Cristian Stellini has admitted that it was important for the players and coaching staff to celebrate with the fans after Tottenham returned to winning ways at Craven Cottage.
There was plenty of doom and gloom surrounding Spurs ahead of their trip to Fulham after back-to-back losses against Arsenal and Manchester City.
A win for Fulham would have seen them leapfrog Tottenham in the table and would have potentially piled even more pressure on Antonio Conte, with some reports circulating ahead of the match that the Italian’s future at the club looked increasingly uncertain (Daily Mail).
However, the players delivered a battling display to emerge with all three points and Conte’s relief and jubilation was evident at the full-time whistle as he went over to the travelling supporters and pumped his fists as the fans continued to sing his name.
Stellini remarked that the moment was very important as the players and the coaching staff needed to feel loved to continue working towards their objectives.
When asked about the celebrations after the win over Fulham, Tottenham’s assistant first-team coach told Football.London: “For everyone, it is the best moment [in celebrations]. A type of manager like Antonio that lives with passion this job, it is important.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“It is an important moment, an important reaction but also it is important for the players to feel the support, to feel love, to feel everyone trusts in them. We are a team that works hard and this type of emotion can be a great point.”
Stellini was also asked about how Gian Piero Ventrone’s passing had affected the Spurs players and while he admitted that he could not give an answer to that question, he did add that the club provided ‘amazing’ support during that difficult time.
He responded: “Honestly I have no quality and it is not my job to analyse (how the players had been affected by Ventrone’s death).
“When you are close, you are friends, you are really close to a person like Gian Piero, I can easily understand it is a big impact but with the players, I don’t have the quality to answer this question.
“It is inside of everyone and not that we speak about this every day so really I don’t know. For me, it was a big loss, for Antonio as well but we are close to him for a long time.
“Everything happen and when it can have a great impact like this, you need time to speak and you need to speak to try to give to others your emotion and a lot of emotion can create a big energy, but maybe we did immediately in that time. Then you don’t have time [to speak] because life goes on very quickly but we need time.
“I repeat it is a thing that is very deep, I feel myself not in the right position to answer. Maybe it is the type of thing you live without knowing what is the best for you.
“It is very difficult and hard to explain. What I can say is that we feel a lot of love from the club. We realise that this club is a special club because they were so close with us to give us all the support and that was amazing.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Tottenham’s home support have a lot to learn from the travelling contingent, who always sing their hearts out and get behind the team, especially when the going gets tough.
Our home fans can sometimes be ruthless and I fail to understand how jeering or making exasperated noises when the ball is given away, helps the team.
In fact, the players need the fans the most when they are finding it difficult and I believe that irrespective of what one feels about the board, Conte’s decisions or any particular player, the duty of the supporters is to get behind the team for 90 minutes.
The criticisms and the dissections can be done after the full-time whistle but during the game, fans have to provide the energy for Conte and the players to feed off of, especially given how passionate the Italian is.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
