Home » “We need time” – Antonio Conte discusses the possibility of January signings

“We need time” – Antonio Conte discusses the possibility of January signings

By Eddie Razo -

The January transfer window is open, and it’s the first opportunity that Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has to improve his squad. The Italian tactician came aboard in November, so he didn’t have the summer to help mold the team into his vision. 

Following the first-leg EFL Cup semifinal 2-0 loss to Chelsea, Conte was again asked about the transfer window and whether or not he wants Spurs to be aggressive to improve the squad this month. 

“This is not a problem of the transfer market or new players,” Conte said, whose words were relayed by The Athletic.

“There is a lot of jobs to do, and in this moment, I think it’s very difficult to think of which path you have to take to improve because there is a lot of our situation to improve.”

Conte again preached patience to the supporters because he’s trying to restore the north London club’s level, which he states has fallen over the past few years. 

“We need time. We need time and patience. And everyone has to have patience because I repeat, I think Tottenham in the last (few) years, I think the level has dropped a lot. And now you have to fight to win every game,” Conte said. 

“From when I started my experience in Tottenham, every game we have fought, and now we struggled to win a game. We have struggled in every game.”

It’s a few days into the January window, and Tottenham has yet to add a player into their squad despite the rumors of them having an interest in several talents. Spurs still have a few weeks to improve the team where they can challenge for one of the top four spots. 

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Dino
Dino
2 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Poch/Mourinho wanted Diaz & Fernandes… we got lo no show & Rondon…. 🤦‍♂️🤣

CowSpurs
CowSpurs
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Baldwin

Agreed. We were poor in the last 18 months of Poch’s tenure. One man to blame, Levy.

CowSpurs
CowSpurs
2 years ago

Agreed, but no point being in the same league as City, Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal with Newcastle to come. We are are a ‘rich’ club, just not as rich as that lot who compete in the same competitions! We’d be better off in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

CowSpurs
CowSpurs
2 years ago
Reply to  England Mike

I think a lot of pros pass safe and too easy. The quick, one touch forward pass is rarely done, except by top players. Conte wants those types of players and is taking players out of their comfort zone. Unfortunately, last night it hit home that some of our players are not that good (but didn’t we know that already?).

East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago
Reply to  Carla Burgin

Yep, there was no effort to address the decline of the ageing squad members and/or the need for quality replacements and competition for places, this well before Jose arrived. Jose was not the right manager to turn us around because firstly, his approach is so opposite to Poch’s. Who knows, if Jose had been given most of what he needed to put his plan into action then perhaps it could have gone somewhere.

The main issue I have about the decision to hire Jose was that anyone who know’s football would have predicted that the way Spurs are run is far too issue laden for to suit the way he works. Then again, Levy seems to be quite happy to make poor decisions, so long as it’s to do with football and nothing to do with the balance sheets…

England Mike
England Mike
2 years ago
Reply to  CowSpurs

I don’t get the passing systems we do at all, we make so many wrong choices and misplaced passes that go astray, it’s shockingly bad and has been for a long time not just the odd game, how has it got so bad.

Mark Baldwin
Mark Baldwin
2 years ago
Reply to  SimonSpur

Not sure how much you can read into the Liverpool game or the subsequent games. Attendance is often down the weekend before Christmas and you had the Omicron situation. I wonder how many already paid for seats, like mine, were empty. If the trend continues post-Christmas and Omicron, he might start getting concerned.

Carla Burgin
Carla Burgin
2 years ago

middle name is scrooge

Carla Burgin
Carla Burgin
2 years ago
Reply to  CowSpurs

great analysis

Carla Burgin
Carla Burgin
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Baldwin

absolutely spot on,poch knew

Harry
Harry
2 years ago
Reply to  SimonSpur

The abuse aimed in his direction during the home match against United, was a huge wake up call.

He promptly acted by sacking Nuno, I can’t believe he will not back Conte this January…..I don’t expect huge additions, just 2/3 incoming and maybe getting rid of 4 players would be a start.

Then summer is when major surgery is needed.

Top 5 finish and good cup run should be our aim.

We are a rich club, owned by a billionaire…..it’s time for put up or shut up

Glory Costs Too Much
Glory Costs Too Much
2 years ago
Reply to  Tangangry

Well N’Dombele and Lo Celso were over a £100m combined. It’s not what you spend it’s the due diligence you do before spending it.

SimonSpur
SimonSpur
2 years ago
Reply to  Harry

Wow! Didn’t know that about the Liverpool game. I think that’s the only way Levy is going to put his hand in his pocket if attendances are down. He’s slowly being backed into a corner and he knows sooner or later he will have to be very active in the transfer market.

Last edited 2 years ago by Ragnar
England Mike
England Mike
2 years ago

Last night highlighted once and for all the distance between these two clubs, and I have no doubt Conte was aware of the level we are at, I hope Levy and the board now realise where we are as a football club the way most others have done for a long time.
His comments were calculated and measured, told in a way nobody even Levy can ignore, I was very impressed by him last night, let us see if there is a positive effect in that boardroom where the focus has been on other matters for too long, instead of the team on the pitch.

Harry
Harry
2 years ago
Reply to  SimonSpur

Totally agree, Rodon should have played in the middle with Sanchez and Davies.

