A stellar Napoli midfield to remain at the top: A look at Antonio Conte’s fantastic four at centre park | OneFootball

The Partenopei commenced the 2025/26 in fabulous fashion with a convincing 2-0 win against Sassuolo at the Mapei stadium, a victory in which depicted coach Antonio Conte’s hard-work and attention to every fine detail in preparation.

Napoli’s four-man midfield truly dazzled on the pitch as last year’s MVP Scott McTominay broke the deadlock with a towering header and Belgian international Kevin De Bruyne made his mark on his debut with the Azzurri following a splendid free-kick that curled pas Stefano Turati.

Following a dominant display in which the middle of the pitch served as nucleus of the Napoli squad Saturday evening, La Gazzetta dello Sport analyzes Napoli’s fantastic four in midfield, which includes Stanislav Lobotka, Franck Anguissa, McTominay, and De Bruyne.

Throughout the Partenopei’s opening fixture against the Neroverdi, the midfield department demonstrated an immense amount of courage, as they showed resilience with their ability to suffer and be menacing when moving forward towards goal.

With former Juventus and Inter coach Antonio Conte deciding not to part ways with Anguissa and Lobotka, the Italian tactician managed to maintain balance within the central area of the park.

Furthermore, the addition of De Bruyne added a great deal of versatility in midfield as the former Manchester City play-maker portrayed a complete performance against Sassuolo as he first started as a mezzalla, then moved up the pitch as a trequartista, and even playing as a false-nine up-top.

The midfield managed to change shape and different roles while not once dropping in quality and intensity, illustrating Conte’s fortitude that he instilled within his squad, as well as his remarkable ability to push each of his players beyond their limits and extract very ounce of quality out of them.

Despite a short amount of time spent together in training , Conte showed no hesitation in deploying the fantastic four in midfield from the first match-day as he seeks to have a squad that plays with a high, aggressive line, not letting the opponents play with the ball very easily without taking too many risks.

Throughout the match, we witnessed Conte’s philosophy being implemented as Lobotka and De Bruyne occasionally lined up with the defenders, Anguissa moving forward and attacking the space, and McTominay moving forward as a striker.

Antonio Conte continues to strive for perfection with his notions and ideologies on the pitch,  as he aims to make a significant statement heading into the Champions League this year in his second year at Napoli.

Julian Faustini Ι GIFN