TheNewsGuru

Tag: Tottenham

  • Conte admits he’s beginning to ‘understand’ Tottenham problems

    Conte admits he’s beginning to ‘understand’ Tottenham problems

    Antonio Conte admits he is starting to “understand” how bad the situation has become at Tottenham.

    Spurs delivered an insipid performance in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Slovenian side NS Mura.

    Conte has stressed that he is not a “magician” and will need time to fix Tottenham’s problems.

    “I must be honest and tell you that after three and a half weeks, I am starting to understand the situation,” Conte said. “I can tell you that the situation is not simple.

    “It is not simple because in this moment, 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 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.”

  • Conte explains Del Piero presence at Tottenham training

    Conte explains Del Piero presence at Tottenham training

    Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has explained the visit of Alessandro del Piero to training yesterday.

    A friend of Conte’s, visited the Tottenham training ground while in London.

    “Alessandro came here to visit us,” Conte said. “He was in London as a guest for Sky, for the game Chelsea-Juventus. It was good to see him. We played together. We won together. It was good to see him after a long time.”

    Harry Kane was eager to be introduced to the Italian legend.

    Conte added: “We are talking about two world class strikers. It was good for Harry to see Alessandro.”

  • Tottenham my most difficult challenge – Antonio Conte

    Tottenham my most difficult challenge – Antonio Conte

    Antonio Conte says he decided to take the Tottenham job thanks to the ambitions of chairman Daniel Levy.

    Conte admits a chat with Levy convinced him of the board’s plans.

    He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “When Levy returned to the office, he convinced me by showing that he wanted me to coach all costs.

    “In his project I perceived a vision. I speak of ambition and the desire to excel. I thought that such an organised reality deserved on-field sporting results. I saw the challenge in front of me, the light that makes me multiply my energy.

    “I have never made comfortable choices, but this one from Tottenham is certainly the most difficult and therefore the most stimulating.”

  • Conte to Tottenham players: Your diet is wrong and you’re overweight

    Conte to Tottenham players: Your diet is wrong and you’re overweight

    New Tottenham coach Antonio Conte has told some his players they’re overweight.

    Conte has not hesitated in making sweeping changes in his first week as Tottenham manager, even banning ketchup and mayonnaise and telling his players they are overweight.

    The Athletic reports Spurs stars were ‘dead’ after a training session last Friday despite beating Vitesse the night before, such is the priority Conte puts into work on the training pitch.

    He also treated his stars to a 75-minute video analysis session of the win over the Dutch side, despite the meeting being initially pencilled in for 20 minutes.

    Conte did not hold back about his players’ physical condition in the aftermath of the European win, too. He told them some of them were overweight and insisted their mentality had to change.

    Nutrition has been one area that Conte has poured huge focus into during the first week of his tenure in north London. He has even ensured his squad eat lunch together at midday.

    He’s withdrawn ‘heavy food and sandwiches’ from the menu at the training ground canteen and also got rid of ketchup and mayonnaise.

    There has also been cut backs to the amount of fruit juice given to players and the amount of oil and butter used in cooking. He’s also urged his stars to eat more fruit.

  • ‘Football is the most ruthless sport’ – Nuno reacts after Tottenham sacking

    ‘Football is the most ruthless sport’ – Nuno reacts after Tottenham sacking

    Nuno Espírito Santo has spoken for the first time since his sacking by Tottenham last week.

    The Portuguese was sacked after just 17 games in charge at Tottenham.

    The 47-year-old former Wolves manager has now taken to social media to speak out for the first time since his departure last week. He posted on Instagram: “Wow, the last few weeks have been hectic to say the least.

    “This is football the most ruthless sport in the game, only a couple of weeks back I was crowned Manager of the Month and fast forward to the present and it’s been some days since my dismissal at Spurs.

    “This is life, I move on forward now looking for my next challenge and finally I want to thank the fans of Spurs, when I joined this great club I envisaged a vision to bring trophies but all didn’t go to plan.

    “That’s all really we live and learn, look forward to keeping all of you posted and thank you once again for your constant support.”

  • Tottenham fullback admits asking Hakimi about Conte

    Tottenham fullback admits asking Hakimi about Conte

    Tottenham fullback Sergio Reguilon admits he asked PSG defender Achraf Hakimi about new manager Antonio Conte.

    The pair played together at Real Madrid, with Hakimi winning Serie A under Conte last season at Inter Milan.

    “The gaffer is special,” Reguilon told the London Evening Standard. “He loves training hard but now we don’t have a lot of time to work on the things he wants on the pitch. So we did a lot of meetings with videos this week.

