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Antonio Conte claims that some of his Tottenham Hotspur players “collapse” when put under too much strain.
Tottenham will face AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, following a 4-1 loss to Leicester on Saturday. Spurs have lost three of their past five Premier League games, including a 1-0 triumph over Manchester City on February 5.
More ‘Stability’ will Suit Tottenham
Conte says he needs more “stability” in his squad in order to win trophies with the north London side, which has not won a trophy since winning the League Cup in 2008.
“And this stability is lacking this year. I always talk about it with my players. It is very difficult to keep concentration, it is very difficult to stay focused all of the time.”
“It is not an easy task being so focused. We are working on that, playing under pressure all of the time is good for some players and bad for others.”
“Sometimes players feel motivated, other times they feel so much under pressure that they can’t perform.”
“Maybe for a period they have a good performance and then they collapse all of a sudden if they feel too much pressure. We are working on this, we want to make our players more resilient.”
Conte, who previously won Serie A titles with Inter Milan in 2020 and Juventus in 2012, 2013, and 2014, believes that players raised in Italy are more accustomed to dealing with high pressure situations than those that occur in England.
“I think that the pressure is different between Italy and England,” he said.
“In Italy you speak about football from Monday and you finish on Sunday. You speak only football and then you have a lot of TV that speaks football and putting a lot of pressure.
“You are born in this way and you grow in this way, with this pressure, and you are used to living with this type of situation.
“In England I think that there is an atmosphere that brings to enjoy football without a lot of pressure, because football is a sport and in Italy sometimes football is not only a sport, it is a war between the teams and the fans.”
Luck has ‘Abandoned’ Spurs – Conte
Tottenham, who are now sixth in the Premier League rankings, have been plagued by injuries this season.
Tottenham host Milan with captain Hugo Lloris out for two months, Yves Bissouma recovering from ankle surgery, and Rodrigo Bentancur out for the season with an ACL injury.
Conte claims that luck has deserted his club, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg suspended for the Champions League tie.
“There are also external factors like injuries for very important players for us,” he said. “And those injuries influence the team, influence the growing evolution of the league.
“You can be prepared for everything, you can be a tactical man, good strategies, good line-ups, you can have high-quality players but then if those high-quality players get injured then you need to change things.
“Every manager wishes to have the best players available. Luck has abandoned us.”
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