Tottenham, Conte: “We have to be better than last year”

by our correspondent Davide Chinellato

August 4th
– London

To improve. And working. These are the watchwords of Antonio Conte for the new season of Tottenham, the one that begins on Saturday against Southampton. A strange season, with the World Cup in between, the first with the coach at the helm of the Spurs from the beginning. “I’m not starting from scratch, we have 7 important months behind us – he says from the Tottenham training center, north London suburbs -. It means that we can work to improve in many aspects”.

Progress

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Conte is clear in setting the goals of his Tottenham: “We don’t have to take it into our heads to fill the gap with City, Liverpool and Chelsea, but to be better than last year. Let’s start again from the great result that was the Champions League and from the improvements that we have done to the team both qualitatively and numerically. You don’t get to the top in 7 months or a year: you need patience, but at the same time you need the ambition to want to be competitive, to fight for the best. ambition that drives me, the club and the players: not being presumptuous and talking about winning trophies, but giving us the push to give 120% at all times. Also because in England it is very difficult to win: we want to give Tottenham the stability it needs to reach the highest level and then to fight to win. Only there are many other clubs here who want to do it. “

Market

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Conte is particularly happy that Tottenham have completed most of their transfer campaign before the start of the preparation, even if he dodges the question about the Italian goals (Zaniolo and Udogie) that still remain. “In the transfer market we are trying to do things of common sense, because the only way a team can improve is if it has a direction. It is obviously not easy, because you have to try not to make mistakes in the transfer market, but I think we are doing things. good to win. This season we play in 4 competitions: I think we are going in the right direction, but you need time and patience because if you want to do something important you have to work. ” The inbound Spurs market is not closed, but changes may come in the next month on the way out. “The World Cup leads many players to want to play regularly: it is not right to keep unhappy players, to whom I cannot promise the regularity on the pitch they want. I think in some cases it is better to find the right solution for them and for the club.”

Debut

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Conte intends to face this season so different from the others one step at a time, starting with the match against Southampton against which Tottenham scored only one point last season. “I want to start in the best way, trying to win in front of our fans.” That will be the first test with 3 points up for grabs, the first test to understand if the Spurs are really going in the right direction, if they are really ready to get closer to City, Liverpool and Chelsea (and Conte underlines how the Blues deserve to be among the “My experience leads me to say that we are going in the right direction, but also that the club needs to take further steps before being competitive with the best clubs in the Premier League and in Europe. presumptuous, we only need to know the word work to continue improving both on and off the pitch and become a top club. “

Continuity

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That is Conte’s real goal, to continue to grow his Tottenham, to give it that continuity that, he claims, only so many years with the same helmsman can give, as City and Liverpool have shown. “It’s the best situation for a club: there is the same vision for so many years, it means being able to use time and set progressive goals. But to stay in a club this long, I need to be happy. And to have people around. honest: I prefer the naked truth to a good lie. ” Conte’s truth is that his Tottenham still lacks something to stay at the level of the best. And that he is ready to do whatever it takes to bring it to us.