Antonio Conte has revealed that he has always given the Tottenham hierarchy his honest opinions on how they can improve and how they should move forward.
Tottenham fell to a dismal 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa to start their year off in the worst possible fashion, repeating the same old mistakes once again.
Boos rang around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at full-time, after the Lilywhites made it ten games in a row in which they have conceded first (TransferMarkt). The difference was today that Harry Kane and co couldn’t turn the result around.
Hugo Lloris gifted Villa the lead in the second half when he spilt a long-range effort that bounced up in front of him. Spurs then gifted the visitors a two-goal cushion with some woeful defending in the middle of their back three.
Despite having the best of the ball across the first 60 minutes, Tottenham also struggled to break down a stubborn Aston Villa defence, leaving more questions than answers for Antonio Conte.
He said (Football London): “We understand very well that the league will be really really difficult for us.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“We have to try to recover all the [injured] players and then we have to know that in every game we have to fight and show that we are strong. The league will be very difficult for us.
“I want to be honest, I want to be very clear. I have said this to the club, I have said my opinions. The fans deserve the best. Maybe to stay in 5th is the best. Maybe 6th, 7th, 5th or 4th is the best.”
He added (Football London): “I am not to think about the expectations. I know what is the reality because I am the coach. I live the club every day. I know what is the situation. I know the vision of the club. The club knows very well what are my thoughts on the situation. The situation was very clear.
“I continue to work and to improve and to help you to improve the club, to create a solid foundation and then to develop. At the start of the season I was very, very clear with the club.
“I said ‘ok we can be competitive to win but try to continue to improve but in the way that we can do it’, because also you have to know that there are clubs who can invest £200m or £300m and others with different policies and I repeat you have to respect the policy.
“The policy has to be very clear with all people otherwise we created a situation that’s not positive for the environment to create expectations that are not realistic, honestly.
“I repeat this from the start of the season. I knew very well. I was expecting this moment. Now we have to start to fight strong, because the situation in this league you can slip quickly.
“I spoke also with my players. You have to pay attention to fight because to from start to the end the road is not long. You can slip quickly if you are not prepared and not humble to understand the situation very well.
“If you ask me if I’m scared, I’m not scared. I believe in my work, I believe in these players, but don’t ask me for things I cannot promise you.
“This is only to create an illusion and create dreams a moment that you have to be realistic. If you are realistic, you know the situation and you face the moment in the right way.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Honestly, either give Conte what he wants/needs or accept it isn’t going to work. You can’t hire big-name managers with a history of bringing in here-and-now winners, and then not give them those tools. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
