Antonio Conte was just a few months ago talking about “miracles” and celebrating Champions League qualifying.
The Tottenham manager is now in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Back-to-back Premier League defeats after a solid start to the season have left third-placed Spurs five points off the top having played one game more.
They also have a much-improved Newcastle, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Sunday, breathing down their neck in fourth place.
Conte declined to comment on Newcastle’s disputed opening goal, instead using his post-match interview to convey a message to Tottenham’s board.
“We need time and patience and, also for sure, money,” Conte told BBC Radio 5 live while answering questions about Tottenham’s third defeat in five Premier League games.
Conte stated in August that Tottenham needed at least two more transfer windows to fight for the Premier League title.
The Italian, who was appointed in November 2021, reinforced his message following the Newcastle setback, saying Spurs “needed time” to strengthen the squad’s quality.
Spurs were without injured Brazilian striker Richarlison, Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski, Argentina defender Cristian Romero, and Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
“My only worries in this moment is we have to try to keep the fingers crossed and don’t have injuries because we are not a team with such a depth of squad to face competitions like the Premier League and Champions League, but this is not something against the club,” added Conte.
“For sure there are players that need to rest for two days to recover because we have players who for them this was seven games in a row and we don’t have the possibility to make rotation in this moment.
“When I spoke before I always said look, we have just started the process for Tottenham to bring Tottenham into the best position to be more competitive to fight for something important, we have just started.
“For this reason we need to cope with this situation. For me it is not easy, it is not simple but we have to cope and to manage the situation with experience and stay together.”
