Manna on Napoli ‘unity’ with Conte and facing Juventus past | OneFootball

Napoli director Giovanni Manna hails the ‘unity’ between the club and coach Antonio Conte, as Juventus represent the first big step of this new ‘journey’ together.

It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s three Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.

“In these sad days, we want to spare an opening thought for the family of Totò Schillaci,” Manna told DAZN, as there will be a minute’s silence before kick-off in every game this weekend for the hero of Italia ’90.

Conte lost his first match 3-0 at Verona, but has since racked up three victories in a row and that makes this a battle for top spot in the Serie A table.

“The coach and I started a journey together, this is our first year at Napoli. There is a daily discussion, mutual trust, I think unity between a club and coach is essentially in modern football and he is central to this project. We hope the journey will last as long as possible.”

Napoli and Juventus directors swapped jobs

Manna was working at Juventus for many years, including last season as Cristiano Giuntoli’s assistant, before effectively taking Giuntoli’s old job at Napoli this summer.

“It is very emotional for me, as I grew up at Juventus and have fond memories, but I am focused on the present with Napoli. Clearly, I had a year working with Cristiano, we didn’t know that I’d end up coming here, but he told me many anecdotes about working at Napoli.”

Scott McTominay gets his first start for Napoli this evening and as a result Conte also reshuffles the system to more of a 4-3-3 formation from his traditional 3-4-3.

His arrival from Manchester United also reflects the growing ambition of the club, who want to at least challenge for Champions League qualification this season.

“When new players arrive, there is always curiosity to see them get their full debuts. It is the start of a journey, this is one of the first steps, but we have to stay focused on the daily work, taking it slowly. We know what the club asked and where we want to end up. The coach has a fairly complete squad, he saw Scott do well in training and that’s why he is starting.”