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.
