‘I found a club’ – Conte opens up on what he liked from Spurs win over Vitesse

Antonio Conte praised his Tottenham players after his first game in charge of the club on Thursday but claimed he needs time to work with them after a hard-fought 3-2 win against Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League. 

The Italian oversaw his opening as Spurs boss just a couple of days after being announced as the club’s replacement for Nuno Espirito Santo. 

Conte’s first game in the dugout certainly did not disappoint, with five goals scored and three red cards shown as Spurs secured three important points to leapfrog their Dutch opposition into second in Group G. 

It did not come in easy circumstances, though, as Spurs saw a 3-0 lead cut to 3-2 before the end of the first half, before spending the majority of the second period a man light following Cristian Romero’s dismissal. 

However, Conte claimed it was good for the side to suffer en route to securing the victory with the aim to build stronger resilience going forward. 

Conte told the club’s official website: “There were a lot of emotions, yes, because we were winning 3-0 and we were dominating the game, created many more chances to score more goals.

“Then, in 10 minutes, it happened what you don’t think can happen, we conceded two goals and gave the opportunity to Vitesse to grow into the game.

“In the second half you can’t imagine staying with 10 men for half-hour, at that moment, honestly, I’m pleased that my players suffer, because it’s important to learn to suffer to win. It’s not simple, this situation.

He added: “We understood when we need to kill the game, we need to kill the game. We should win, we won and now in just one day, we have to prepare for an important game at Everton. 

“I need time, I need time to work, time to stay with my players and work on different aspects, particularly to bring my idea of football.

“But, I’m pleased, because I found a Club with a fantastic stadium, with a fantastic infrastructure, a training ground that is wonderful, fantastic fans and for this reason, we have to give everything to repay the effort of the fans.”

The opening stages of Thursday’s encounter saw Spurs produce a more purposeful and attacking display, which was something the club has been devoid of for a lengthy amount of time. 

Quizzed on what he liked the most from the performance, Conte responded: “I’m pleased because we created chances, we scored goals, we had a situation where we prepared in only two days.

“I think we should work, work a lot, and this is a positive thing because it means we have a lot of space for improvement. The only problem is the time. We have to find the right time to work all together and for one match, we must make our fans proud.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

The Conte era is up and running, in the most Spurs way possible for the Italian. He essentially received a full Spurs crash course within 90 minutes, which is good in a way considering he will be able to pinpoint the good and the bad with what we have currently. 

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