Conte laments missed chances in Udinese draw
Antonio Conte felt Napoli "gave everything" and believes they deserved more after being held to a 1-1 draw by Udinese in Serie A.
Scott McTominay scored the opener for Napoli in the 37th minute with a thumping header, but it was penned back by Jurgen Ekkelenkamp's long-range swerving strike just three minutes later.
Napoli extended its unbeaten run to nine matches in Serie A, but has now drawn its last two (both 1-1). It is the first time Napoli has registered consecutive draws in the Italian top-flight since the last two matches of 2023-2024 under Francesco Calzona.
Conte's side had 18 chances overall, with 11 of those coming in the first half, and the 55-year-old rued those missed opportunities having failed to convert more while in control of the match before the break.
"It's a pity because I think we deserved more than a point this evening," Conte said.
"The second half petered out slowly, but in the first half, we created a lot of chances, we controlled the game, but if you don't convert those opportunities, then it will cause problems.
"The lads left the field drained tonight, they gave everything to get the victory. It was our ninth game unbeaten, so trust me from the heart when I say this is extraordinary."
Udinese avoided an away defeat against Napoli in Serie A for the first time since December 2013 (3-3 in that case), breaking a streak of 10 consecutive wins for the Partenopei at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in the competition.
Conte admitted Napoli had, at times, struggled to cope with Udinese's physicality and skill.
"Udinese are a very physical team with some real quality players who I believe will soon move to big clubs," Conte noted.
"We did what we always do, press high, but they had players like Lorenzo Lucca who dominate in the air and are always a threat."
With its second successive stalemate, after that 1-1 draw with Roma last week, Napoli missed the chance to move six points clear at the top of Serie A.
Only three times before have Napoli had more points at this stage (24 games) in a single Serie A season in the three-point-per-win era: 56 in 2015-16, 63 in 2017-2018, and 65 in 2022-2023.
"I can't ask the boys to do any more than that, otherwise we risk the machine going off the rails and the engine breaking down. If someone is disappointed with two draws, it's not my problem," Conte said.
