What is the latest team news?
Today is Friday and for sure after the game against Leicester we are trying to manage a couple of situations with fresh injuries. For sure we have tomorrow to make the right decision about a couple of our players.
Eric Dier today had a good training session with us and is available. Sonny not yet, we have to wait but he’s recovering very well. We have to wait until after the international break.
Which players have the new problems?
Honestly I prefer not to tell you the players, also because I don’t want to give advantage to our opponents.
Can what happened against Leicester galvanise the team and push them forward?
We know very well that we are going to play against a really strong team. Don’t forget Chelsea won the Champions League, now they’re in the final of the Carabao Cup, so we’re talking about a really good team. I don’t know if this is the right moment.
We have our problems with many injuries but for sure we want to try to give our best against Chelsea. They have beaten us in the last two games and we have to try to learn something about the past to try to improve to try and give our best.
Are you any closer to bringing a player in and does it feel like Tanguy Ndombele has played his last game for the club?
Honestly, I prefer to speak about this topic always with the club. For sure, I made evaluations about the squad but I have spoken with the club and I hope the club will listen to me.
How pleased are you that Hugo Lloris has signed a new deal?
It is important our captain has renewed his contract. Not only for one year but for two. It means that the club and the whole environment trusts him. He is a point of reference for the team and for the club.
It was right to sign a contract for two years. He is an important goalkeeper in the world, he has won a lot with his national team, he is captain of France, captain of Tottenham. I think that it was right to renew his contract at the club, it was very good to do this.
How do you view Emerson's development so far?
I must be very clear, he started the game with a physical problem and I only have to tell him thanks for his availability. When I understood that after the first half he was suffering a lot, despite his availability, I preferred to make a substitution. He is a good player and he is only 22-years-old and this is the first season in the Premier League.
I think he is doing well, like the others has a lot of space for improvement. The right wing-back has an important role in my idea, in the system if we play with three in the back. Otherwise we can change to play four at the back, but if you play with three at the back wing-backs are very important.
You're in a great position to get the top four or even top three aren't you?
(Laughs) You have to be very calm and go game by game. Don't forget that we won against Watford in the last minute, we won against Leicester in the last minute, I have to be realistic and for sure I am happy. It is a pleasure to see my team fight until the end but if you cut four points off our table and then maybe you don’t make this question to me.
It is important to be realistic and understand it will be very difficult for us this season, it is important to fight and create a good foundation. I don’t change my idea because of some positive results. I have to look at the situation very well and try and improve it. We need to improve a lot.
Do you feel like you’ve got the players to achieve your ambitions this season even if no signings?
In this season my ambition is to try to help the club. This is my best ambition, to try to help the club, to help the team to improve to get the best result possible. I don’t know what result is possible but for sure we’ll give 100 per cent to get the best out of my players and to try do our best in a difficult league.
In this season for sure my ambition can be to help the team but I knew this when I signed, I knew the situation and my ambition was to have the satisfaction to help the team and the club to improve.
We've seen you use a 3-4-3 formation and a 3-5-2, which is the one we'll see more of from an Antonio Conte Tottenham in the long-term?
I think that many times in these two months I've faced different situations, especially for the injuries. We started to play with the two strikers because I think we have important strikers and when you have to try to build something you do it around the best players in your squad.
When all the players are available a lot of times we started with three strikers. Then Sonny has had an injury, a bad injury, and for this reason I didn’t have the possibility to continue this way. Also Bergwijn was out with injuries.
In this type of situation you have to try and find another solution. Maybe it could be possible to change again.
The important thing is that the players know very well which are our principles and try to put this on the pitch with the system that we decide to play.
You mentioned that Hugo Lloris has won big things with his country, but is it a frustration that he hasn't in almost 10 years with Spurs and can you be the man to change that?
Yeah, I think it is important for every club to win trophies and at the same time you have to understand if you are ready to win, because every club could say 'yeah I want to win trophies' but then you have to understand very well what is your point, where you are and then the path that you have to follow to try to be competitive and win.
It is too simple to say that this team or another team want to win. One team wins and the others seek to win. I know this because if you win you write the history and if you don't win, you played for a team that don't write the history.
The team has scored a few late goals under you, against Watford, Leicester and Morecambe, is that a sign of fitness, mentality and how important that is to you?
Yeah, but we are talking about two games that we deserved to win. At the end of the games against Watford and Leicester we created many chances to score and then also if the winner arrived at the end it doesn’t mean we didn’t deserve it.
But then for sure we have to continue in this way because in these two last games we showed a great resilience, great will, a great desire to fight until the end, to believe you can win until the end and this is very important for the mentality, for the belief of the players, for what we are doing in this period, for the work we are doing together.
For this reason I’m very happy. I'm very happy because don’t forget you can win or lose at the end of the game. You must be very good to believe and I've seen this in my players.
In the last game against Leicester, my players weren’t satisfied about the draw, they wanted to play very quickly with only one minute to go. It was important for me, it was important for the fans, it was important for the club, to see this desire of the player to want to win until the end.
For this reason they deserve a great compliment for this win.
