‘All details are covered’ – Davies reveals how Conte’s training sessions are different

Ben Davies has revealed the training sessions under Antonio Conte and his coaching staff are incredibly detail-oriented when compared to former managers.

Conte did not take long to put his fingerprint on the Spurs squad after arriving, immediately shifting to a 3-4-3 system.

On the evidence of Tottenham’s performance against Brentford on Thursday, it seems as though the players are starting to get a better understanding of their roles within the system.

Davies revealed that the new Spurs boss ensures every single detail is covered in training, so the players are fully aware of what they are expected to do in each scenario.

The Welshman told The Athletic: “It’s intense training every day, it’s short, sharp movements. All the details are covered, whether it’s body position, foot movement, sprinting techniques.

“It’s very detailed and at the elite level you need all those aspects to try to get those one per centers over people.

“The training’s very detailed, it’s very clear what he expects. Everything we do positionally is based on what’s been done on the training pitch.

“He’s meticulous, a real worker on the details and I like that. I want to learn from the best and having someone that can make the game as clear as possible for you, it’s a dream.

“Everybody’s roles are very clear now. The work we do in the week makes that pretty easy when you get out onto the pitch. Every detail — and I mean every detail — is covered. We’re on the training pitch for a long time, but it’s for a reason.

“We’re not just playing games and doing it for nothing. If the ball is here, we will press here. If the ball is there, we know where to be. We know most situations we can expect to come up against. And having that clarity is really beneficial.”

There has been a lot said about the intensity of Conte’s training sessions since arriving at the club. The intensity would perhaps not be new for Davies as he played under Mauricio Pochettino, who was also known for his extremely gruelling training regime.

When asked if the training sessions under Conte can be compared with those under Pochettino, the 28-year-old said: “Yeah in some aspects.

“It’s obviously different ways of going about it, but that demand of being intense — that for 90 minutes we’re going to try and run all over the opposition is definitely there.

“We didn’t have long sessions where Pochettino would say, ‘I want this here, this here, this here’, but the training and the work we did was actually all done for us to be in the right place.

“It’s tactics but without calling it tactics. Whereas the sessions now, we do a lot of 11 v 11 shape. A lot of simulations of what we’d expect to see.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Conte is perhaps not as tactically versatile as some other managers, his biggest strength is arguably a complete belief in his system. He will drill certain automatisms into the players with respect to different phases of play. It was certainly evident against Brentford that all the players knew their exact responsibilities on and off the ball.

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