    “I’ve never played five at the back before. I have to learn quickly. The gaffer has told me he wants me to be solid in defence but at the same moment I have to arrive in the box, help the strikers, score goals, give assists. Now I have more of a chance to score goals and give assists. So let’s work.

    “I have to see many videos with the staff to do what they want on the pitch. I’m enjoying the position a lot because I can attack more but I have to run double!

    “I’ve watched a lot of videos of Chelsea and Inter Milan, and I have a friend at Inter, Achraf Hakimi who I spoke to about the gaffer. He told me I will improve a lot under him and I want to do that as soon as possible. He said I will have to work really, really hard but I will improve a lot. In one week, I can already see that.”

  • Harry Redknapp urges Conte to sign Juventus captain

    Harry Redknapp urges Conte to sign Juventus captain

    Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp says Antonio Conte should move for Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini.

    He wrote for The Sun: “Antonio Conte may be all smiles at the minute but he’ll have no problem ruffling a few feathers to get Tottenham back on the straight and narrow.

    “And if I were Conte, the first thing I’d be doing is telling Daniel Levy there is another Italian who should be joining him in North London as soon as possible.

    “Over the next few weeks, no doubt, we’ll see a list of the supposed big-name targets he wants when the transfer window opens.

    “I doubt very much if 37-year-old Giorgio Chiellini will be on it but, for me, he’s the one man the new Spurs manager should move Heaven and Earth to bring to London with him.

    “I know they’d hardly be signing someone for the long term, but in terms of sorting them out immediately, there would be no one better.

    “And we saw once again on Thursday against Vitesse Arnhem – hardly one of Europe’s big guns – how badly Spurs need someone to take command of that defence.”

  • Why I believe Nuno was sacked at Tottenham – Conte

    Why I believe Nuno was sacked at Tottenham – Conte

    Tottenham boss Antonio Conte says there were reasons for Nuno’s demise.

    Conte claimed his predecessor Nuno was sacked after just four months because his players were ‘too emotional’ and not fit enough.

    He said: “I’ve seen in a few days that we need to work a lot to improve many aspects — for every single player, not only one, two or three.

    “This squad has to work to improve their physical condition, to go into my idea of football, to have more order on the pitch and to not be so emotional during the game, to improve their capacity to suffer.

    “We have to improve many aspects. For this reason, Tottenham decided to change something. Because when the situation is not good, usually the coach pays for this.”

  • Antonio Conte wins first match as Tottenham manager

    Antonio Conte wins first match as Tottenham manager

    Antonio Conte’s spell at Tottenham Hotspur got off to winning start thanks to a 3-2 victory against Vitesse Arnhem on Thursday.

    In front of a raucous crowd in north London, Spurs got their supporters bouncing with an emphatic opening spell.

    Son Heung-min latched onto a scramble in the box to make it 1-0 after 14 minutes.

    Lucas Moura – starting up front with Kane and Son in a 3-4-3 formation – made it two after breaking free of the Vitesse defence.

    With 28 minutes on the clock, it was 3-0 for the home side as Harry Kane and Ben Davies forced an own goal from Jacob Rasmussen.

    But it was evident that Conte has his work cut out for him as Vitesse quickly got back in the game.

    Rasmussen made up for his earlier indiscretion by getting the Dutch side back into the game four minutes after his own goal.

    Five minutes before half-time and Vitesse were down only a goal after Matus Bero took advantage of sloppy play from Moura before slotting past Hugo Lloris.

    Cristiano Romero then made Spurs play with 10-men after he was shown a second yellow for fouling Lois Openda.

    The personnel advantage was even with 10 minutes left when Danilho Doekhi was shown his second yellow, before Vitesse were reduced to nine-men after Markus Schubert’s deliberate handball to stop Emerson Royal’s lob.

    Spurs are now second in their Europa Conference League group, three points behind leaders Rennes.

    Speaking after the game, Conte was relieved to win what he described as a ‘crazy’ match.

     

  • Jose Mourinho criticises Tottenham for sacking Nuno

    Jose Mourinho criticises Tottenham for sacking Nuno

    Roma manager Jose Mourinho has criticised Tottenham for sacking Nuno.

    Nuno was relieved of his duties as Spurs boss on Monday after just 10 league games in charge, with Spurs winning five and losing five since the former Wolves boss became the first full-time Tottenham coach since Mourinho’s sacking in April.

    Mourinho told Sky Italia: “Nuno Espirito Santo did a great job at Wolverhampton, not in a year or a few months, but in four or five years.

    “I can say that now (Tottenham) have a very good coach, but even before they had a very good coach.”

    Mourinho’s comments appear to also be a dig at new Spurs boss Antonio Conte, with the Special One a major rival of the Italian coach during their time at Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.