Tottenham Hotspur central defender Eric Dier revealed how Antonio Conte’s harsh truths motivated them to do better last season.
Conte claimed that the gap between Tottenham Hotspur and other top clubs was ‘very large’ following the 2-0 loss to Chelsea in the Premier League in January (BBC Sport).
His side also lost to the Blues twice in short succession in that same month in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Following the Italian manager’s comments, Spurs enjoyed great results against other top-class opposition like Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Tottenham won 3-2 and 3-0 against the league champions and the Gunners, respectively, while also holding Jurgen Klopp’s side to a 1-1 draw.
Those impressive results formed the foundation from which Spurs achieved Champions League qualification, which was an unrealistic outcome when Conte initially took over the managerial role at N17 following the bleak days under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Dier has now revealed how Conte’s harsh but honest words bothered him and hurt his pride, but the players needed to hear those things in order to improve.
Dier told Sky Sports via Football Daily: “As a player, when he said that, you know it touches your pride, you know, it bothered me when he said that. So I think it’s good, it’s good for us to hear those things because…..yeah, when he said that, it hurts, you know.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
It sounds like Conte’s words affected the Spurs players to a great extent, considering Dier’s latest admission. The 28-year-old centre-back is one of those players who improved considerably under the current boss, indicating how the Italian’s harsh revelation was for the best.
The players must not let though, as they now need to materialise those impressive displays into trophies this season. Fabio Paratici and co have reinforced the team with several summer signings, which, coupled with the right mindset, should be enough of a boost to mount a challenge to win at least a trophy in this campaign.
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