Tottenham’s packed schedule will show whether we are contenders – Antonio Conte
Spurs will play 20 matches during the next two and a half months before club football pauses on 12 November
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Your support makes all the difference.Antonio Conte believes the time to judge Tottenham will be during the upcoming busy period where the club will play once every three days.
Spurs have started the new Premier League season with seven points out of a possible nine but now embark on a two-and-a-half-month schedule where they will play 20 matches across domestic and European competitions.
A flurry of new additions in the summer raised expectations at Tottenham and Conte knows how they handle this packed fixture list, starting with a trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, will go a long way to deciding whether they can truly be called contenders.
He said: “I was talking also with (managing director) Fabio Paratici about this difficulty. To play one game every seven days is one thing. To play many games every three days is totally different.
“This is the period where you understand which team and which squad are really good to be competitive.
“For many situations to play every three days, for injuries, because players start to be tired and you have to make rotations, it’s the right moment to understand if your squad’s depth is good, is the depth right and quality right?”
Conte has stressed a number of times about the need to have two players for every position due to Spurs being back in the Champions League this season.
The draw took place on Thursday and Tottenham are alongside Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting Lisbon and Marseille in Group D. While they avoided some of Europe’s biggest clubs, the 53-year-old was not willing to underestimate any of their opponents.
“We’re talking about the most important and difficult competition in Europe, maybe in the world because you find the best teams in the world in this competition,” Conte insisted.
“I think the draw and our group, I see balance. For sure our target is to try to go to the next round, this has to be clear.
“I think we gained the possibility to play this important competition and we want to enjoy, to play good football and have the possibility to go far.”
Before Spurs switch their focus to Champions League football, they face Forest, West Ham and Fulham during the next week.
The summer transfer deadline is also slotted in next Thursday and the futures of Sergio Reguilon and Harry Winks remain undecided.
Bryan Gil is also set to exit the club on another loan, with Valencia keen to bring him back to Spain, but he will only depart if a replacement is lined up.
Conte added: “For sure if there are players that go out, then we need players to come in. The club know very well the importance for me to have a squad with a couple of players in every role.
“For sure we want to make happy every single player but at the same time we have to make the right evaluation for our club, for our team so we’ll see what happens.
“There are players that are in the plan and other players we want to try to give them the possibility to play more regularly and to take more time to play. I repeat, we are trying to find the best solution for both the club and the team, but also for the players.”