Dejan Kulusevski has reflected on Tottenham’s difficult season, admitting that the joy of playing was absent for the squad when the campaign restarted after the World Cup.
There was plenty of optimism surrounding Spurs coming into the 2022-23 season, with many fans hoping that the team could build upon their impressive fourth-place finish in the previous campaign.
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However, the performances left a lot to be desired right from the start of the season and results quickly went downhill, eventually leading to the club parting ways with Conte in March.
Kulusevski opens up on joyless season at Tottenham
Kulusevski revealed that even though the players were training extremely hard during the mid-season break, they did not feel energised when the campaign restarted.
The Swede told Aftonbladet: “The months during the World Cup were really bad, I must say, it was really, really bad. We trained so hard but there was no energy, it was dark and we were in London.
“We drove and we drove and really thought we would be prepared when the season started again, but the joy wasn’t there, the desire to play wasn’t there, the energy… everything was down.”
Kulusevski remarked that the players found it difficult to understand why things were not clicking into gear on the pitch.
He added: “We started playing matches and were 3-0 down, situations you have never experienced in your entire life. You just think, what is going on? You go home and are shocked. It was difficult to explain to your family and friends what is happening because I didn’t know myself.”
The darkest moment in the club’s season came after Conte’s departure, with Cristian Stellini overseeing a 6-1 humiliation at St James’ Park, which proved to be the Italian’s final game in charge.
When asked about the drubbing against Newcastle, Kulusevski said: “It’s a match you don’t want to remember. It’s the sickest thing that’s happened in my career. Incredibly strange feeling when playing, the match doesn’t even start and it’s 2-0 and then 3-0.
“It can be like that when an entire arena can create an incredible energy and positivity that helps the team forward and notices that we are completely shaky and weak. They ran over us. I hope it never happens again.”
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One of the reasons that Conte does not tend to stick around at clubs for more than two years is that his messages and training methods can get tiring.
The Italian relies on the same training drills on a regular basis and on perfecting the same system, and the players do eventually end up losing their enthusiasm as they are not allowed to express themselves.
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