Antonio Conte urged his Spurs side to find “stability” as his side search for a response to their Premier League hammering when they face Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Tottenham overcame second-placed champions Manchester City in the English top flight but were stunned 4-1 by strugglers Leicester City a week later on Saturday.
Tottenham’s next test will come when they travel to an out-of-sought Milan in the Champions League round of 16, and Conte called on Spurs to regroup at the San Siro.
“I think we will get this answer tomorrow; it will be much easier finding the right answer tomorrow,” Conte said at his pre-match press conference when asked why Spurs have struggled.
“Trying to forecast the future today is impossible. I think we are lacking that stability, which is always crucial. You need stability, you need consistency, you can’t have these ups and downs.
“I am trying to work on this and focusing on not having ups and downs. England is not like Italy, the Premier League is not like Serie A, we have different cultures in these two leagues.
“In England, it is much more difficult to be focused and stay focused for every game. In Italy, it is easier.
“This stability is lacking this year. I always talk about it with my players.
“It is tough to keep concentration, it is challenging to stay focused all the time.
“We are working on that. Playing under pressure all the time is good for some players and bad for others.
“Sometimes players feel motivated other times feel so much under pressure that they can’t perform.
“Maybe for a period they have a good performance, and then they collapse all of a sudden if they feel too much pressure.”
Although injury setbacks can be another important factor to Tottenham’s success, head coach Conte said his team is “working on” handling the added pressure.
“Those injuries influence the team, influence the growing evolution of the league.
“You can be prepared for everything, you can be a tactical man, good strategies, good line-ups, you can have high-quality players but then if those high-quality players get injured then you need to change things.
“Every manager wishes to have the best players available.”
