What will new manager Antonio Conte bring to Tottenham Hotspurs?
What will new manager Antonio Conte bring to Tottenham?
By Jack Lacey-Hatton
Antonio Conte has already
changed the feel of Tottenham’s season barely a week into the job.
On the pitch, he has
overseen a Europa Conference League win over Vitesse and a 0-0 draw at Goodison
Park against Everton.
But his impact in North
London goes way beyond that, with Conte already revolutionising the approach at
the club's Enfield training centre.
Whispers around the club
suggest some of the first-team squad have got more out of the Italian’s first
week than they did in the entire Nuno Espirito Santo-era.
But what will the Premier
League title-winning manager bring going forward?
Tactical detail
Conte’s reputation as one
of Europe’s most formidable tacticians is not without justification.
His studious nature should
have a positive impact on the players over the coming months.
He is flexible. Not set to
one sole tactical approach, the Italian is capable of switching systems to suit
the needs of his team.
This was shown during his
title-winning year at Chelsea, switching to a fluid 3-4-3 to get the best out
of the players he had at his disposal.
Whilst Nuno was fairly
rigid when it came to setting up his team, Conte will look to bring the best
out of his key players first and foremost.
An extended, detailed,
video analysis session that took place the very day after winning his first
game against Vitesse, showed his commitment to quickly and effectively working
out the best tactical approach.
No stone will be unturned
in the quest to restore a clear playing philosophy to this Spurs team.
Winning mentality
If you want to win
trophies you need to bring in someone who knows how to do the business.
In 2011, Conte took a
Juventus team that had finished seventh in Serie A the previous season and
transformed them into an ‘invincible’ title-winning machine.
It was a similar story
during his spell at Chelsea. The campaign prior to his arrival was dismal, with
Spurs’ London rivals finishing a lowly 10th, a joint record-low for
a defending champion.
But the man from Lecce turned them around in one season, creating a team that not only won the Premier League title, but set a new record of most wins in a season (30 in 38 games)
Even the following season
after the sale of Diego Costa and a tougher league campaign, missing out on the
Champions League on the final day, Conte still kept the winning mentality by
leading Chelsea to an FA Cup.
Although his spell in charge
of the Italian national team didn’t bring any trophies, his team were only
eliminated at Euro 2016 by a lengthy penalty shootout against Germany in the
quarter-finals.
Considering the team was
going through a transitional phase and that they didn’t even manage to qualify
for the next major tournament, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it was another example
of his ability to get the absolute maximum from his squad.
Leadership
The benefits of the work
Conte is doing on the training pitch may not be seen for a few weeks yet.
The below-par display in a
stalemate against Everton may have taken the wind out of the sails of some fans
that were delighted at his appointment.
But what Conte does bring
in the short-term is a clear statement that Spurs haven’t lost any ambition to
get back in the top four.
For many supporters, the
club has felt directionless in 2021. From sacking Jose Mourinho on the eve of a
cup final, when many felt he deserved more time, then failing to appoint an
elite manager in the summer, the whole operation felt messy.
But with the Italian in
the hot seat, Tottenham have a coach who can genuinely produce an upturn in
mood and doesn’t mind having the weight of a big club on his shoulders.
Only time will tell if he
brings success on the pitch but in the short-term, as a figurehead alone, his
arrival is sending out the right signals.
Photo credit: Getty Images