
Conte is now feeling what Erik ten Hag must have felt, or Ruben Amorim was feeling at the start of this season, because his team has forgotten their shooting boots.
Their latest 0-0 draw at home to Frankfurt followed a goalless draw against Como in the league, and Conte was frustrated after the game.
He said [via Tuttomercatoweb]: “Today we had some clear-cut chances, where you have to score, there’s little to say. You can have possession as much as you want, dominate, create chances, but then the ball has to go in.
“If we had capitalised on our chances today, we would have made it 2-0 or 3-0 and we’d be talking about a great Napoli.
“Instead, I’m here to explain a 0-0 draw because we weren’t good enough. I repeat, chances were clear-cut. It’s disappointing, because, in the end, we didn’t score against Como, nor [Frankfurt].”
Rasmus Hojlund among those who missed clear-cut chances
Conte didn’t name Hojlund directly, but any time a team is accused of missing clear-cut chances, the striker is bound to get scrutinised.
As per FotMob, he was the lowest-rated player on the pitch against Frankfurt as he missed one big chance of his own, and had the least amount of touches among all outfielders.
He had six touches in the opposition and let fly two shots of genuine quality, but fluffed both, so this wasn’t a case of chances not being created for him.
He struggled to get involved despite Napoli dominating the attack, and the wastefulness compounded to make it a forgettable day for him.
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