Cristian Stellini admitted last month it was his “dream” to become a manager in his own right, but Tottenham’s new acting head coach can hardly have expected the opportunity to arise so soon and in these circumstances.
Stellini will manage Spurs for the final 10 games of the season with Antonio Conte’s blessing after the head coach left the club by mutual consent on Sunday night, but his entire backroom staff — with the exception of his brother, Gianluca — remained in place. It is an extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented situation.
Stellini’s association with Conte dates back two decades to their playing days at Juventus, and he assisted his mentor in Turin before following him to Inter Milan and Spurs. Spurs are banking on Stellini, who will be assisted by Ryan Mason, providing a winning combination of continuity and change but the appointment is clearly a risk.
Stellini was nominally in charge for a five-game spell during Conte’s convalescence from gallbladder surgery, leading Spurs to wins over Manchester City, West Ham and Chelsea, and damaging defeats by Sheffield United and Wolves, but Conte was continuing to pick the side and even made calls on in-game changes.
Now Stellini must be his own man, despite his only experience of senior management coming in an unsuccessful 16-game run in charge of Serie C side Alessandria, which ended in the sack.
On the one hand, Stellini will not need time to get to the know the players, who mostly like and respect the 48-year-old, and should be able to hit the ground running when the internationals begin filtering back to Hotspur Way from Wednesday.
There are some immediate and easy changes he could make which would win support inside and out of the club. An advanced training schedule would immediately win over players and staff, given Conte’s infuriating habit of making arrangements at the last minute and even cancelling days off with no notice.
Conte was so unwilling or unable to plan ahead, Spurs found themselves unable to find a warm-weather training base during the World Cup like their top-six rivals because all the top venues had already been taken, leaving them stuck at Hotspur Way.
There are some immediate and easy changes Stellini could make which would win support inside and out of the club
Tactically, Stellini can also quickly make some adjustments to please supporters. Showing a degree of tactical flexibility by deviating from Conte’s rigid 3-4-3 system would be a start, as well as demanding his players get on the ball more and being proactive with his substitutions.
Playing Richarlison and Harry Kane in a front two would be exciting, as well as giving more opportunities to January signing Arnaut Danjuma.
If he succeeds in guiding Spurs back into the Champions League, it seems unlikely he would return to being Conte’s assistant at another club and could even become a contender for the job on a permanent basis, particularly if Spurs’s top targets get more attractive offers in the summer.
The danger for the club, however, is that Stellini is simply continuity Conte — with the same approach, tactics and management style but a more gentle rhetoric.
Conte’s outburst at Southampton sealed his fate, but Spurs had long ceased to function as a top side under the Italian.
The danger for Spurs is that Stellini’s methods will not prove sufficiently different to his former boss to lift a demoralised dressing room and give the club the new manager bounce needed to get them over the line to fourth place.
