Antonio Conte has explained why he thinks Jurgen Klopp took a swipe at his Tottenham tactics and was asked whether he could mirror the German by remaining for years in north London.
Liverpool are the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday and the last time the two teams did battle was at Anfield in May with a 1-1 scoreline. After that game Klopp hit out at Spurs' tactics of sitting back and counter-attacking on the day, saying: "I am sorry, I am the wrong person to ask about [Spurs' defending] because I don't like this kind of football. But that is my personal problem. I think they are world-class and I think they should do more for the game.
"It's a game against Liverpool, they have 36 per cent possession. But that is my problem. I cannot coach it. So that is why I cannot do it. World-class players, [who] block all the balls. It is really difficult. Atletico Madrid is doing it. Fine, whatever, absolutely fine, it's just I can't. But yes I respect everything they do. But it's not me."
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When asked ahead of this latest meeting between the two sides about that comment and whether it was disrespectful, Conte was keen to put it into context.
"Yeah, but if you remember he lost the Premier League for this result. I understood his frustration. They lost the Premier League because of that result," he said. "They lost the Premier League for these two points, but you know instead we reached the Champions League with that draw.
"It’s okay, every coach has to speak for his team. For every coach it’s important to understand the best strategy to reach a good result. Honestly, I have seen again the last game we played against Liverpool and if there was a team that deserved to win it was Tottenham not Liverpool, but I understand after the game when you felt you lost the Premier League to say something wrong against another team, but he has said sorry because he understood. No problem for me. When you are angry its very difficult sometimes to control your emotion."
Klopp has now been at Liverpool for more than seven years and Conte, not known for his long stays at clubs, was asked whether he could spend a similar time at one team.
"The length of time and the period you stay in one club it depends on many, many situations not only one or two. Jurgen found a fantastic place to work and to improve his team," he said. "Liverpool in this period invested a lot of money and for this reason the club promised him to invest and improve the team. The club’s ambition was really high at Liverpool.
"I think so because then I have seen the way they improved, the money they spent in the transfer market and for this reason he is working there seven years. It was like this for Klopp and the same for Pep Guardiola. It depends on many situations. If there is a good link and the ambitions are the same, it is easier to stay for a long time in the same club."
It is set to be a busy January transfer window for clubs after the World Cup as they react to injuries at the tournament and fixing a poor first half to the season or push on from a good one.
With Spurs' rivals all expected to spend in the winter window, the north London club will have to keep pace with a potential top three or four spot to their name and a place in the Champions League knockout stages going into the break. Conte said he does not know what will be spent by Spurs in January but the most important thing is that everyone is honest about what a club can or cannot do.
"But honestly I don’t know this [what the club will do in January]. For sure, the life will always be more difficult in the future. For sure, Tottenham has to have the challenge with a team like Newcastle, also Arsenal," said the Italian. "Arsenal in the last three or four years, every season they invest money and now we are talking about a really, really good team with a really good coach, but in England it will be really, really difficult in the future and I think in every situation the most important thing is to be honest.
"To be honest with the fans, to be honest with the ambition, not to tell lies or to promise, and this is the right way for every club, because to tell good lies is not good. It’s better to be honest, to tell the truth, also if it's a bad truth but to be honest, because honesty will pay always, always."
Despite this season's wobbles, Sunday's visitors have kept pace with Manchester City in recent years but even Klopp has said Liverpool cannot compete with Pep Guardiola's side due to their financial power. Conte believes the Reds have been able to compete because they have spent money, but spent it cleverly.
"First of all, I think that Liverpool have to be proud because in the last five years they were the big, big rivals for Manchester City. Otherwise, without Liverpool I think maybe Manchester City could do in the same way like Juventus was in Italy," said the Spurs head coach.
"So for this reason they have to be proud to reach this level and I think they improved a lot in these years during the transfer market with the big, big signings, and this is a positive thing I’m telling to Liverpool because you can have money to spend, but if you waste your money, you don’t sign good players and you can have whatever money you want, but you have to spend it in the best possible way.
"I think that Liverpool did this in this period, otherwise I think it was really, really difficult to become the first rival for Manchester City. For this reason, they signed really, really important players. They spent money, but, I repeat, I’m talking in a positive way because for sure Klopp has changed Liverpool and the club gave him the possibility to invest because at the end you can work what you want, to work a lot, to work and not to sleep during the day, but, at the end, you know need important players, you need really strong players if you want to win, if you want to go to another level.
"Otherwise, you have to be honest and to tell that you have other ambitions, to grow young players and to wait, but, about Liverpool, I don't know if they can’t compete financially with this monster. For sure, we are talking about an important club in the world with the possibility to spend a lot of money, but it’s important to spend the money in the right because sometimes you can sign players for £50m, £60m, £80m, £100m, £120m and you know very well that happened in the past and you wasted your money, but if you want to go to another level and be competitive, especially in England, to win in England, you need to invest, not only to invest but to invest a lot of money."
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