Tottenham Hotspur’s players have been galvanised and senior players have been handed more responsibility amid the absence of Antonio Conte.

When will Antonio Conte return?

The Italian coach did not return with the Londoners last week following their narrow defeat against AC Milan in the Champions League due to his ongoing health issues.

And there has been no exact date set for when the 53-year-old will return to his post with the Lilywhites following a period of recovery.

However, Cristian Stellini has suggested he could return following the Chelsea game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday.

But speaking on his YouTube channel, Alasdair Gold has claimed the preparation for the game against West Ham United under Stellini was brilliant despite the Italian boss not being there:

“He’s not really changing things much at all. He’s using the Conte blueprint, pretty much to the letter. He’s even asking Conte during the game if he can make substitutions, which is a very weird way of doing it, but he’s asking permission and waiting for a message back to say ‘yep’ – which is not the most efficient way of doing things.

“The preparation of the players in the week has been superb, from what I understand, talking to people around the players, I keep getting that feedback as well. And they’ve really used Conte’s absence to kind of like galvanise the group really well. I think delegating more responsibility to the senior players has been a very important thing as well.”

Are Tottenham better without Conte?

Tottenham’s 2022/23 campaign has not been a straightforward one by any means with a severe lack of consistency in their results as well as the loss of their coach Gian Piero Ventrone.

However, they still find themselves in and amongst the race for Champions League football as well as remaining in the fight for two pieces of silverware.

But the return of Conte to the sidelines against Leicester City and AC Milan saw the Lilywhites endure back-to-back defeats.

And in the game on the weekend against the Hammers, Spurs were able to secure three big points which saw them climb above Newcastle United and into fourth spot.

Stellini now has an impressive 100% win record when on the sidelines for the Lilywhites with victories against Marseille, Manchester City and now the Irons.

The 48-year-old will face another tough test on the weekend against Chelsea – despite their recent record – with another London derby on the cards.

But as Gold pointed out, it would seem as if Conte is still making a lot of the decisions around the Spurs camp despite not being present in north London.

So perhaps Stellini’s record and the growing narrative needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it does seem as if the Lilywhites are able to function well without Conte being there.

Source

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