Antonio Conte has confirmed his desire to return to coaching while reflecting on his time in England, and did not shut the door on the idea of using a four-man defence in the future.
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Amid a sea of rumours, denials and results on the field the one thing that seems certain is that the future of the Milan bench is currently unknown, however Conte’s name continues to pop up.
Late last month, Luca Momblano did a segment live on Telelombardia in which he claimed that the Italian has reached a verbal agreement to take over at Milan, while his assistant also fuelled things recently.
The Telegraph have done a long interview with Conte in which he explained his style of management – starting with the use of Subbuteo to teach tactics – as well as his aims for the future.
“I have to put the ball away because of my cat. Otherwise, I lose it. When the sun is in this room, she stays in here and there is an invasion from her. Then I have to clean everything up. She’s a strong midfielder!” he said.
“You can reproduce some tactical situations. In every club that I coached at, I brought Subbuteo, also sometimes to explain some tactical situations with my players. I’ve always had one at my home.
“Could I use a high line in the future? Yes. But the high line means you must press a lot. You can bring your line high if there is pressure on the ball. Otherwise, it’s a big risk.”
Speaking on his preferred 3-5-2, he added: “People think it’s a defensive system, this is not true. I repeat, it’s not true. You can see how many goals my teams score in every season.
“It doesn’t depend on three or four at the back, it depends on the way you build the team and build the attack. At the same time, it’s not good to be too offensive. And not too much defence.
“You have to respect the characteristics of the players and adapt to them. My experience tells me that if you want to win the league or lift a trophy, you need to have a stable team.
“Last season, Manchester City was the best example of a team with great balance, defensively and offensively.”
In his Turin home Conte has a room full of awards and trophies, something that he revealed motivates him to continue coaching.
“Those trophies are a big, big responsibility because they stay there to remind you that ‘oh look, you have to win’. You did this and you have to continue to do this’.
“If the final target is to win the league and lift trophies, it’s important to offer entertainment to the crowd. But to be only an entertaining team is not enough if you want to win. I know because I coached the top teams and they always asked to win.
“For me, now it’s impossible to work for an only entertainment team because the expectation is always that you have to win. I love my past, but at the same time the expectation you bring is always very high and if you don’t win, you have failed. The best possible option is to entertain and win.”
With a smile, he added: “And to be celebrated, I have to win. Otherwise, the others are waiting to celebrate my failure. This is the truth.
“It’s not easy. Guardiola is the best coach in the world. And then when you can match the best coach in the world with a club that can back you and can invest to bring in important players to improve the team every season because they want to stay at the top of the world, then it is very, very difficult to compete at the same level.
“My history says that I always arrived at my clubs in a difficult situation with problems. I always build. After my first season at Chelsea, when we won the title, we could have become dominant in England.
“We spoke with (Romelu) Lukaku and (Virgil) van Dijk, and with those two important players we could have changed the situation.”
Conte spoke about his time at his last club Spurs and the celebrations that ensued after just securing Champions League qualification.
“For me, to celebrate fourth place and a place in the Champions League was really strange. At the end of the final game against Norwich, I called my staff and said ‘pay attention, don’t be used to celebrating a Champions League place’,” he said.
“I was very clear. I said we did the maximum. From ninth to fourth place, with all the problems we faced, was a miracle. But we didn’t celebrate like it was a miracle because I am used to winning.”
During his second season at Spurs, Conte was struck by tragedy as three of his friends – Gian Piero Ventrone, (Tottenham’s fitness coach_, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli – all died within the space of four months.
“For sure, it was one of the toughest moments of my life. Gianluca Vialli, I had an important relationship with him. I met him three weeks before he died to have dinner with my wife and I keep that moment in my heart. And Gian Piero. In only six days (he died). It was really difficult to face this situation, also the death of Sinisa.
“When this type of situation happens, you can have horrible thoughts. You think about what can happen to another person very close to you, or if it can happen to you.
“It was a really difficult moment, with the Tottenham players too when Gian Piero died. We tried to overcome it, but I felt that also the players felt this horrible situation.”
Conte himself had a health scare when he needed emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder. He came back to work after just a week, but was then forced to take another four weeks off in order to recover properly.
“It was an important period with the Champions League, the FA Cup and with the league. I preferred to come back quickly, but then I understood it was really soon. It was Daniel Levy who pushed me to go home and recover again,” he said.
“After the AC Milan game, when we lost 1-0 in the San Siro, he told me to stay in Italy to recover well because he didn’t like the way I looked and Tottenham’s doctors didn’t want me to take the risk. The club supported me really well.”
Conte gave a famous post-match interview in which he claimed that Spurs players ‘do not want to play under pressure and under stress’ and that the management would be happy to finish ‘seventh, eighth or 10th’.
“At that moment, my feeling was that. If I tell something, it means there is always something true. No, honestly, I don’t regret anything about this. But I have good feelings about Tottenham. I keep this experience in my heart,” he said.
“Am I too honest? I am this way. I hate the lies. This can help me sometimes or sometimes can hurt me. But I prefer to stay in silence than to tell a good lie – also the relationship with my players.
“During the season, it can happen that you need an honest conversation that can be positive or negative. I know very well, I was a player as well and some coaches told me good lies to keep me calm. I don’t want this type of situation.
“I know very well when you have these honest conversations with the players, in the first moment they can be a bit angry. Then, from my experience, the time helps the player to appreciate you. They were angry, but then they appreciate the honesty.”
Then there is the big topic: what does the future hold for Antonio Conte? He has a pretty clear idea in mind, amid links with a return to Serie A or another spell in England.
“Honestly, I’d like to lift the Champions League as a manager one day. But I know this is very difficult. People think this is simple, but you have to stay in the right club, a club that matches your ambition, a club that is ready to make the final step to win the Champions League. Look at Manchester City. Seven years, no?
“I’d like to give this joy to my father. He said to me ‘I want to see you lift the Champions League’. It’s not simple, but everyone can have a dream.”
