Did you work with Radu Dragusin at Juventus?
Igor: “Yeah, he came out as a young player in that period. I’ve been there, recognising him immediately, the skills, he was good already. When he was young, he’s still young, but not like he was four or five years ago.”
Did you work with Cristian Romero briefly too?
Igor: “Yeah, I sent him to Atalanta! (Laughs). No, no, he told me that now, ‘you sent me out!’ but I said no, no, no. He went to Atalanta, and then he made this fantastic career, and that’s what he became.”
How was your first conversation with the leaders in the group?
Igor: “The conversation was what I said now before here. It is about everything, you cannot say we speak about this and we don’t speak about this. You need to speak about these values, but also about concrete things on the pitch and what you want because the players need and they want to have clarity about what we want. This was a goal to send two messages about people, about men, about values and about what we want to play, so these two things together working.”
Who will be your captain against Arsenal?
Igor: “You will see on Sunday!”
Do you think Spurs are in a relegation fight?
Igor: “This is not important (to think about). To be more clear, fighting for every position – relegation, first position, UEFA qualification – it is for me, how can I explain, it is all about you achieve what you do during the week. You achieve your position how you do things on Sunday. So it is always a consequence of that. This brings you nothing if you start to think about relegation or ‘I’m fighting for this.’ All these goals, they are far away. I never give them importance. I never speak about results. I never speak about what we need to achieve at the end of the season. I don’t believe in this. I believe in today’s training. This is all I want the players to think about. I go strong on things we need to do in training, after we speak, I go man to man to give concrete advice, all I have – love, also support – but the right advice, so it’s all about that. The league position is a consequence of this.”
Do you believe the players have taken that on board?
Igor: “It can be five, 10, two points. The behaviour needs to be the same. We need to be focused on what we need to become a team. That’s the process, that’s the path so let’s focus on this and see what we can become. Not that we need to see what is down, what is up. This doesn’t bring you anything. We need to concentrate on us, me as a coach, helping the players every day and what the players can do. This is the main goal.”
What is your message to supporters ahead of Sunday’s home game?
Igor: “The message is give us support. The players need this. It is an amazing game to restart. I heard a lot of good things about them, about the love they have for the players. I am sure they will give us support and we show them that we care and we want to switch, we want to make a change immediately.”
Does it matter that you have no experience in the Premier League?
Igor: “I don’t believe so. Football is everywhere, it is 11 against 11, there is a referee, there is offside, there is everything, so of course something, but I know the club, I know who is staying with the guys inside. Small details of course you will know much better with the months, but in the end it is always about football, about the pitch there, about relationships and what you need to do there.”
What are your memories of facing Tottenham with Marseille in 2022?
Igor: “Not nice because we lost, so not nice but two good games. Champions League, Marseille, it was good game, beautiful, beautiful. Good atmosphere in the stadium, I remember. Unfortunately we lost.”
How confident are you that come next season Spurs will still be in the Premier League?
Igor: “Confident? 100 per cent.”