Antonio Conte acknowledges that it will take time before Tottenham will be challenging for major honours again
Antonio Conte says no manager in the world would be able to deliver a quick fix at Tottenham, claiming inconsistency has been “the story of this club for the last 20 years”.
The Italian, who was appointed in November, has spoken regularly about the major squad rebuilding project required to return the club to the heights of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign, during which they were Premier League runners-up and reached a Champions League final.
One of their biggest problems since Conte’s arrival has been stark inconsistencies in both results and performances, highlighted by the fact they won at Manchester City in the Premier League but then lost at Burnley and again at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
Conte says this has been the story of Tottenham for the last two decades, a period which has coincided with Daniel Levy’s reign as chairman.
He said: “For sure, to have this up and down I don’t like. I always said this from my first day when I arrived.
“Tottenham’s story is this, many ups and downs, but to be competitive, to try to win something, to try to fight for something important and become a strong team, the first thing that has to happen is to be stable and avoid these ups and downs.
“To do this and to change this type of situation that is happening for many, many years in Tottenham, it’s not simple.