Antonio Conte has praised the commitment and effort shown by the Tottenham squad in training but admitted the side still has plenty of room for improvement.
Conte has had a tricky beginning to his reign at Tottenham, having to deal with multiple postponements in light of the Covid-19 outbreak at Spurs and other Premier League clubs.
However, despite the interruptions to their schedule, the club’s results under the Italian have been impressive. The Lilywhites are unbeaten under Conte in the Premier League, having won three of his five games in charge and drawn the other two.
Spurs have also scored nine goals in those games while conceding just three and keeping three clean sheets.
Tottenham had their biggest test of Conte’s reign on Sunday against Liverpool and they certainly passed with flying colours.
In the end, the North Londoners would have been disappointed to come away with just a draw on the back of the chances that they created.
Speaking ahead of the clash against West Ham, the Spurs boss admitted his delight at having the majority of his first-team squad back available in training.
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The 52-year-old told Football.London: “We are doing what we did and will continue to do a physical work to match with the tactical work which is very important. If you want to give an identity to your team, you have to work. You have to work a lot.
“You can see very well in my one month and a half, I had the whole squad only for maybe two, three weeks where we played. I’m trying to exploit every minute that I have to work in many aspects with the players.
“This team has to improve the level and the physical aspect and the tactical aspect if you want to try to be competitive in this season. I know very well it’s not easy when you come into the season and you didn’t start the season.
“When you start the season you have three or four weeks of time to prepare your team but I’m enjoying working with these players because they are showing me great energy and will and desire to improve every aspect. We are doing this. I have seen the stats. Our stats are improving a lot.”
Conte revealed that the players who tested positive for Covid-19 were frustrated at not being able to train for ten days but admitted the morale in the squad is now good following a difficult couple of weeks.
He said: “Now the feeling in training is good. It’s good. Our players suffered to stay at home for 10 days. Some players make this situation in the best way. Others in a worse way.
“We had the players that wanted to play and that now are very, very happy. Before they were very sad because to stay at home and not do your job and not come to the training session and see your teammates is frustrating.
“Now we are happy. Now it is good. Now the situation is good if I compare it to two weeks ago when we stopped the training session and started again sessions with only 11, 12 players.
“We could not have with us the young players and it was very, very difficult to have the training session and keep confident and the feeling high. Now it’s good. We are in a good feeling and ready to play again and face this Christmas period.”
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I am sure Conte would have preferred to have played the likes of Burnley, Brighton and Leicester if he had a choice.
However, the two-week break could break was a silver lining as it meant that the Italian did have some extra days on the training ground with a part of the squad.
With the 52-year-old not having a pre-season, he would likely want to use every little bit of extra time he gets to drill his ideas into the team.
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