It wouldn’t matter if Tottenham were up against Morecambe or Manchester City, Antonio Conte admits a defeat would have the same devastating impact on him.
The Spurs boss leads his side into one of those games from which there’s nothing to gain other but safe passage into the FA Cup fourth round and much to lose if they get beaten by a League One outfit.
He said: “Everybody who knows me very well knows I hate to lose.
“It’s difficult for me to accept defeat and for this reason, I try every day to ask for the best commitment from myself and I try to transfer this to my players because I hate defeat.
“But at the same time, there are defeats and there are defeats or at least moments you have to better accept a defeat.
“You can’t see me happy after a defeat, though, it’s a moment I will be very sad and then, after 24 hours, 48 hours, the mood is improved. But this is my strength, to not accept defeat and to try to do everything in my work to avoid this.”
Conte will balance the demands of trying to progress in the famous old competition with keeping his players fresh enough to keep his club on course for a top-six or even top-four finish in the Premier League.
He added: “In this moment it is very difficult to make promises to our fans, because I like to tell the truth and be realistic. It doesn’t mean I’m not positive because I always think positively and when I signed for Tottenham I thought always in a positive way.
“But I know that in England the situation is you have to fight against really top, top teams. Sometimes in England you can think you play another sport when you play a game of football.
“It is another sport if you compare a game here and a game in other countries, when it comes to difficulty, intensity, the quality of the players.
“And it’s great because you can compare yourself in the best league, but at the same time you have to be a strong team, a strong squad to be competitive.”
Conte has proved himself well capable of matching up against any manager on the planet and has earned a reputation as a serial winner. But it was his time in Serie B managing Arezzo in 2006 that really taught him about management.
Conte was hired in July and then sacked in October but brought back the following March after Maurizio Sarri failed to get an upturn.
Despite a fine run at the end, they were relegated by the narrowest of margins.
Conte said: “When I started my career with Arezzo, the season where they sent me away after nine games before recalling me with 12 or 13 games to go, in the last game, we could have stayed in the league and it was for me a tough moment.
“That season I became a coach, because many times when you finish your career as a player, you think you are already a coach. But you need to have experience because it’s totally different when you are a player.
“You need to gain experience and for me it was a tough season but I know I became a good coach because of that season.”
