As has become customary for Tottenham Hotspur’s FA Cup matches, assistant manager Cristian Stellini took over media duties from head coach Antonio Conte ahead of Spurs’ trip to Deepdale to take on Preston North End in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow evening.
Speaking to Football.London, Stellini commenced the press-conference by stating that new arrival Arnaut Danjuma is available following his move from Villareal on Wednesday, and raised doubts over Harry Kane’s fitness due to the striker playing the entire Fulham match on Saturday with illness:
“Arnaut Danjuma is available, he is a player we can use tomorrow in the game. We have only one problem, with Harry [Kane], because he played the last game full of illness. He didn’t train during the week, he trained this morning, but he wants to come with us and be available.
Of course, Harry Kane will be desperate to become Spurs’ record goalscorer, needing only one more goal to eclipse Jimmy Greaves record of 266 goals to claim the accolade and go down in the history books in N17.
However, with so much football yet to play before the season is out, it’s genuinely a question of when, not if, he breaks that record, so there is no pressure on Kane to risk his long-term health and fitness by participating in tomorrow’s game, something Stellini alluded to:
“We know very well that Harry wants to play every game, so we are happy that Harry is involved in the game, but the only situation we have to take care is this.”
Stellini was then asked about the now famed ‘team meeting’ Conte had with the players in between the City defeat and the Fulham victory, stating that Conte underlined how the Craven Cottage win ought to signal a turning point for the players in their quest to adopt a winning mentality:
“[In] that meeting [it was said that the Fulham game] is a point of start, of restart. That game was a tough game, we played a great match, we were playing with a perfect approach.
“This is a point of change of the mentality, we spoke a lot about it, and we have to do it. We have to change the mentality, from the start until the end of the game. Every game we have to do the same. Antonio had a great speech about this.”
Elaborating on what had been wrong with the team’s mentality up to this point, Stellini lamented Spurs’ approach to games, namely, the slow starts that have constantly left them playing catch-up in fighting back from losing positions in 18 matches across all competitions this season:
“The approach of the game [was what needed changing]. We conceded too many goals and we have to spend energy to recover in a match. We know very well this is a fact, this is stats. We have to approach the game in the right way. We have three phases in a game. Offensive, defensively and transition and we have to be well-prepared in every situation and set-pieces as well so this is the mentality.”
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