Antonio Conte has opened on Tottenham Hotspur’s inconsistent run of form, admitting that he does not have the “best players in the world”.
Tottenham Hotspur’s recent loss to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup has drawn widespread criticism for the club’s inconsistent performances. Indeed, since their 1-0 victory over Manchester City, the Londoners had fallen to a 1-0 defeat to relegation candidate Burnley before securing a 4-0 win over Leeds United on the weekend.
The positive result at Elland Road has now been followed by a shocking defeat to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, meaning Spurs are out of all cup competitions this term.
In a recent presser, Antonio Conte has opened up on his team’s recent struggles, suggesting there is something wrong with the team’s mentality, which is causing such an inconsistent run of form.
“The last game we won, two games ago we lost, three games ago we won, and I think that I can’t hide the reality,” Conte said, as quoted by Evening Standard. “We had to take good learn about this defeat and continue to work because there is only one way to continue to work and try to avoid these up and downs,” he added.
Conte urged the fans and the players to remain patient and trust the process. “The reality that we are having too many ups and downs. We have to try and work, and I think this is a problem now and maybe also in the past. In my opinion, there is only one way to try to improve and to continue to work many aspects and to persevere. To be patient because you need to have patience in this process, and to hope in the future the situation will be much better and not to wait for a long time,” said Conte.
Conte went on to suggest that he does not have the best players in the world but stressed that mentality is the most important thing, and the club still may underperform even if it has a better set of players.
“I’m the coach of this team and when you have a coach and your players are the best in the world, it’s the same [message]. For sure, I cannot consider my players the best in the world, but we work to improve for the future and to try to reflect also on this defeat. For sure, this defeat has to hurt us – me, the players and everyone that works in Tottenham,” he said.
Tottenham’s shock exit from the FA Cup means Conte won’t be able to deliver the team a trophy in his first season as a coach. Whether or not the Italian remains in north London for another season remains to be seen, especially amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain.
