Ahead of Tottenham’s all-important clash against Burnley on Sunday, Antonio Conte has admitted that a lot of things have changed since his infamous outburst following Spurs’ defeat at Turf Moor in February.
Spurs went into the game against Clarets three months ago on the back of a moral-boasting 3-2 win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
However, they put in an extremely lacklustre performance and fell to a 1-0 loss, which was their third defeat in four Premier League games at the time.
Conte came out with some alarming statements in a post-match press conference, hinting that he might not be the right man to help Tottenham turn their form around (Football.London).
Few would have imagined at that point that the Lilywhites would have a fighting chance of qualifying for the Champions League with two games left to go in the season, and Conte believes his words had the desired effect following the loss to the Clarets.
The Spurs head coach told Football.London: “For sure, we played against Burnley and maybe, I don’t remember a long time ago, but, for sure, from that time a lot of things have changed.
“It’s important also for me and for my players, for the club, for the environment to know each other very well in a complete way,” he said.
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“I repeat, I’m a person, an honest person and I don’t like to tell lies and if I have to go strong, then I go strong. I have to do it completely. I knew this could be positive for the team, for the environment, for the players, for the club.
“I’m a person who likes to put across my message for every situation, positive or negative. If there’s a situation when I have to go strong then I go strong.
“For sure, the most important thing that we had time to know each other, to work together and I think this the best situation that I could exploit to improve my team.
“Don’t forget that I arrived at Tottenham in November and usually when you arrive during the season you have to work. You have to play games, there’s no time, it’s all about the three points, winning the three points, losing three points.
“I don’t like the situation but you have to accept it, but I think a lot of things have changed from Burnley, we worked a lot together, we had time, we also had the possibility to know each other much better.
“It’s very important to create a good connection with your players because it’s important that the players know you very well and for me to know my players very well. That connection is very important.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The difference between the Spurs side who went to Turf Moor a couple of months ago and the one that will take to the field at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, is night and day.
We have improved physically, tactically as well as mentally since then. Our improvement sheds light on what Conte and his coaching staff can potentially achieve when they have full a pre-season to work with the squad.
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