Conte admits that ‘carrot’ approach did not work with his Spurs players

Antonio Conte revealed after Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough that he has used both the carrot and the stick approach with the Tottenham squad, and the former has not worked.

Following Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Burnley last week, Conte insisted that he might not be the right man to help turn the club’s results around (Football.London).

The Spurs boss’ words created quite a bit of controversy but it certainly got the desired reaction as his players put in an accomplished performance to thrash Leeds 4-0 on Saturday.

The Italian was far more complimentary of his players after the win at Elland Road, insisting that he is finally seeing the fruits of his work at the club (Spurs TV).

However, following his side’s lacklustre display at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday, Conte admitted that the ‘stick’ seems to have been more effective in getting a response from his players than the ‘carrot’.

The Italian told Football.London after his side got knocked out of the FA Cup: “Sometimes it’s important for the coach when you have a media conference, behind our press conference has to be a strategy. Sometimes you have to be strong, sometimes light.

“My old coaches in Italy, especially Carletto Mazzone taught me that the coach sometimes has to use the carrot, sometimes the stick. I have to try the right way at the individual moment. After Burnley, I used the stick and we won!

“After Leeds, the carrot we lost. I repeat: the coach has to try to find always the best solution, not because you’re upset, frustrated and disappointed.

“At every moment the situation has to be very clear. I know there’s a lot of space for improvement for this team and we have to try to be more stable. Tonight we showed that we have a lot of space for improvement in this aspect.”

Conte admitted that being knocked out of the FA Cup was a bitter blow to both him and the players.

When asked if the Spurs squad is strong squad enough to reach the next level, he responded: “I’m the coach of this team and when you have a coach and your players are the best in the world, it’s the same.

“For sure, I cannot consider my players the best in the world but we work to improve for the future and to try to reflect also on this defeat. For sure, this defeat has to hurt us – me, the players and everyone that works in Tottenham.”

Spurs Web Opinion

The problem with the stick approach is that it has diminishing returns. A manager can only criticise his team publicly a certain amount of times and expect to get a reaction. After a few times, the dressing room might start turning against the manager, as we saw towards the end of Jose Mourinho’s time at the club.

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