Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Romelu Lukaku & Antonio Conte: The Best Player + Manager Duo In Football? (Ep. 455)
1.7k Plays2 months ago
Romelu Lukaku has scored twice in as many games at Napoli under Antonio Conte has The Italian Football Podcast discussing if the duo is the best player + manager duo in football right now.
This is an extended clip from this week's free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
To listen to this & all other full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast (with no ads), go to Patreon.com/TIFP OR now also available on Spotify to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
Recommended
Transcript
Lukaku's Impact at Napoli
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome Well, partly thanks to Romelu Lukaku, who he's made such a fantastic impact since joining to Napoli already. They thrashed Calgary 4-0, and the star of a show was undoubtedly Romelu Lukaku. the Italian football podcast. He scored one, he made... Did he make one or did he make two? I'm thinking he maybe got two assists. Did he get two assists? Yeah, I think he got two assists because I haven't made him a fantasy team.
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah, that's ah that's the dream player. I mean, he's he's basically had no preseason. He was just training by himself in preseason. Conte even said off the game, like he's barely 50% fit, really. And he's already had such a fantastic impact on ah you know on this on this Napoli team.
The Lukaku-Conte Connection
00:01:06
Speaker
um i What I want to talk about is, I want to talk about first of all, and and you can you'll you'll know a lot about this, like what what is it about this Conte Lukaku relationship? like i mean they Are they the best, I put out a tweet, i mean are they the best player manager duo in football? that They must be. Probably, yeah, probably. um They're just this connection that they have on and off the pitches. You know, we saw a Inter, but even before, Kante mentions, you know, he's been trying to sign Lukaku even when he was, you know, before at Chelsea, when he was ah when he was younger. It's been a connection that's been there for most of Lukaku's career. And it's just still continuing. And clearly, it's not just about footballing reasons. They must, you know, get on off the pitch as well as a
00:02:00
Speaker
as people. um So that must help. And they must have an understanding. And Conte, I think, knows exactly how to use Lukaku. I think he's the only manager that really knows how to use him, how to get the best out of him, when to criticize him, when to, you know, when to use the caro, when to use the stick. He just knows his mentality inside and out. And Yeah, maybe he might be the best player manager during football. You know, I saw some of your examples. You had Pep and Messi, Sarri Jorginho, but I also thought of Mourinho's like similar in terms of he likes to bring him back. Guys that he loves like Matic, he brought him at Man United and Chelsea, Cavalli and Paulo Ferreira, his Chelsea boys and Porto boys, or I think Cavalli was Real Madrid and Chelsea.
00:02:52
Speaker
ah drug boy brought him back after he left as well at Chelsea twice. Fellaini and David Moyes to a lower level. Well, Mourinho liked Fellaini as well, actually. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. Pamez Rodriguez and Ancelotti, those are some of the ones that came came to mind. Yeah, I mean, Cavallio, Mourinho even tried to sign Cavallio for Inter as well. Yeah, before Lucio. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. So there was supposed to be him yeah he wanted to sign for value and deco a thing and then he ended up with lucio and schneider which yeah wasnt
00:03:26
Speaker
wasn't too bad in the wasn't too bad no no yeah i mean i think that the difference i mean these these are all great examples but i think the difference with with lukaki and kte is that all these other players also had great you know, played great for but other managers as well, or other clubs. ah Whereas Lukaku, I mean, if you're looking at the the top top level, when Lukaku was a player who was a laughing stock at United, I remember it, like living you remember it living in England.
Lukaku's Performance Under Conte
00:03:53
Speaker
I mean, he yeah a mom yeah he became a meme, like his first touch, everybody used to just mock that first touch, how bad it was.
00:04:00
Speaker
Kante made him instantly into one of the best in the world together at Inter. And then, again, since he left Inter in his first spell, he's, I don't want to say looked washed, but he's looked past his best. And now he's 31. When you look at him at Chelsea, he was bad. Back at Inter, he was so-so. And then Roma last season, some good and some bad, but certainly past his best. And now, OK, it's still early days. It's still only two games or one and a bit games.
00:04:30
Speaker
already. I mean, you've seen that the impact that but he's made. I mean, the difference... Yeah, we gave Laotaro the excuse of the no preseason, but Lukaku has even had less of a preseason and he's got two goals and two assists.
00:04:43
Speaker
exactly
Lukaku and Kawada's Partnership
00:04:44
Speaker
Exactly. I mean, his record under Conte is ridiculous. 66 goals in 97 games under Conte, 18 assists as well. But it's just the the way that he makes everyone around him play better and everything comes through him. I mean, that that the whole duck role, we're going to talk about Juventus after in Vlauovic, but he is an example, Lukaku. If Vlauovic can look at one player,
00:05:05
Speaker
look at Lukaku, the way that he he he uses his body to protect the ball and the way that players can play off him. And and really, you know, Lukaku and Kawada, I mean, I think i think that there's everything there for this to be a really, really fantastic partnership this season. I mean, Lukaku scored from a Kawada assist, Kawada scored from a Lukaku assist,
00:05:29
Speaker
And they they look like I think they they're going to do some damage this season. And I mean, if you've got those two playing like this together, I mean, you have to say Napoli are going to have to have ah have to be a challenger for the Scudetto if these two are going to be playing like this, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. And the Kavara in this kind of he's got a bit more of a free role now on the Conte because, you know, he's not stuck out on the wing. He kind of gets to come inside and I think That's go to giving him a new lease of life because I think it got kind of predictable on the wing when it was just a 4-3-3 and he was just on the wing. Now he's coming inside, coming central, combining. Sometimes it even looks like just a 3-5-2 with like Quara and Lukaku just combining. and is Yeah, he's looking really
Napoli's Defensive Challenges
00:06:16
Speaker
good. He's looking really, really good. But going back to your point about them being title challenges, I agree to a certain extent.
00:06:24
Speaker
But at the same time, they still look quite susceptible at the back. I mean, they conceded quite a few chances. A couple of headers that were me made massive saves on, they hit the crossbar. I think Kylery, if they had maybe a better striker, maybe not. Piquoli, I think they they could have potentially got something out of this game. Because Luvumbo and the the others were kind of creating things around him, but Piquoli just couldn't the ball was sticking to him and then the couple of half chances he had just completely misfired. Yeah, I agree. I think Napoli did ride their luck a little bit in this game and Merritt really did come out big and made some fantastic saves and then when they were really on top and they looked like they were going to equalise, there was the sucker punch with Corrada and then Napoli dominated afterwards. The goal was quite lucky that the Lorenzo goal was
00:07:15
Speaker
but said Very lucky. Yeah, I mean, yeah, huge, huge, huge luck there. But, so but yeah, I just think that especially we're going to come on to the event is like when you've got to two attackers like Clara and Lukaku, like you can be having a game where you're you're not at your best. And I don't think Napoli were in the early state or in even the first time I didn't think they play to play particularly well. But you've got those two up front. You know, you can win games that you're playing badly because they can score out of nothing. Can I feel like Juventus probably don't don't have that right now. And inser inter Inter do have it, but Inter were very sterile ah like as we as weve discussed. I think theyre Napoli, like they're always going to have a chance in games because of these two. yeah And that I think that would be a big strength.