Earlier this afternoon, Spurs slumped to a tame 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa in front of their own supporters to get their 2023 off to the worst possible start. Read the match report here, and the player ratings here.
As captured by the Evening Standard, Antonio Conte was in no mood to raise expectations of his side for what remains of the season following this afternoon’s turgid display. He compared this season’s expectations and the reality of those expectations with those of last season, speaking about how last season’s fourth-place finish was miraculous:
“Last season we achieved a miracle by finishing fourth,” said Conte told the media after the match. “And it happened why? Because we played only one competition, and we played with 12 players, 13 players, and they didn’t have injuries in the last 15 games, and we played with the best players every game.”
“I remember very well in the start in the summer many people spoke about Tottenham as title contenders. It was a bit crazy to read this. But to become title contenders, to become a team ready to fight to win something, you need to have solid foundations, it needs to have 13, 15 strong players, quality, and you have to have young players to develop.”
Conte continued by highlighting the difficulty of improving the side in the window, stating that to obtain players capable of taking the side to the next level, one must splash out fees that the Spurs hierarchy are ostensibly hesitant to expend with:
“And every season you can add two players, but two players at 50, 60, 70 million. And in this way it means you’re signing important players that can improve the quality and level of your team.”
Conte then urged for patience with his ‘process’ of turning Spurs into regular winners, stating that fans need time and patience while Spurs evolve into a winning machine as they are not at the same level of sides ‘used to winning’ and that have the budget to match this consistently victorious historical trajectory:
“But this is a process guys, this is a process. People think you arrive and you win. This can happen for a team that’s used in the past to winning. But if not, it means you have to create this situation. So you need time and patience.
“I understand that the fans are disappointed because they can say ‘yeah, but we are patient for a long time’. But the situation is this. If you want the truth, I tell you the truth.”
“I am the coach, I live the club every day; I know the situation, I know the vision of the club,” Conte continued. “And the club knows very well my thoughts about the situation. The situation was very clear. I continue to work to improve to help to improve the club, to create a foundation, a solid foundation, and then to develop.
“And at the start of the season, I was very, very clear with the club. I said, ‘okay we can be competitive, to win, but try to continue to improve and in the way that we can do it’.
“Because also and you know that there are clubs that can invest 200, 300 million. And then there are others with different policies, and I repeat, you have to respect the policy.
“The policy has to be very clear with all people, otherwise we create a situation that’s not positive for the environment. It’s not positive for the environment to create expectations at this moment, and it’s not realistic.
“From the start of the season, I knew very well I was expecting this moment. Now we have to start to fight, strong, strong. Because the situation, we are there, and in this league, you can slip quickly.”
Conte concluded on stating that the players, and not only the fans, have to be the ones willing to fight to improve the situation and trust his methods, but simultaneously reiterated that patience and realistic expectations will be necessary due to the severity of the task that Spurs face in order to crack the top four spots once more:
“I said to my players as well the expectation is to go to fight because from the first until the end, the road is not so long, you can slip quickly if you are not prepared, if you are not humble to understand the situation very well.
“If you ask me, I’m not scared, I believe in my work, I believe in my players. I know. But don’t ask me things that I can’t promise, because this is only to create illusion, or to give dreams and at the moment you have to be realistic.”
Have your say on today’s events from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the Vital Spurs fan forum here.
Time for Conte to go back to Italy. Far too defensive and boring. Not a Spurs type. Players looked bored to death.