Antonio Conte's Napoli at risk of falling apart in Serie A title race ahead of crunch clash with Scudetto rivals Inter

Napoli pulled their first disappearing act in Conte's very first game as coach. "We melted like snow in the sun," he fumed after the 3-0 loss at Verona on the opening day of the season.

Conte felt compelled to apologise to the fans for his side's second-half no-show at the Marcantonio Bentegodi, and while he took responsibility for the defeat, he also made some disparaging references to Napoli's activity in the transfer market.

Given the well-travelled coach has plenty of previous when it comes to complaining about his employers' perceived parsimony, it was extremely disconcerting for Partenopei supporters to hear their new coach expressing his dissatisfaction with the "situation" he had found the club in. "I expected more positives but I've struggled to find any," he ominously revealed.

Even by Conte's standards, that was one hell of a public rebuke after just one match in charge.

In fairness to Conte, though, his frustration was understandable. Napoli made a complete mess of Victor Osimhen's pre-planned exit (even if the player and his representatives must also take a significant share of the blame for the club's most valuable asset ending up on loan at Galatasaray), and that unexpected shambles effectively put the Partenopei's summer recruitment strategy on hold for several weeks.

However, when Napoli finally began to bring in some of Conte's transfer targets, he started to work his magic. A team that had finished 10th in 2023-24 suddenly looked as formidable as the champions of the season before.

Just a week after the Verona debacle, Napoli embarked upon a nine-game undefeated run in which they took 25 points from a possible 27 - and summer signings Romelu Lukaku (a Conte favourite), Scott McTominay and Alessandro Buongiorno were all integral to the sudden upturn in form.

Napoli were by no means the finished article, though, and Conte knew it. He was repeatedly at pains to point out that what his players were doing was "not normal", and his side's shortcomings were exposed in home defeats to Atalanta and Lazio in the lead-up to Christmas.

Nonetheless, as the close of the winter window approached, Napoli were once again on another hot streak, winning seven games in a row between December 14 and January 25, culminating in a come-from-behind win over Juventus that confirmed the Partenopei as legitimate title contenders. However, the transfer market was once again proving a source of immense irritation for Conte - and, once again, it was easy to understand why.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's January move to Paris Saint-Germain was an undoubted blow for Napoli, but it shouldn't have been anything close to fatal. The deal had been coming since last summer, and it was presumed that a significant chunk of the €70 million (£58m/$73m) raised from selling the Georgian would be immediately reinvested in a championship-chasing squad.

Napoli were, at the very least, expected to sign a worthy replacement for Kvaratskhelia, whose form had fluctuated wildly since his Scudetto-winning heroics in 2022-23, and Alejandro Garnacho was Conte's No.1 choice. However, Napoli not only failed to agree personal teams with the Manchester United winger, they couldn't convince Karim Adeyemi to join from Borussia Dortmund either.

Consequently, they ended up taking Noah Okafor on loan from AC Milan on deadline day - a deal that smacked of desperation and did absolutely nothing to boost the first team's title tilt.

Napoli failed to win a single Serie A game in February, with the Como defeat having been preceded by three consecutive draws, against Roma, Udinese and Lazio. A worrying trend has also emerged, with Conte's team looking more than a little leggy in the closing stages of games, as goals conceded in the final 15 minutes of their past three away games have cost them five points.

Consequently, fingers are being pointed at the club's colourful but divisive president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who tried to rally the troops after Sunday's setback at Sinigaglia. "Being just one point behind Inter that should scare us," he wrote on social media. "We are a great team, with a great coach. We are Napoli. Come on, guys!"

Not everyone responded well to the call to arms, with former Napoli forward Emanuele Calaio accusing De Laurentiis of effectively doing nothing to help the team during the winter window.

"He would have been better off writing, 'Guys, we can still get into the Champions League, because that's the real objective,'" the former Napoli forward told Canale 21. "It's clear that this team lacks options. Okafor is not ready and you don't have players that can change the game for you in the final minutes. Napoli lacks confidence, belief and competition for places."

Lukaku's dip in form - no goals in his last four games - certainly hasn't helped, as Napoli don't have an adequate alternative on the bench. Raspadori has shown signs of life in recent weeks, but consistency has always been an issue for the Italy international, and the fact that McTominay (six) is Napoli's second top-scorer in Serie A after Lukaku (nine) reflects terribly on the rest of the forward line.

The loss of Kvaratskhelia has also been compounded by an injury to David Neres, while Frank Anguissa's unavailability for the visit of Inter is a major issue, given the Cameroonian's importance to the midfield. The question now being asked, then, is whether Conte can really carry this team over the line - and it's not beyond the realms of possibility for one significant reason: the fixture list.

Whereas title rivals Inter are still fighting on three fronts, having reached the last 16 of the Champions League and the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Napoli are in the enviable position of being able to focus solely on Serie A, meaning just one game a week between now and end of the season. As Conte has previously proven at Chelsea and Juventus, he excels in such circumstances.

Furthermore, Italian coaching icon Fabio Capello saw enough signs of encouragement of the Como defeat to convince him that Napoli can still go all the way. "A team that does not believe in what it is doing does not play like Napoli did in the first half at Sinigagli," the Champions League winner wrote in the Gazzetta Dello Sport. "And the direct clash in front of their own fans with Inter could be the opportunity to immediately rediscover enthusiasm."

It all depends, though, on which side of Napoli we see on Saturday. It could be Dr. Jekyll. It could be Mr. Hyde. But as Conte knows only too well, it could just as easily be both