#PLStories- Antonio Conte on transfers, ambition and realising the problems at Tottenham #THFC
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antonio conte happy
What have you said to the players after that performance?
Usually I prefer to not speak to them after the game, especially when the game is not good because you are too involved emotionally. After the game I think it is good to not speak to the players. We will do it tomorrow. A bad loss, I am not satisfied with what happened. This is the second time in a row we have finished the game with 10, against Vitesse it was the same. We risked not winning against Vitesse and today it happened again. I think this team is very young but at the same time we have to work and improve because the details move the final result. I did not like what happened tonight, the performance. I must be honest and tell you that after three and a half weeks, I am starting to understand the situation. I can tell you that the situation is not simple. It is not simple because in this moment because for sure the level of Tottenham is not so high. There is an important gap to the top teams in England. Of this we must not be scared. I am here to work, here to improve the situation. I know we have to work hard but we have also to improve the quality of the situation, because if we want to be competitive. I know that in this moment we need to have patience, time and I am here because I know there are problems to solve. After three and a half weeks, I am happy to stay here but at the same time I must be honest and tell you we need to work a lot to improve the quality of the [current] squad. We are Tottenham and Tottenham in this moment, there is an important gap. But I repeat I am not scared. I want to work. I am ready to work. But we need time, especially for our fans because our fans want to see the team win. Me too. I want to be honest that we need to work a lot to improve the situation. We need time and patience. I don’t know what happens in the future but I am here because I am happy to stay here, to work for Tottenham. We have a lot of desire to work, you can work work work work but you can push a car at maximum level and sometimes it is not enough to be competitive.
Are you worried that it’ll take you more time than you thought to fix those problems?
Honestly I’m not scared. I’m not worried about this. For sure we need time, we need time and patience, and this is not an excuse. I don’t like to find excuses, but I want to be honest, and say that we started the work and we need time. We need time and patience, for our fans. We have to stay together and try to improve the team, and put the team on another level. But we need time, we need time. If someone thinks that a new coach arrives and Conte won in the past and then I am a magician, but the only magic I can do is to work. To bring work and work to improve, to bring my methods, my ideas of football. But we have to understand that we need time.
How confident are you that you have the players here already now that can bridge that gap to the teams you mentioned or is it about bringing in reinforcements to do so?
In this moment it’s very difficult to make evaluations under this aspect, because you can see that in England a top team they are working many years with the same coaches and they are improving each year, to reinforce the team. I think that we have to know that there is a lot of work to do. I’m not scared but I want to be honest. We can put work, we can put everything, heart, passion, but we need a bit of time. I’m here for this because the club decided to change the club because there are problems, but the problems they are problems. I’m here to work and I’m enthusiastic to work, to rebuild an important situation for Tottenham. We need time but also to do better in everything, everything. We have to do better in everything, everything, everything. To have ambition, ambition in football is important for me.
How important is it to a win a trophy that is considered a distraction?
To win is always important, but then you have to understand if you are ready to win. At this moment I think there is a lot of road in front of us before we think we can win. For sure I want to reduce the time to try and win something. The situation now is starting to be very clear in my mind. I like to win, I play to win in every competition that we have to play. This must be the same for my players. At the same time, how long this way? I repeat, I am not scared. This road could be one metre or 100 metres, I am not scared I am ready to go and do this path. But at the same time I want to be very honest, we have to work a lot and improve in many, many aspects. We have to do better at many, many things. It is important in football to have vision. Where are you now and what do you want in the future and I think to have vision, I am here to help the club in this aspect. The club is outstanding outside, to create a stadium but now we start from behind. It is important to know this because I am not a magician and after three weeks I have found players that want to work and have great commitment but sometimes it is not enough.
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