Tottenham assistant boss Cristian Stellini has admitted that his children make him angrier than football ever could and that he studied Chelsea head coach Graham Potter when he first arrived in England.
Spurs and Chelsea meet on Sunday afternoon at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with 11 points between the fourth-placed hosts and their 10th-placed visitors. Potter is under plenty of pressure from sections of the Blues fanbase and there has also been an ongoing debate about whether he gets angry enough with his team, the officials and what happens in matches.
Stellini was asked what makes him angry and he admitted it was not so much football, but rather his now grown-up children - two girls and a boy, aged 23, 21 and 19.
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"Everyone is different. Also In Italy we have coaches who show a different behaviour so it is not important. What is important for me is that our players play a great match," said the Spurs assistant head coach. "Sometimes I get angry, [with] my children more than anything! They do what children do normally: they grow, they create problems - and the older they are the bigger the problems are so that makes me more angry than anything.
"Anger sometimes comes from love. Also a manager, if he loves his team and he loves his job, sometimes he is angry. Maybe you don't have to show this anger because you have it inside, and you transfer it to your team after."
Stellini admitted that he was fascinated by Potter's Brighton side and studied the coach and his work when he arrived in England with Antonio Conte.
"Yes [he's a good coach], I studied Potter since I arrived here because he was a manager that in Brighton last season, I follow Brighton a lot, because it surprised me the way they play, the way they change system many times and the way they were good to challenge with Potter," he explained.
"We played many games against them and every game was different so understand the decision he took last season was really interesting for me and for sure he is a great manager."
On Potter's switch to Chelsea, the Italian added: "I don't know about Chelsea but I know that every team, every club, every season is different. You have to take care and don't go rushing in the way you want the team to get the result. The result sometimes depends not on how better you are at your job or how you are working well but maybe a different team needs more time.
"It depends. It’s not every time the coach and all the staff need to understand the perfect way and perfect time you need. Sometimes you have to be patient. You have to wait for the right moment, the result arrives also if you are not expecting. Sometimes you drop the perfect way and perfect pace your team play and then in one game, you’re fine.
"Last season we struggled a lot until February but after that the team changed. It is not every time the same, the coach has to wait the team to play and continue to work and be confident in his job."
The last match between Spurs and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge brought a flashpoint between Conte and then Blues boss Thomas Tuchel after the final whistle which resulted in them both being charged and the German suspended for a game.
Conte is currently recovering in his Turin home after returning too early from emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder so will not be on the touchline on Sunday, but Stellini said the Tottenham boss and Tuchel were far closer than that incident earlier in the season suggested.
"This type of situation is normal in football but they are more friends than they showed in that moment. They respect each other a lot. I know very well this," he said. "I don't know [if they have spoken since], but I know what they feel and think about each other."
If Tottenham can win on Sunday then they will open up a 14-point gap between themselves and their mega-spending rivals from across the capital, but Stellini is well aware of just how difficult the recent games between the two have been for the north London side.
"We know very well that we struggle a lot against Chelsea in every game we played since we are here so we have to change this and maybe be more competitive in the game for 90 minutes," he said.
"We have to think about us and our way to be better, our way and the target we want to reach. Not think about what the opponent can do or not do.
"A team like Chelsea can recover and win many games in a row, but we have to think about our game and not what happened after [with the difference in points]."
Conte will be managing from afar again this weekend with Stellini admitting that he speaks to the Spurs head coach three times a day and at night.
"If I had a doubt I have to call him. If he has something to say to me, he will call me back because we have to be linked in the idea," he said. "We have to train and the idea we want, the team play. Sometimes we have an idea and you have to call him immediately or you lose the time to check what Antonio thinks.
"For that reason we speak a lot during the day. We also have Ryan [Mason] that can speak with Antonio and sometimes Gianluca [Conte] as well. Everyone speaks with him. We are a team and we are working a lot like a team with all the staff.
"We closed the book after the match [against West Ham] in one hour. We think about the next. What will make him proud is to repeat a match like this. The match will be different because West Ham and Chelsea are a different type of team but our behaviour and our pace in the game must be the same. This is important."
One player who has been transformed in recent weeks is Emerson Royal. The 24-year-old Brazilian has gone from a stadium full of ironic cheers when he went off against Leeds in November and boos when he came on in other games to being man of the match on a number of occasions recently and gradually earning a cult status among some of the fanbase.
Stellini believes that the key for Emerson is to keep his intensity high and try not to overthink what he's doing during games.
"Emerson is a Brazilian player. We have different cultures from Europe and South America. Emerson needed time to understand the difference in the culture of football, but at the same time, he has to be himself. He has to show who he is," he said. "Sometimes this type of player loses confidence if he doesn’t feel love around him.
"We don’t have to stop to give him this, but let him understand the difference in the type of football. When his pace and his intensity is really high, he can enjoy.
"When he thinks too much, he’s not the same player. So we have to follow this aspect, to feel Emerson every time being involved in the game."
Stellini is certain that after missing out on the World Cup, if Emerson can continue his recent form then a recall to the Brazil squad will not be far behind.
"If he continues to play like this, I think it’s compulsory for Brazil to call him," said the assistant head coach. "I hope for him that that can happen. Also, not to give him an excuse, he lost the pace after the three-match ban (against Arsenal) and the World Cup.
"This season is completely different if you compare with the other seasons. The World Cup changed the pace for many players and many teams."
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