Antonio Conte has admitted he is happy with how a number of his Tottenham players performed during pre-season but insisted patience will be needed for the pieces to all fall into place.
Embarking on his first summer at Spurs, Conte has been leading the charge in North London after helping the club secure a spot in the Champions League last season.
The 53-year-old coach has had to integrate six new signings into his squad and has done so successfully during a tour of South Korea and friendlies against Rangers and, most recently, Roma in Israel.
Although Spurs suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against the Italian side to conclude their pre-season preparations, Conte has still been left impressed by what he saw from a number of his players by offering a comprehensive review of their displays.
Conte said (via Football.London): “First of all, the most important thing is that all the players, except Oliver Skipp, have trained and trained well.
“In this moment we have two players, Ivan Perisic and Doherty, they have to continue to work and reach the peak of fitness because after a long injury they are struggling a lot. We need to have patience.
“But today it was positive to give them a lot of time to play again for Matthew and Ivan. Bissouma is also a player who has to come into our idea of football.
“I’m happy for Lenglet, for Clement, because he came in with personality. We need a player to play, to play with personality, to have the quality to play football, also to attack. It was positive.
“It’s positive that Ben Davies has recovered. I didn’t want to take a risk today because we have another week to work and to bring him in the best physical condition so he doesn’t feel pain in his ankle. Now he feels a bit of pain. He was ready to play today but I didn’t want to risk it.
“Richarlison I liked a lot the way he impacted the game. We need this type of player. Richarlison to start the game or go into the game, he can have a big impact. For us, it’s very important. We need him behind Sonny, also Kane and Kulusevski. He is an important player because we have a lot of games to play.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Spurs had a solid pre-season under Conte and he has had a chance to fully implement his methods in and get the new signings used to his way of playing.
There have been a few players that have been recovering from injury and picked up problems along the way, but that is all part of the game which Conte will be more than capable of negotiating.
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