Antonio Conte has revealed he defied doctor’s orders to return to work with Tottenham out of a sense of “responsibility” to his stuttering team.
Conte had emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder on February 1 and subsequently watched his side’s 1-0 win over Manchester City from his sickbed in Italy. He returned to work last Thursday and was back on the touchline for Saturday’s dismal 4-1 defeat by Leicester City, although visibly more subdued than usual.
Speaking in Italy ahead of tonight’s Champions League last-16 first leg against AC Milan, Conte admitted he had been advised by his doctor not to return to work for more than two weeks and acknowledged he is still not “100 per cent”, nor able to communicate fully with his players from the touchline.
“The doctor’s recommendation is to stay calm for 15 days,” said the head coach. “He had advised me not to return, but you have a sense of responsibility that you want to stay every moment with your players, to breathe the environment in every situation.
“I’m trying to manage it in the best way, certainly during the match I can’t let the players hear me as much as I would like. Now I’m feeling much better than before.
“I’m not still 100 per cent but I think I’m recovering well, it’s very important for me to stay with the team, work with them and try to stay together in a difficult moment for us. Because in the last period we were not so lucky, because three surgeries — me and two surgeries for the players.
“In the last seven days we had four serious injuries. For this season, I think to stay together is very important and try to create the right spirit, to help each other much more than before to work together and overcome this difficult period.”
Conte was referring to injuries to Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Hugo Lloris and Ryan Sessegnon, which have left him short of options, particularly in midfield, at the San Siro.
Bentancur will miss the rest of the season after rupturing his ACL at Leicester, while Bissouma is set for about seven weeks on the sidelines following ankle surgery. With Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg suspended tonight, Conte has just two available midfielders in Oliver Skipp, 22, and 20-year-old Pape Matar Sarr but said he had not had time to consider creative solutions — like moving Eric Dier forward.
“We did not have the time to take into consideration also this option,” Conte said, when asked if Dier could play in midfield. “Rodrigo had an injury two days ago and time was so short to prepare this game that I did not think of another solution.
“We have the solution in our house, with Skippy and Pape Sarr. We have to help them to overcome the emotion, and then we trust them.”
Conte admitted his side are lacking “stability” after lurching from the sublime against City to the ridiculous at Leicester, and said some of his players struggle to deal with playing under pressure every few days.
“Playing under pressure all of the time is good for some players and bad for others,” said the Italian. “Sometimes players feel motivated other times feel so much under pressure that they cannot perform.”
