Eric Dier has fond memories of Antonio Conte from their time together at Tottenham, having high praise for his intensity and tactical work.
The Italian tactician spent around 18 months at the helm of Spurs from November 2021 to March of last year, leaving in fairly acrimonious fashion after the wheels quickly came off his project in North London, likely due to various personal difficulties.
Conte has remained out of work since, although has been heavily linked with multiple top Serie A clubs ahead of the summer including Juventus, Milan and Napoli. At this stand, the Partenopei currently seem the likeliest destination for the 54-year-old.
Dier on Conte
Speaking on the Overlap via Football.London, Dier first discussed the differences between current Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou and his predecessor Conte.
“Interestingly he (Postecoglou, ed.) really doesn’t do any tactical work, what he does is, every single training drill from Monday to Friday is drawn up to represent the way that he wants to play.
“Conte, I could do it blind, but that was a lot of tactical work Monday to Friday, a lot of 10v0, walkthroughs, you were so well drilled, it would be ingrained in you.”
Dier then had high praise for his former Spurs coaches Jose Mourinho and Conte.
“Jose (Mourinho, ed.) and Conte were incredible characters, and I learnt a lot with them. Antonio was probably the manager I played my best football under and aside from a manager, I really liked him as a man, he was a very honest and kind man.
“I remember his meetings were just incredible, the intensity he would bring to his meetings and the intensity he would bring to training every day, himself, I thought was just incredible.”
Conte struggled with personal issues during his final few months with Tottenham, losing three friends – Gianpiero Ventura, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli, and also had to undergo a serious operation.
Always wonder what might have been last season had Conte not suffered so much personal loss and hardship, being separated from his family. Perhaps it would have nevertheless been a marriage doomed to fail, but hard to think it could have ended any worse than it did. But Tottenham and especially Tottenham fans have a habit of breaking successful managers with their entitlement and lack of empathy. Postecoglou seems a man cut from a different cloth but time will tell.