Cristian Stellini: “This is a moment to take responsibility”
Fri 31 March 2023, 13:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Cristian Stellini told us he’s ‘honoured’ to take the team for the rest of the season in his role of Acting Head Coach following the departure of Antonio Conte.
He takes up his role, assisted by Ryan Mason, with 10 matches remaining in the Premier League, the first of the run-in against Everton at Goodison Park on Monday evening (8pm).
Cristian spoke to SPURSPLAY on Thursday, here’s what he had to say...
‘Everyone feels responsible’
Cristian: “I’m feeling sad, because when you have a change of the manager in the middle of the season, it’s a defeat for everyone. You feel this. Everyone feels responsible for this. My relationship with Antonio is the same, nothing changes in our relationship. We were friends, we were colleagues, we know each other for a long time. This situation will not change our relationship.”
‘I feel honoured’
“I feel honoured to be trusted with the team going forward until the end of the season. Of course, it’s an opportunity and I will work hard to be the right man to do it. I feel very honoured and I feel I’m in the right position to do this, I feel that, and I want to do this with all the staff, with Ryan, that’s very important for me and the club, and it was important when we were in charge when Antonio wasn’t here. We feel we can do what we did before, we want to improve, and this is a moment to take responsibility and to improve, all together.”
‘The players want to fight’
"It was a tough week, for sure. Everyone needed to understand the situation. Everyone needed time. The players are coming back, and they want to fight. This is what they want to do. We need to go straight to play games, because it’s very important to play games and show our desire. This is the focus at the moment of the players, and we don’t have to be emotional, we have to be lucid in the way we have to fight against every opponent. We have 10 games, and those 10 games are 10 finals for us.”
