Antonio Conte explains why he came to Tottenham Hotspur, considering President Daniel Levy a ‘visionary’ and acknowledging he must get the football team ‘closer to the level of this top club.’
The former Juventus, Chelsea, Italy and Inter boss had rejected the offer to take over at Spurs in the summer, but was convinced to come in this week after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked.
He made his debut in this evening’s 3-2 Europa Conference League victory over Vitesse Arnhem, a fixture they had been leading 3-0 before conceding two goals by half-time.
“It was a game we had to win, as without that we’d have very little chance of qualifying,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
“There are two matches to go, but I also think this performance highlighted the difficulties of a team that was 3-0 up and dominating with more chances to score, then it took so little to knock our confidence.
“We conceded two avoidable goals, went down to 10 men and anything could happen after that. I made changes and we did well to take the result home.
“I am glad we won while suffering, I think this team needs to suffer a little to achieve victory, to understand you can win while suffering.
“At the same time, there is a lot of work to be done. There is real margin for improvement. We need to work tactically, physically, bring my ideas of football to this team.
“The problem is that we don’t have the time to work, as we play again in two days and then there’s the break for international duty.”
The Spurs fans repeatedly sang Conte’s name during the match and gave him a standing ovation for his debut.
“The lads are really eager to work, it’s a wonderful atmosphere, I thank the fans for giving me such a great welcome. Playing in this atmosphere is marvellous and I want to repay this affection in the only way I know how, but working.
“I know that I must be patient and find the time to get this work done.”
Conte was asked why he had decided to take on the Tottenham project, a side that has never won the Premier League and is without any silverware at all since 2008.
“The club has incredible infrastructure, they own their stadium and that is fantastic. The training ground has to be seen to be believed. The club worked really well, now we need to try to find some balance on a football level and get closer to the level the club is at,” was his response.
“I know that I can work my way here, I am happy because we have the chance. I must be the first to be patient, because I’ve started from scratch and when you start from scratch, it’s the ABC’s. It’s the basics you start from.”
Conte hailed chairman Daniel Levy for building Tottenham infrastructure with a training ground and recently-developed stadium, but the results on the field have simply not been anywhere near as good as the investment off it would suggest.
“What convinced me was the President’s insistence, his determination to make me understand where I was going and what I was getting into. He is a visionary for what he has created off the field.
“In football terms, he wanted me here to help the team grow as well and at least get close to reflecting the club, because this really is a top club.”
Antonio Conte takes some time to greet Spurs fans after his first game in charge 🤝#UECL pic.twitter.com/ltbYiqmbGp
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 4, 2021
This site is turning into a Spurs fanzine lol.
Please, just stop this non-Italian football subject(s). This site is made for Calcio fans, and Tottenham, regardless beeing coached by an Italian, is no part of Football Italia. Enough with this non-sense, I can understand an article with Spurs linked with an Italian mercato target player, with Spurs playing against an Italian club, but just because is coached by an Italian is just too little to be a part of Football Italia.
In the name of many Calcio lovers, please STOP!
Grazie di Cuore!
How is being Italian NOT part of Football Italia? Conte is one of the best coaches in the world and deserves to be on this website. A few weeks ago there was a PSG story not involving Donnarumma, Verratti or Icardi and there it made sense to say enough with the non Italian stories.
This is completely fine for an ITALIAN FOOTBALL WEBSITE. It’s not called Football Serie A is it? Also this is his FIRST MATCH a few months after WINNING SERIE A and you guys think it’s not appropriate? All you can do is laugh, it’s not as if they were giving us daily updates of Tottenham’s situation, who also happen to have the joke that is Paratici as a sporting director, so you will see a lot more Tottenham news because no doubt he will be targeting Serie A for the transfer window.
@LDN
There isn’t any referrence in this article about Italian Football, other than: “The former Juventus, Chelsea, Italy and Inter boss” and keep going on writing about an English side playing against a Dutch one in a competition (group phase) against a Slovenian (Mura) and a French (Rennes).
They – Football Italia – already made one piece about COnte’s debut with Spurs, at 22:45: “CONTE WINS ‘CRAZY’ TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR DEBUT”. Why make another one, 17 min later? Just because he’s Italian? Conte didn’t mention anything about any other Italian side, not about “his” Juventus, “his” Inter, nope, here you see just lines after llines about Spurs.
This is simply TOO much!
@LDN is right, the name of this website is Football Italia, so anything related to Italian football deserves to be posted here. Moreover, Conte is one of the figures of Italian football, both as a player and a coach he has achieved success in both roles.
There is something that some people have to understand, when you like Calcio or Italian football, then you will be interested and support anything that related to Italian, even to the sports beyond football (like MotoGP, F1, Volleyball, Basketball, Olympic sport, etc).
I don’t have a favorite club in Serie A, but in the 1997/98 season I liked Bologna, and in the 2000/01 to 2004 season I liked Brescia, you can guys guess why?.
But when Italian clubs compete on the international stage, I support them all, no matter Juve, Inter, Milan, Lazio, Parma, Roma, etc.
Likewise, if there is an Italian player or coach who play for a club outside the Italian League, then I automatically support or follow the story and the news of that club, such as Chelsea in the 1997/98 season.
So there is nothing wrong in my opinion with the news published by Italian Football, although some of the news is not important and unnecessary, such as news of divorce or infidelity, cheap trash gossip news like that I agree not to be published here.
@Romano
I said it is just too much. Really, they wrote about Conte’s first Spurs match in other article like 15 min earlier than this article. But you know what else? They – Football Italia – didn’t wrote anything about a meeting between Real Madrid and Shakthar Donetsk from 2 days ago! A clash in Champions League between 2 Italian coaches, Ancelotti and De Zerbi. Instead, overflowed about Spurs, C’mon, it’s just… EXCEVSSIVE!
@CETATEANU’
Yes I am agree with you, you have point on it.
Look like FI is more Conte fans then Don Carlo and De Zerbi (^_^)