For Conte, a stressful job still beats 'tea with biscuits'
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LONDON • Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte said he is relishing the pressure that comes with managing a Premier League club, adding that a calm life spent having "tea with biscuits" was not for him.
After going unbeaten in his first nine league games with Spurs, a club record, he has suffered back-to-back league defeats, losing to his former club Chelsea and Southampton.
"I think our job brings, not just myself but all the coaches, a lot of stress," Conte told reporters ahead of today's home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"To stay at this level, you have to manage with stress every day. If you don't want stress, then I think this job is not good for you.
"You have to stay in your house and stay in bed and stay calm eating good tea with biscuits."
As for his team, the 52-year-old Italian said they must also find a way to stay calm and manage games better after conceding two late goals in their 3-2 home defeat by the Saints last Wednesday.
The result left Spurs seventh with 36 points after 21 games. Eighth-placed Wolves are two points adrift having played a game more.
"During the game there are different phases... you need to have experience to manage, to understand when you have to risk something more, when you have to keep the result in the best possible way," said Conte.
"After we scored, every time we quickly conceded a chance to our opponent.
"When you score, it's the moment to be strong, be compact, don't lose patience, don't lose focus. (But) we've just started. This process will be long."
Midfielder Oliver Skipp as well as defenders Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga continue to be sidelined due to injury, but new signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur could start against Wolves.
Conte added that it was a risk to play forward Son Heung-min and centre-back Cristian Romero for the third time in a week following their return from injury, but admitted that he had little choice given their depleted squad.
Wolves, meanwhile, will still be without Pedro Neto, Willy Boly and Yerson Mosquera while Joao Moutinho and Marcal are doubts after sustaining knocks in last Thursday's 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal.
On Wolves' failure to score in their last two matches, manager Bruno Lage said: "We don't have in our squad (players who score many goals), but I've said that since the beginning... We don't have too many players with a good (goal) average...
"All of the wingers, they should score more goals, the way we put full-backs very high, they should score more goals... and the centre-backs on the set pieces."
REUTERS
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