Antonio Conte has opened up on his potential future at Tottenham and the ways in which his side can try and find success. The Italian has had a successful summer so far, welcoming six new players to his squad and winning two, drawing one and losing one of Spurs' pre-season friendlies.
It is now time to turn all attention to Saturday, where the Lilywhites welcome Southampton to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, for the first game of the 2022/23 season. Ahead of the game, Conte was questioned on his time at Spurs so far and what is to come.
The 53-year-old provided an honest verdict on his arrival in N17. "I have to be honest," he admitted. "From the first day when I arrived in Tottenham I was really happy because I always said that I found a club, a modern club with a great stadium and fantastic training ground. Everything that a coach aspires to find when you sign a contract.
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"I said I want to build something important with this club because I like to win. I said it will be very important to match these two situations, to bring the club to fight for something important in every season.
"You know very well that every season only one wins the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. To become a stable club in a good position. Other clubs want to do the same though so it will be very difficult," Conte added.
The Italian has already made a major impact both on and off the pitch at Tottenham. He led his side to a fourth place finish last season, meaning a Champions League spot was secured.
However, the Lilywhites now want to be competing with the likes of Liverpool and Man City at the top of the table and end the 14-year trophy drought. Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Pep Guardiola at City are two managers who have been at their clubs for a number of years.
In his pre match press conference, Conte was asked about the success of managers remaining at their clubs for a long period of time. "I think so [it is the best way to go]," he explained. "If you are with the same manager for many years, you bring continuity and you continue ambition. It's the best situation for the club to improve and to grow season by season.
"The vision is one, it's not another vision with another manager. For sure to have a coach for many years you reduce the time because you give continuity to the work with the manager and the players. For me after seven months it's easier to work with the players. You know each other."
As Conte alludes to, being able to work and develop under the same manager is only likely to help players. For a manager, working with the same group of players with some new additions, can only help to to create a cohesive squad that is successful.
The Italian has been building his squad this summer, with the new arrivals and Conte was asked in his press conference if he believes signing the likes of Ivan Perisic and Yves Bissouma, have helped close this gap. "Our target in this moment is not to close the gap, it's to try to be better compared than last season," he said.
"The ambition has to be the best. Then the reality can be different but our ambition, because this type of ambition can push me, push my players, the club, without to be presumptuous or arrogant I repeat, but this ambition has to push us to give 120% in every day of our life in our work."
The Spurs boss doesn't have the best track record of staying at clubs for long, which he was also questioned on, on Thursday. "First of all I need to stay well in the club. I like always the honest," Conte admitted.
"If you tell me one thing and then you have to respect this. I don't like the people who told me one thing and then during the season after one year or two changed it.
"If you tell me a good lie you don't have a lot of luck with me. I hate lying and liars."
Tottenham have a way to go to catch-up to the likes of Liverpool and City at the top of the table, but winning a domestic cup is something fans will hope their side can secure, in the upcoming season. Silverware was something else Conte was asked about and he showed just how much ambition he has.
"(After it was suggested winning a domestic cup) Why not Premier League and the Champions League? (Laughs) My target and the club's target is to improve," the Italian said. "It's the process we started seven months ago. If you get a place in the Champions League it doesn't mean you've achieved your target.
"My experience brings me to say we're going in the right direction. At the same time I know the club needed another step to be competitive with the top teams in Europe.
"For this reason we have to not be presumptuous or arrogant. We have to work, work, work to improve on the pitch and outside of the pitch to become a top club."
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