Antonio Conte is not a man who suffers defeats gladly but on this occasion he was strangely content as Tottenham's pre-season matches came to a close in Israel.
He was stood in a corridor of the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa, it was gone midnight so technically the Italian was celebrating his 53rd birthday. He could have been deflated after Spurs' defeat to Jose Mourinho's Roma.
He wasn't. Conte has grumbled about pre-season tours around the world before at previous clubs and the effect they have had on his players in the early weeks of the campaign. However, such is the belief in him at Spurs, he has been allowed to pull the strings at the club this summer, giving very specific instructions down to the smallest details of the trips abroad and getting what he wants on and off the pitch, aided by Fabio Paratici's knowledge of working the boardroom and creating an environment for success.
READ MORE: Every word Antonio Conte said on Djed Spence and what he expects from Perisic and Doherty
Conte's two simple pre-season needs were to work his players hard on the training pitches, with as many new signings in place as possible, and to face opponents who would push them physically to prepare them quickly for the coming Premier League season.
The final performance on Saturday evening was the least impressive of the four matches Spurs have taken on of England and they came up against a Roma side playing in the battling Mourinho way, which proved enough to take the single goal win.
Yet as a fitness tool it did its job with four players getting the entire 90 minutes under their belt and some of those who went off were clearly blowing hard after their exertions. There were positives in the performances of Ivan Perisic and Clement Lenglet, even if Conte did admit that this at this point this is "not the Ivan Perisic I know".
"He's an important player because he's really good. He moves forward, good in one v ones, and then he can use both feet and he was before a winger which us why he's good in one v one," said Conte.
"But he has to continue to work because at this moment he's not the Ivan Perisic I know. That is normal though, but I'm happy because he reduced the time to recover from his injury."
Cristian Romero also continues to tread just about on the right side of that fine line between unbelievable defending and chaotic lunges.
Conte still has decisions to make in certain areas of the pitch. Lenglet, particularly with one dribble forward and cross for Romero, will have given the Spurs boss food for thought in the battle with Ben Davies to start on the left of the back three against Southampton next weekend.
"I’m happy for Lenglet, for Clement, because he came in with personality. We need a player to play, to play with personality, to have the quality to play football, also to attack. It was positive," he told football.london. "It’s positive that Ben Davies has recovered. I didn’t want to take a risk today because we have another week to work and to bring him in the best physical condition so he doesn’t feel pain in his ankle. Now he feels a bit of pain. He was ready to play today but I didn’t want to risk it."
Davinson Sanchez was arguably Spurs' best defender in the first half, again filling in on the left, but his lack of ability in performing the offensive aspects of the role saw him hooked at the half-time break.
In the centre of the pitch, Yves Bissouma still needs work to get that Conte fitness and his sharpness, particularly after this month's bout of Covid. Oliver Skipp is expected to be back in contention for the Premier League opener but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur looks to be the likely partnership in the middle next Saturday.
Then there is the right wing-back dilemma. Conte has started three different players in the role during the four pre-season matches - Emerson Royal, Lucas Moura and Matt Doherty.
The latter has been used sparingly this summer, having only returned from his knee injury just in time for the pre-season to begin. He was among a group of players who came back to Hotspur Way a week before the rest to try to play some catch-up.
Doherty has been nursing his knee back to full health, with the associated aches felt in the aftermath of a painful injury.
"You can only feel in so much good shape once you start all that running but I feel OK. I might need to give my knee a little bit of time, that’s normal," the Irishman admitted in Korea. "The more you train and the more reps you get [the aches] will go away. I can see that. Sometimes it will bother me and the longer the week goes it will ease off."
Conte has played him on the left twice for 45 minutes apiece, left him out entirely at Rangers and this time he was back in his favoured position on the right and was pushed for 67 minutes until Emerson replaced him.
Doherty looked shattered at times in those final minutes before coming off, breathing heavily. He has handled the infamous post-training pitch-long runs better than most but the Conte wing-back role makes that look easy.
Doherty's performance was mixed, with some good attacking moments when he got into the striker-like positions Conte craves of his wing-backs but there were also some shaky moments of defending in the first half that showed his rustiness.
