Antonio Conte’s words may have been inspired by the potentially destabilizing events of the past week, they may have not been. Either way, they ring true in what we’ve observed on and off the pitch.
“If you want to win something during the season it is important to create a unity in the team. To create this unity between the players, the staff, the club, you have to have a good spirit. I think we are showing this is one of the most important things that has led us to the top of the table.”
“In every team I managed, I always tried to build the right spirit because it is of fundamental importance if you want to have a good season. It is not easy to create and before you arrive at creating a good spirit, you have to pass different steps, but I am pleased to see this unity in my team.”
Impressive doesn’t even begin to cover the magnitude of the turnaround engineered by Conte in terms of results on the pitch, the good vibes in the dressing room, and even the improved atmosphere and relationships in the press room. Of course, winning makes everything much easier, but winning doesn’t come easy.
“You create the spirit day by day and step by step, with your work, with your decisions, with your behaviours and the players’ behaviours. Also you must know that you have to put in a lot of time to create this.”
There’s no substitute for hard work.
“It’s important to trust in the work because only the work can improve the situation. For sure it is important to have great players and in my team I have great players with great humility to work and try to improve the different situations and different tactical aspects.”
Always improve.
“For sure there is the path to follow to increase your confidence, to improve your knowledge. We have been working together only five or six months and I think with the work you can improve a lot and you can trust for more knowledge of your players and if you have great players it is easier. But the most important thing is that the players want to work because if they don’t want to, it is very difficult.”
“I think the reason we are on top of the table is because all our players are performing very well. We are a team and in the team every single player is bringing his talent and it is very important to continue to work and maybe to work more than the past if we want to continue to stay on top of the table.”
“For sure I am pleased with the level we have achieved, but in my opinion I want to improve this level and we can do that with hard work.”
-Antonio Conte; source: Chelsea FC