TMW Radio have been speaking to Cristian Stellini, who knows all about what Tottenham went through last season.
The coach had been Antonio Conte’s assistant at the club since 2021, and following the manager’s departure in March, he took charge of the squad.
That didn’t last long, though, as in four games under Stellini’s command, Tottenham only had one win, and the board chose to sack him and move on to Ryan Mason again.
Now as the Italian coach speaks of the season, he explained that things haven’t been easy at Spurs, explaining it was a ‘hard’ period for both him and Conte.
“The experience you gain by being close to top-level professionals helps you gain experience at certain times. It was a difficult season, I think it was a season never experienced like this, because it was crowned with a thousand problems and dramatic situations.
“Ventrone’s death was devastating for us and with the World Cup in between, everything was generally difficult. Mister Conte was also ill, so it was very complicated. It’s a year that will help everyone for the future.”
With Inter Milan just losing the Champions League final to Manchester City, Stellini was asked about Tottenham being one of the few clubs who managed to beat Pep Guardiola’s side last season.
“We were the last team in the Premier League to beat them before the Champions League final. We actually faced City at a time when they weren’t in the best shape, they had many at the World Cup and had yet to get back to their best. We did very well but they were good at defending and restarting.”
Antonio Conte has also spoken to the Italian media this week, and without giving them many details, also mentioned the problems at Tottenham as a reason the club couldn’t have a better season.
Stellini and Conte both have good points, with the death of Gian Piero Ventrone clearly having a big impact on both his compatriots.