Conte's comments after the game hinted that once Doherty is sharp again he could end up being his number one in the role.
"It was the same [as Perisic] for Matthew. I hope to see him like last season and now he's working and he's struggling," he said. "We need to have patience. We need to give time for these players to be really fit.
"In this moment we have two players, Perisic and Doherty, they have to continue to work and reach the peak of fitness because after a long injury they are struggling a lot. We need to have patience, but today it was positive to give them a lot of time to play again for Matthew and Ivan. Bissouma is also a player who has to come into our idea of football."
Such was Conte's desire to push his likely starters against Southampton that five outfield players did not get any pitch time in Haifa. One of those was the club's sixth and most recent signing Djed Spence and the head coach's words after the game suggested that he has decided the 21-year-old has a lot to do in the week's ahead.
"It will be very important for us [to get Perisic and Doherty fit], but then we have Sessegnon, that is a guarantee, also Emerson is good. There is the new player Spence. He is a guy who has to work a lot, because to go into Tottenham it's different in the Premier League with Tottenham but in the end I'm happy," Conte said.
The Italian made it clear in Korea that Spence was not a signing he had asked for but in the same breath he also made it clear that he had greenlit the deal because he believed the England U21 international had shown he can become an important player for Tottenham.
Spurs and Paratici scouted and pushed for Spence's signing because he ticks every box for a Conte wing-back with his height, pace, skill, ability to take on defenders and his own defensive solidity. However, that does not mean he will instantly get the nod in the starting XI.
Last season Spence dazzled on loan at Nottingham Forest, but he was doing so in the Championship and the step up to a Premier League side is a big one, let alone to a team in the Champions League with ambitions of gate-crashing at least the top three in England next season.
The way to Conte's heart is on the training ground. Refuse to sulk, give your all on the pitches of Hotspur Way and make yourself one of the fittest players in the squad and you will grab Conte's attention. That's exactly what got Doherty into the team last season and helped him impress when he did.
Spence is friends with Ryan Sessegnon and the latter has already been getting advice on being a Conte wing-back and the new arrival from Middlesbrough will also be looking to tap into the Croatian's experience as well as watching Doherty to see what Conte likes.
The Italian wants players to cause problems for the opposition from the moment they step on to the pitch and that's why Richarlison has quickly found favour with Conte.
"Richarlison I liked a lot the way he impacted the game," he said. "We need this type of player. Richarlison to start the game or go into the game, he can have a big impact. For us it’s very important. We need him behind Sonny, also Kane and Kulusevski. He is an important player because we have a lot of games to play."
The Brazilian, who will miss the Saints game through suspension, is going to get plenty of minutes this season thanks to his versatility and Conte's desire to rotate without losing the quality of his 11 players on the pitch.
Conte believes the defeat might have knocked any complacency out of his squad after their previously unbeaten pre-season.
"For sure to finish with a loss is not good but at the same time it can help us keep our feet on the ground for the environment, for the people inside and outside the club. Then to understand we have to be humble and to continue to work," he told football.london.
"This season I think we can be competitive in every game to try to fight. You don’t know what will happen at the end of the game but we have to start the game with the hope to get three points."
Conte turned another year older following the defeat to Roma. He has seen plenty during his managerial career so far and the fact that he is happy and making declarations about being with the squad "for many years" indicates that he believes he's creating something that can bring silverware to his CV.
Pre-season results, whether they are resounding victories or disappointing defeats, mean very little when the actual season begins. Much of the real profit made in pre-season comes from fitness, team shape and the work done on the training pitches.
Conte's squad will have more arrivals and departures in the weeks ahead but the fact that the Italian is grounded in reality and is still smiling contently might just be the biggest plus of all this summer.
READ NEXT:
The Harry Kane Chelsea links reality and Tottenham's Marc Guehi, Maddison and Zaniolo interest
- Tottenham news and transfers LIVE: All the latest updates and rumours from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- Full Tottenham Premier League fixture list for 2022/23
Fabio Paratici's £8.5m transfer decision as Antonio Conte looks to complete Tottenham squad
Antonio Conte admits club wanted Djed Spence but he greenlit deal as he can become 'important'
