Antonio Conte: “We have to continue in this way”
Reflecting on the first month of the season, Antonio Conte says the team has ‘great belief’ and at the same time, plenty of room for improvement.
Three wins and two draws in our first five matches of the Premier League sees us with a healthy 11 points, matching our best start to a season since 2009/10, when we stretched that unbeaten run to a record 12 in the Premier League era.
Wins against Southampton and Fulham at home have been backed up with five points from three tough encounters on the road, including our annual derby tests at Chelsea and West Ham. We’re now unbeaten in 11 stretching back to April last season, when a run of 10 wins in our last 14 matches secured fourth place and Champions League football.
“You can see the team is a team that has great belief, is strong and it’s difficult to play against us,” said Antonio. “At the same time, we have space for improvement.
“I think it’s okay, after five games, three away, two at home, we’re unbeaten, we have 11 points, we have to continue in this way. We are going step by step. We have to know that everything we want to reach, we have to fight for.
“I think that the team showed at West Ham to be strong and to be difficult to play against, but at the same time, when you have the opportunity to get three points, you have to get three points.”
Wednesday night’s draw at London Stadium marked the start of a sequence of midweek matches until the break for the World Cup in November. That includes all six group matches in the Champions League - starting with Marseille at home on Wednesday (7 September, 8pm) - a Premier League trip to Old Trafford and a return to Forest in the third round of the Carabao Cup in early November.
Antonio hinted before and after West Ham that our new arrivals - we made eight summer signings, plus Cuti Romero’s deal was made permanent - are ready to play their part, with only Ivan Perisic and Yves Bissouma starting so far.
As we prepare to face Fulham on Saturday, he added: “We have to, for sure, in the next games, exploit the new players. In this period, the first part of the season, only Richy and Bissouma have played games, Lenglet is another good player who deserves to play games.”