Expert salutes Antonio Conte as ‘mental’ Tottenham details emerge
Antonio Conte’s experience of various injuries during his playing days helps him understand the unique pressures his Tottenham stars are under.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Spurs star Lucas Moura, 30, missed the 2-0 Champions League victory over Marseille on Wednesday (7 September) because of an inflamed tendon.
As quoted by football.london ahead of the clash, Conte revealed: “When I was a player, I had a lot of pain in my tendon. You know very well tendon inflammation doesn’t finish in only one week, two weeks,”
Conte won five Serie A titles and a Champions League with Juventus and finished runner-up with Italy at the 1994 World Cup.
Dinnery assessed how his experience of elite football and the injuries that come with it is a “mental” boost for his Tottenham players.
“It certainly helps in understanding the mindset and pressure placed on players to return quickly,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“Those mental feelings around being withdrawn from the squad and not involved with team-building exercises, it helps to understand those.
“Things have moved on a lot since Conte’s playing days. We are also talking about different countries and leagues. With that comes different pressures. But it certainly helps to have an understanding.
“A lot of it comes down to the player and how they deal with the situation. With this, we were only talking about a short-term absence from the side. He won’t be too concerned.”
In other news, Harry Kane backed to agree Tottenham deal as expert reveals “they’re on the right track”.