Hugo Lloris has reflected on working with big-name managers such as Antonio Conte at Tottenham, and revealed when and why things fell apart from a strong start under the Italian.
Following the Mauricio Pochettino era, where Tottenham Hotspur came very close to winning the biggest trophies in the game, the club decided to go for big-name, win-now managers.
They turned to two of the most decorated managers in the modern era in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, with the Portuguese and the Italian coach separated only by a brief spell for Nuno Espirito Santo.
While both managers made reasonably strong starts to their time in North London, the wheels came off spectacularly at the end, with things ending very uglily.
Hugo Lloris reveals what he enjoyed about Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte at Tottenham
Lloris confessed that he enjoyed working with both Mourinho and Conte, as their demands on the squad were very high.
The former Tottenham captain confessed that despite all his experience, he felt like a young player in the early days under the two former Spurs managers.
When asked what Mourinho first said to the squad when he arrived, Lloris responded on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel: “It’s funny because when he introduced himself, it was like ‘If I’m here, it’s because of you’. Obviously, the club sacked Mauricio and they decided to appoint José and he came with a lot of energy and with his knowledge of the game.
“I think it was a really interesting time. Even with Antonio Conte, I was in a different stage of my career, but I put myself in the position of a young player. It’s amazing to work with those types of coaches because the demand is really high every day. And that’s how you make yourself better. If you want to succeed, if you want to develop yourself, you have to follow the way. Otherwise, it would be complicated.”
“Different style of play, different way to manage a group of players. He’s more of a coach than a manager. He’s a great coach. I don’t have to say it, because you just have to see his CV. But it worked quite well the first six months,” said the goalkeeper.
Lloris admits things fell apart for Conte after the 2022 World Cup
The former Tottenham goalkeeper identified the 2022 mid-season World Cup in Qatar as the moment things started to go south for Conte.
Lloris confessed that the feeling at the club was very different when he returned from the World Cup as a runner-up with France.
The 39-year-old continued: “Then we had this World Cup in the middle of the season. So I think it was not easy to deal with. It was OK until the World Cup and then when we came back, I don’t know, it didn’t work at all. It’s like everything became really heavy and it was really demanding, really intense. His style of play, it’s really robotic as well.
“I truly believe that you still need this human side in the changing room. And you cannot have a separation between a coach and the players. Also, the team could not find a consistent rhythm in terms of performance and results. And myself, when I came back from the World Cup, I was completely drained. I had only four or five days off and I had to go back inside. I felt a really heavy atmosphere. So something went wrong.”