All yesterday confirmed was when playing against a top side, we are completely exposed.

Conte knows (we all do) that a mass clearout is needed, the deadwood is completely dead.

Get rid of Doherty, Dele, Sanchez, Ndembele, Winks, Clarke, Bergwijn and after last nights performance Royal and Tanganga.

If Danny boy doesn’t open his cheque book, Antonio will walk and the fanbase will erupt.

I saw somewhere online the other day that home attendances are down, only 40000+ turned up for the Liverpool game.

swerve
swerve
2 years ago
Reply to  CowSpurs

Hojbjerg been poor for a few games now and afraid Tanganga isn’t going to make it. Royale and Doherty aren’t an improvement on Aurier and Reguillon has been poor to say the least. Our full backs would have difficulty in crossing a road.

Vlahovic and Kessie are not ever arriving at Tottenham and Sessegnon Romero and Lo Celso are just sick notes and very worried about our next 2 league derbies vs goons and chavs!!

Roll on the winter break for RnR.

Tangangry
Tangangry
2 years ago

Clubs who regularly spend > £50m on players and pay them > £200k a week are *always* going to be better than us because it follows that they bought better players than we did.

Hardly rocket science is it.

Man U fans must be even more annoyed, they spend big bucks and are worse than us!

SimonSpur
SimonSpur
2 years ago

And lives in a huge fancy mansion.

SimonSpur
SimonSpur
2 years ago

Conte was saying what we all have been saying. Last night confirmed what he suspected, which is the sizeable difference between us and the top 3. Honest and sobering.

Mark Baldwin
Mark Baldwin
2 years ago

I see some numpty on the Mirror (Jacob Leek) has taken the remark about our level dropping the last few years as a dig at Mourinho. While it may have been, I am not convinced. It is evident that our level has dropped, but it is equally clear we had been going backwards for quite sometime before Mourinho arrived.

The rot started when our so-called business savvy Chairman decided on the innovative approach of not buying players for a few transfer windows. When that nonsense started, we were at least on a par with Liverpool having been ahead of them for several years. By the end, they were staring to win trophies, while we were noticeably in decline, which ultimately culminated in the sacking of Poch.

Whether Mourinho did a good job is a matter of opinion. I’d say he did as well as could be expected with the squad we had, which as last night and the NS Mura game showed, is not nearly good enough, even under Conte.

It seems fairly common ground that Mourinho wanted a decent centre half brought in at the start of last season. Instead, we brought in Rodon, who appears to have been not what Mourinho required and, on the evidence so far, Conte agrees with him. It is arguable that if we’d gone and bought a top class centre half last season, per Mourinho’s wishes, that we would have scraped into a Champions League sport.

Even if the Mirror numpty is right about Conte’s thoughts a decent and knowledgeable journalist should have been able to expand and make the point that the rot started before Mourinho arrived and it is not Mourinho that is responsible for our dysfunctional midfield and leaky defence or the signings (eg Rodon and Ndombele) that neither Mourinho nor Conte seem willing to use. The finger points at Levy and his buying policy.

Glory Costs Too Much
Glory Costs Too Much
2 years ago
Reply to  CowSpurs

We’re richer than the vast majority of teams in the world. The problem is we’re poorly run. Levy is like that millionaire who lives like a pauper and refuses to spend money.

CowSpurs
CowSpurs
2 years ago

That was definitely a wake up call. Despite improving under Conte from a work rate point of view it is rather more difficult to flick the ‘quality’ switch. None of us, I hope, thought we would be able to compete with the bigger, better and richer teams straight away. Chelsea have far more better players and we were second best for large parts of the game.

The team that makes the least mistakes tend to win and unfortunately at key moments we made too many, but they were mistakes I expect Championship players to make. When we passed the ball one touch and beat their press we saw glimpses of where Conte might take us……if we have better players.

The goals were a mess, still cannot work out why Hojbjerg didn’t play the ball forward to the left wing after Son laid it off for him. Tanganga’s involvement was poor, the pass was too pedestrian and to the wrong foot of Emerson (if he has a right one let me know). I would expect better from schoolboys. Tanganga has not played much football, it told last night.

It is obvious for all to see that Emerson and Doherty just do not have the defensive or attacking quality to be effective. Some out there like Emerson, but I look at players objectively. I don’t care if he wears a Spurs shirt, he has to earn the right to wear it, show me he can play. He can’t.

Too many had off games, largely due to Chelsea harassing at every conceivable opportunity. Hojbjerg was not at his best yesterday, Skipp just a step below where he needs to be and Chelsea’s midfield ran the show. I thought Saul was decent for them. Son was poor and Kane looked like he was doing Ndombele’s job in the second half whilst the enigmatic Frenchman sauntered around the pitch doing very little. Compare him to Azpuilicueta and you see the difference in being a ‘professional’ footballer. Luckily, Chelsea missed a fair few chances and that kept us in the tie.

We got taught a lesson last night, my worry is that Arsenal will do the same on the 16th now, they did look decent v City. That is the game where we will know if we can fight for fourth spot. Otherwise, it might be a case of waiting for Arsenal’s wheels to fall off or settling for Europa/Conference football again.

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