What is the latest team news?
About Cuti Romero, he's in the squad. He had two training sessions with us after the game against West Ham. Lucas Moura and Gil are still unavailable for the game against Fulham. Bentancur is OK, he has recovered 100 per cent.
Are you happy with the squad after the transfer window?
I think that first of all we have to understand that in this transfer window we did what the club could do. And I think that we did good things. But I have to be honest with you because if I see the other squads of the top teams there is still too much distance. And for this reason we have to know that we've just started this process to try to improve the squad.
In this transfer window we tried to do this and also in January, with Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. In this transfer window, we tried to improve the squad in numerical and quality aspect. For sure to be competitive, to fight to be a title contender, but also to get a place in Champions League, you need at least three transfer windows more before improving and being at the same level as the other top clubs.
READ MORE: Full list of every confirmed Tottenham 2022 summer transfer in and out after deadline day
There are many games with Europe about to start and it is a relentless schedule, will you sit down with Fabio Paratici and Daniel Levy and look ahead to January if you believe you're short as injuries will happen?
For sure, when you play every three days you risk many injuries and also in the last game we had a problem with Pierre Hojbjerg. When you play so many games in a short time, for sure you have to understand that probably you have to face injuries. For this reason it's important to have an important squad to face four competitions.
I always say to you, now the season starts for a club like us. We're going to play Champions League, not Europa League or Conference League. Europa League or Conference League, you can allow yourself to make big rotations. When you go in the Champions League you have to go with a strong team and for sure the task is harder. But, this is a good opportunity for me, for the club, to understand if we miss something.
I repeat, we're going in the right way for the capacity in this moment of the club to invest money. Then we have to be realistic to understand that there are different clubs...clubs who can invest a lot of money, other clubs who can invest normal money and for sure in the path it's harder under this aspect.
But we want to continue to improve. We are working very well, I'm happy to have this group of players, this squad, the new players are totally inside the team, inside the dressing room. We did the right things. But if someone thinks we completed the situation...we are very far from this.
Dejan Kulusevski has contributed with six goals 10 assists, what's he added?
I think we tried to improve our attacking line with Richarlison. In January we had to sign also Kulusevski. We're talking about a young player, I think many people were a bit not totally sure about this signing because he wasn't playing at Juventus.
Instead, for us he became an important player, like Bentancur. For sure, Richarlison is a good signing and a good addition, I hope to recover Lucas Moura and then we have a young player like Gil to be part of that attacking front for us.
We have to work and hope we don't have injuries, this will be important for us. Because, I repeat, we have good players with good prospects, but young players that need to develop, not players already ready. But we know this. We want to work and to try to improve.
How do you plan to contain Mitrovic as he's got an appetite for a goal and he's so physical?
I think that he is in an outstanding moment for him. Last season he scored more than 40 goals and it was a record. He is really dangerous because when there is a ball into the box and you find him. He is strong physically, strong with the header and we are talking about a really, really good player but Fulham impress me.
They are playing very well, with good intensity and they play two games against strong opponents like Liverpool and Arsenal, also in the last game against Brighton, another really good team. They start very well and we have to pay great attention.
For us it is the third game in six days and for sure the energy, we have to try to check very well the energy we use tomorrow and to use a lot of brain, not the emotional aspect. Tomorrow it will be to one side to use the brain very well to understand the game because the game will be very difficult, I am sure about it.
What did you make of Yves Bissouma's full debut?
He needs to work, he needs to work. He needs to go totally into our idea of football. For sure he is a step behind Bentancur and Hojbjerg, but also the same for Skipp as Skippy worked with me all of last season. I'm pleased with what I have seen during the game. We are talking about a player with good skills, strong physically and a good engine.
At the same time he has a lot of space for improvement and he can improve to become a thinking player because in that position is important to understand what the team needs with the ball, without the ball. We are talking about a player that for sure is a good signing for us and he can help us a lot.
Does the club's early business maybe give you an advantage over some clubs who signed players so late in the window?
Honestly if you sign a player £100million or £80million on the last day, you have a big advantage because it means you are signing a top player, you understand? You can sign also a player for free or on loan and it is a different situation.
I want to be very clear. I think we did what we could do and in the right time because the vision was very clear about the money to spend, about to get the free player on loan because then we spent money on two players, Richarlison and then Bissouma.
The others were on loan or a free but for sure to have a vision and to anticipate and to give the coach the possibility to work from the start I think it means we work very well with a vision very clear, and not wait until the last day for a player to come on loan or to sign a player with characteristics that are not good for our team.
You said you're seeing a lot of desire from Djed Spence in training and he came on against Nottingham Forest, is Djed in a position to start?
When I speak, I repeat, the signing of the players and then for me I consider that we spent money for Richarlison and Bissouma, because these two players play many games in the Premier League and now we are talking about two players who are ready to play.
About Djed, I always tell everybody and talk about it being an investment for the club to sign a young player. When you sign a young player you know you have to wait, to work with him to try to improve. He is a good prospect, he is a perfect prospect for Tottenham but then if we talk about trying to be competitive to win, for sure we need other signings.
This has to be very clear because otherwise we make confusion and I want to be very clear under this aspect. For sure, he will be a good player for the future for Tottenham.
There was an expectation that Bryan Gil and Pape Matar Sarr may go on loan again to continue their development, do you trust them to play in the Premier League and Champions League yet? Are they ready to help the team?
We are talking about players that are really good prospect, but I was very clear with the club if someone go on loan, another player has to come in. Otherwise for me it's difficult to have also the training sessions. We are talking about really good prospect, young players. They have to work like Spence to develop and then to be ready to be Tottenham players for the future.
This has to be very clear otherwise then it would be very important to not make confusions, make confusions to understand which other players if you want to be competitive or not. Young player, good prospect but at the same time we need to have players ready to play Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
Ready to play with ambition, not only to play and develop during the game because for us the final result is vital. For me, for the club, for the fans, for everybody. The demand is high and for this reason we have to know we have to be ready for this demand.
There was a perception last season that Matt Doherty was first choice before his injury, is he fully fit and has he got a chance to play against Fulham?
Yeah but he had serious injury and honestly struggled a lot to recover good form to be fit. Now I think compared to the last game he played vs Roma in these two weeks, twenty days I have seen good improvement about himself.
You said last season he became first choice for that role but I want to win and I try to pick the best starting XI. Now if I'm not picking him it means others give me more guarantees. I trust him, I trust in all my players but they know very well that I want to win. I want to win and I pick the best starting XI in every games.
What is your strategy for tomorrow with the Champions League starting next week?
Our strategy is very clear, very simple. We go game by game. Tomorrow most important game for us against Fulham. This is out strategy. Simple. Easy. Direct.
But players always want to play Champions League?
The players have to play tomorrow to get three points and then we will see what happens. This is the strategy. Very clear. Simple.
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