Antonio Conte Quotes

When I watch kids play basketball, they don't know how to think the game. They know what it should look like, but they don't know why.

The art of coaching is to give a player freedom to bring out his talent. It is the player's responsibility for what happens once they are on the pitch.

When I was a player, it was important to target the first few friendlies and plant a seed in the mind of the gaffer.

I would say Pep Guardiola's No. 1 quality is that he sees the technical and tactical aspect of a game really fast.

To train a national team, you have to know what team you have at your disposal and what this team is capable of. You need to get the best out of them and take them as far as possible. Yet, sometimes, you can't achieve your goals.

You make smart, educated decisions that are best for your football team.

As I've got older, I've become more intrigued about formations, tactics, I listen a lot more to the manager's team talk; as a kid, if I'm honest, I never listened.

As a player, you can be more spontaneous and instinctive, but now as a coach I have to find a psychological balance within the team.

I am slightly better at sleeping now during Test matches. I have a diary and I write things down, which helps. I write about decisions, a lot about opposition and stuff I want to say to the team so I am clear on the message I want to give.

Before I came to Barcelona, I only thought about one facet of the game: destroying. My qualities were completely defensive, and I wouldn't take responsibility for organising my team's game, our attacks.

When you know how the coach ticks and how he wants to play football, it makes the decision easier. But for the main part, I came to England because of the club Manchester United.

Van Gaal was always very intensive with his tactics. You had to work more with your head than your legs.

Beyond studying, though, I think a coach should mainly have knowledge of football: if you do not know what to say to the players then you are not going anywhere.

When I am on the pitch, I play on intuition, but I think a lot about the game as well.

For me, David Silva is a fantastic player because his technique is incredible, and he understands when the right time to pass the ball is.

We have to talk about the players we have.

As a 26-year-old player I had tried to understand why I was doing certain things and why the coach was telling me to do certain things. I started to view myself as a coach would.

I spent the best part of 20 years trying to stop people like Chris Waddle from playing. Now I'm convinced that good touch and loads of movement are the way forward.

It's important to know as much as I can about the players.

The most important thing is they have to know why we do things and when. A lot of players are playing intuitively, and I want them to think and know why they do something.

You can never stop learning in football and I'm always trying to take little things on board that other players do.

Modern football is increasingly dominated by the coaches - their narcissism to put themselves above the team and their players.

I have evolved a lot as a player working with Klopp, who is a very tactical coach.

Every coach has his own philosophy.

Louis van Gaal is a good coach. We have a lot of team meetings, and he analyses much - other teams, our own players at training, a lot. Everywhere he has been, he was successful.