Following Chelsea's 1-0 friendly win over Liverpool at the iconic Rose Bowl in Southern California, Antonio Conte praised the team for their good process.
Sure, any win is nice — especially one over one of Chelsea's modern rivals — but it's the attitude, the hard work, and the steady improvement that's the most important outcome from any pre-season contest.
"When two great teams face each other in a game, nobody wants to lose and for this reason I saw a competitive game."
"I was pleased with my team because I saw the right spirit and a lot of positive things, but I know and my players know that we can improve a lot. I am pleased with the attitude today and also that when we played with 10 men we didn't suffer. Don't forget we are working very hard with two training sessions every day and it is a good attitude. The most important thing today was to see the right spirit in my team and the will to fight to win a friendly game. This is the right way."
-Antonio Conte; source: Chelsea FC
Cynics might point that the managers like to talk about spirit and character and positive signs when they know that the team lacks quality, but these ideas have been part of Conte's comments since the very start of pre-season. Fortunately for us, good process and good determination tends to lead to wins.
And wins tend to lead to trophies.