Antonio Conte has admitted that he found himself in a rather unusual situation of celebrating a fourth-place finish during his first season at Tottenham, insisting that he had only been used to celebrating silverware previously.
Spurs were reeling when Conte took over from Nuno Espirito Santo in November of 2021, with the Italian quickly making the side a lot more solid.
Although there were a few setbacks in his first couple of months in charge, the Lilywhites got better as the season went on and made a strong finishing to the 2021-22 campaign, pipping Arsenal to a fourth-place finish.
Tottenham sealed Champions League qualification with a win over Norwich City at Carrow Road in their final game of the season, with Conte and the Spurs players celebrating the achievement with the travelling supporters after the full-time whistle.
Conte did not want to celebrate fourth at Tottenham
The former Tottenham head coach, who eventually departed the club back in March of last year after failing to get a tune out of the players in his first full season in charge, has spoken about guiding the club to the top four and explained why he celebrated.
He told The Telegraph: “For me, to celebrate fourth place and a place in the Champions League was really strange. At the end of the final game against Norwich, I called my staff and said ‘pay attention, don’t be used to celebrating a Champions League place’.
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“I was very clear. I said we did the maximum. From ninth to fourth place, with all the problems we faced, was a miracle. But we didn’t celebrate like it was a miracle because I am used to winning.”
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There is no denying that Antonio did a good job in his first season at the club. In fact, we did play some attractive football on occasion during the Italian’s first six months at the club.
However, once opposition teams figured out how to play against Conte’s system, the Italian did not have many answers, with the team running out of ideas.
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