Antonio Conte has told his players they will have to get “nasty” to stand any chance of getting back into the top four.
Conte says his players were ready to “suffer” and show “resilience” last season to grind out wins when they did not deserve to get the points. But Conte made it pretty clear they have lost some of those values this time.
Tottenham kept 13 clean sheets in the Premier League last season after Conte arrived in November but they have managed just five this time. Spurs boss Conte, whose side goes to Fulham on Monday night, said: “This is not a topic for one player or another player. When I speak, I always speak about the team.
“We attack with all the team and defend with all the team. For this reason, I think we have to try to improve in this aspect altogether with humility and to find a way again to be nasty in the way that last season we showed many times.
“Many times we won games fighting a lot, suffering a lot, maybe sometimes we didn’t deserve it but in the end we won. And at the end, we finished fourth. I think this is very simple. We can’t lose what we created last season, the solidity, the desire to defend the result, the desire to win duels and don’t lose the nastiness.
“I always use a word. A team that wants to win, to be stable has to be a resilient team. We have to show in every game, to be resilient and this is not simple but I think this is the key.”
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Tottenham were ninth and five points off a top four place when Conte took over and they are in a similar state now as they look to end a run of back-to-back defeats with just one win in their last five Premier League games.
They will need a big run of results but they must also get back to being tough to play against and Conte wants to see more devilment in his players. Brazil forward Richarlison was involved in a bust-up with Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale at the end of the North London derby and the Spurs star is the player opponents love to hate.
Conte admitted that Richarlison is still lacking match fitness to start games but likes his determination and says then whole squad needs to dig deep in the coming weeks. Conte added: “Richy still has to recover the best physical condition first of all.
"He’s an important player for us but you have to be fit to play and to give the possibility to the coach to think about starting with Richy. Then for sure, Richy is one of these players who can give us something nasty.
"You feel his presence on the pitch. But I repeat, Richy is a player who needs to work, to have more work compared to his team mates because the injury was serious.
“It’s important for me to have all the players available because we are going step by step to build a strong squad. But to do this you need time, and to add players you add time, the transfer market and you need also money to invest.
“Every single player has their own characteristic. The most important thing is when you do a sport of a team, then you have to try to put all these characteristics inside one box and then to create the right mix to have everything.
“I think a player has to be complete. The nastiness, the desire to fight, to win duels, I think has to be in every single player.”
