28 January 2023 , 02:00
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Antonio Conte’s assistant, Cristian Stellini, has revealed Tottenham are set for a mental reboot after the staff and players “felt the love" from the club during a tough time.
New signing Arnaut Danjuma is available for Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash at Preston after Spurs hijacked his transfer to Everton. Conte and his squad recently held a clear-the-air meeting which looked to have paid dividends given last Monday’s battling 1-0 win at Fulham.
The performance was similar to Tottenham’s 1-0 win - also clinched by a Harry Kane goal - at Brighton in October. That came two days after the sudden death of popular fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone rocked the north Londoners.
Stellini has revealed the club’s internal support back then helped staff as well as players deal with the trauma. “When you are close, you are friends,” he said. “You are really close to a person like Gian Piero.
“For me, it was a big loss, for Antonio as well, but we are close to him for a long time. When everything happens like this, it can have a great impact. Then you don't have time [to speak] because life goes on very quickly, but we need time. It is very deep.
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“What I can say is that we feel a lot of love from the club. We realised that this club is a special club because they were so close with us to give us all the support, and that was amazing.”
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Gian Piero Ventrone sadly passed away in October (Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)
Cristian Stellini opened up on how the squad was affected (Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)With the focus on football, Stellini revealed Conte gave a speech before the Fulham game ordering a change in mentality. Spurs had won just five of their previous 14 games in all competitions at that point but their Craven Cottage victory kept them just three points off the top four.
Stellini went on: “This is a turning point. A change of mentality. We spoke a lot about it and we have to do it. From the start until the end of the game, in every game. Antonio gave a great speech about this.
“Many times since I’ve been here, we’ve spoken about a trophy, a cup to win. I don’t want to push, to create pressure on this. We just have to change the mentality. With the change of the mentality, you don't have to talk about winning trophies, you have to do it. It’s the fact. Not the words you say, it’s the facts.”