Antonio Conte has insisted that not having enough days to prepare for matches has been the major reason behind Tottenham’s struggles, with the Italian pointing out that he has not had a pre-season to work with the squad.
Tottenham’s performances and results have been extremely inconsistent over the past couple of months.
The Lilywhites put in a brilliant display on Monday evening to brush Everton aside 5-0, highlighting the type of intent that they showed in the 3-2 win away at Manchester City and the 4-0 win at Elland Road against Leeds.
However, in between those results, the North Londoners have also crumbled to losses against Burnley and Middlesbrough, while previously being beaten by both Southampton and Wolves at home.
Conte pointed out that his side have always performed well when he and his staff have had time to prepare for matches.
The Italian told Football.London in the post-match press conference after his side’s win over Everton: “For sure it was a really good performance tonight. We scored five goals, we created chances to improve the final result.
“Many, many positive aspects and I have seen with my staff that when we have more days, more time to prepare for the game, to play against us is difficult for everybody.
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“The problem when we have to prepare to play in two or three days is not simple. Don’t forget that with this team I didn’t start the season.
“I haven’t had the possibility to have one month to work with the team in pre-season and try to work and instil my idea of football. We did this playing games, important games for three points.”
Conte pointed out that he and his coaching staff need time to get their philosophy across to the team since they did not have the luxury of a pre-season.
When pressed on why the team perform better when he has time to prepare, Conte responded: “Because when I have time, more days to prepare the game, then you can plan a problem and arrive in the right moment physically, tactically, mentally to play an important game.
“I said to you before when we have four or five days it was then difficult to play against us.
“For sure I repeat when you stay for a long time with one team and then the players know your philosophy and now we are going day by day to improve, working but on Saturday at the same time, we have to play a game for three points.
“I think that I have the possibility to have one month in pre-season to work with my players about my idea. Now after four and a half months, I’m starting to see what we are working on.
“For me, it’s a pleasure when the players enjoy to play football, not only to win but at the same time to find the solutions that we find during the training sessions.”
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Conte certainly makes a fair point about taking time to get his ideas across, given that he was not afforded a pre-season. However, this is arguably also due to the Italian’s tactical inflexibility and his need to micro-manage the set-up.
For example, we could have pressed Boro much higher up the pitch than we did last week instead of sticking to our usual game plan of getting bodies in the final third when we win the ball back.
However, the Italian seemed reluctant to change his tactics at the Riverside Stadium even when it was apparent that things were not going to plan.
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