Antonio Conte explains why Tottenham 'collapse' & struggle with inconsistency
By Tom Gott
Antonio Conte has confessed that he is working with his Tottenham players to get them used to playing under intense pressure, amid concerns over their long-term direction.
Inconsistency has been a significant problem for Tottenham, whose issues were summed up perfectly by the 4-1 loss to Leicester that followed their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Manchester City.
Now behind in the race for a spot in the top four, Conte admitted some players need to improve their ability to play under pressure if they are to succeed at the highest level.
"Trying to forecast the future today is impossible," Conte told a press conference. "I think we are lacking that stability, it is always crucial.
"If you want to win or achieve some targets and have a good position in the Champions League or in England in the Premier League you have to be stable. 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. I made a comparison before English football and Italian football. 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 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 but there are also external factors like injuries for very important players for us, and those injuries influence the team, influence the growing evolution of the championship.
"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."
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Asked about the team's inconsistencies, Conte went on to admit that playing in England is a different, more difficult challenge compared to life in Serie A.
"Unfortunately this is the truth, it's like you say. Last year we had consistency in the last 14 games, we won 10 out of 14 and then to get in the Champions League we did something that was unexpected, it was incredible considering the situation we had," he continued. "Considering the number of players, we just had 13 available last year.
"This year we resumed in the same way and then injuries started, especially in attack, with Lucas Moura, [Dejan] Kulusevski, so the situation got complicated. It was like a rollercoaster. One time you were up and then all of a sudden you were down. If you want to be competitive, if you are aiming for something important you need stability.
"You need stability, you need consistency, you can't have these ups and downs. I am trying to work on this and focusing on not having ups and downs. England is not like Italy, the Premier League is not like Serie A, we have different cultures in these two leagues. In England it is much more difficult to be focused and stay focused for every game. In Italy it is easier.
"I am trying to work on this, I want my team to be more focused. When you have ups and down, which is what is happening to us, then obviously it is a bit thing. We need to look for more stability. Sometimes luck abandons you. This year many times we needed to be happy with what we had. This last period it is happening again but we need to react and be stronger."