Antonio Conte believes Richarlison will help bring a nastier side to Tottenham Hotspur but admits he is taking it cautiously with the Brazilian. The 25-year-old attacker returned ahead of schedule from a hamstring injury sustained with Brazil at the World Cup and has got minutes from the bench in the defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City. Conte has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in calling for Spurs to become nastier and he believes that Richarlison when fully fit, will offer that extra edge to his team.
Antonio Conte said: “Richy still has to recover the best physical condition first of all. He had serious injuries and the first thought from the medical department was his recovery. He’s behind in the physical aspect, he’s not 100 per cent and we have to try to bring him to the same level to the other players. Then for sure, Richy is one of these players who can give us something nasty. You feel his presence on the pitch, but I repeat, Richy is a player who needs to work, to have more work compared to his team mates because the injury was serious. Then he has to recover and for his recovery, we have to pay a lot of attention because the injury was serious and for this reason the medical department paid a lot of attention but it’s not enough to just recover from injury, you have to be fit to play and to give the possibility to the coach to think about starting with Richy, but for sure he’s an important player for us. Don’t forget we are overcoming a difficult situation because we have injuries like Kulusevski, Bentancur and before the World Cup there was also Romero. It’s not easy for us. For other teams, I don’t know, but for us we are talking about important players and it’s important for me to have all the players available because we are going step by step to build a strong squad, but to do this you need time, and to add players you add time, the transfer market and you need also money to invest.”
Conte was asked how you make a player more nasty and competitive on the football pitch.
Antonio Conte added: “It’s a good question. First of all you can change totally the characteristics of a single player. It’s not easy but for sure you can improve this type of situation in training sessions with duels and during the game to start to have training with duels. To create a situation defensively when you have inferiority with players (numerically), to help improve the resilience. You have to try to do this, but at the same time, you are right – you can change totally the characteristics of the player but at the same time I think a player has to be complete. The nastiness, the desire to fight, to win duels, I think has to be in every single player.”
Conte explained what he believes he and his coaching staff have improved about Spurs since last season but also that they need to make sure the team does not lose some of the aspects that took them into the top four.
Antonio Conte said: “If I have to analyse what happened before, compared to last season, we implemented football knowledge, the tactical aspect and also the players after one year and a half, there is more connection between them. But we have to pay attention, not only to improve one side, don’t lose what we created last season, the solidity, the desire to defend the result, the desire to win duels and don’t lose the nastiness. In football, you can be really good but if you are not strong into the pitch in every moment then you can risk losing, but I have a group of players who are intelligent, they know the situation much better than me. They know they have conceded a lot of goals, many goals for a team like Tottenham and they know we have to try to improve and there’s only one way: to work, to stay together and be strong. I always use a word. A team that wants to win, to be stable has to be a resilient team. We have to show in every game, to be resilient and this is not simple but I think this is the key. Especially in our season, in this type of situation when you have conceded 21 goals in the last ten games. You know that every single player has their own characteristic. In this situation, it’s my task to try to improve this aspect. Sometimes you are good, sometimes you are not so good. Maybe I was good to improve football knowledges, (the) tactical aspect and offensive situation. Maybe I was not so good to transfer this [nastiness] to my players. Every single player has their own characteristic. The most important thing is when you do a sport of a team, then you have to try to put all these characteristics inside one box and then to create the right mix to have everything. This is not a topic for one player or another player. When I speak, I speak always about the team. We attack with all the team and defend with all the team. For this reason, I think we have to try to improve in this aspect altogether with humility and to find again the nasty that last season we showed many times. Many times we won games fighting a lot, suffering a lot, maybe sometimes we didn’t deserve it but at the end we won. And at the end, we finished fourth. I think this is very simple.”
Spurs have been hampered by a flood of individual errors in recent matches, often coming at key times during encounters, and Conte admitted that confidence has been knocked within the squad but he does not want fearful players out there.
Antonio Conte said: “Confidence in football is very important. There are periods where maybe there are individual mistakes, it’s normal that it can affect the mood of the team and this type of situation can cost goals. But this is part of football. It happened always in football that there is the individual mistake. For sure we have to be strong when there is an individual mistake. Don’t lose the confidence. I trust in all my players. I have confidence in all my players. They have to be confident in themselves. The mistake is part of football. I accept it. I don’t like when I have a player who doesn’t try to take a risk, only to protect themselves. I always say to my players you have to take the responsibility, to have the personality to play the ball in midfield, to play with the defenders, with the keeper, with the strikers to go in one-v-one. Don’t worry if you don’t beat your man, but you have to try. You have to try, you have to take the responsibility. I think this is the only way to progress, to improve. Then the mistake is part of football. I think in the last period we are paying a lot from this type of situation, but I don’t like to stay here and to cry. We have not to cry, or to complain or to find an alibi. We have to try to do better what in this moment we are not doing good. I think there are positivity situations and negativity situations. We have to try to continue to improve the positivity situations and to try to find a solution. To change something and be stronger defensively like last season. To be strong defensively like last season is for all the team. When you speak about the defence, you think we are talking about the defenders. No. We have to improve with the three central defenders, with the wing-backs, with the two midfielders, with the three strikers. We have to improve with the whole team. Only in this way, we can continue to improve and find the stability. In this moment, I feel we are not so stable. I always said a good team, a good strong team, has to be stable. Boom, boom, boom. In this moment, first half, badly, second half, strongly. Yesterday, first half, strongly, the second half, badly. We have to try to improve and to be honest with ourselves. I’m the first person in this type of situation… I am the coach, I have to improve my team. I’m the first person who knows we have to improve. Then I speak with the players. I have a group of players that are very smart, with great desire to work, but sometimes it’s not enough. We have to go into the situation with our head and our heart and then in this way I think we can do much better if I am to compare this season to last season.”
