Antonio Conte believes Tottenham remain a long way away from challenging for the Premier League title despite enjoying a busy transfer window.
The north London club have strengthened their squad significantly since securing a top-four finish on the final day of last season, bringing in the likes of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic and Clement Lenglet.
Spurs have made a bright start to the new campaign, picking up 11 points from their first five Premier League outings.
Should they avoid defeat against Fulham on Saturday, Conte's men will have gone unbeaten through their first six games of a Premier League season for just the third time, having previously done so in 2004-05 and 2016-17.
However, while Conte claims to be pleased with Spurs' work in the transfer market, he believes his side have much to do to push the country's elite.
"I think that we have to understand that in this transfer window, we did what the club could do," he said on Friday.
"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 too much distance.
"For this reason, we have to know that we have just started on this process to improve the squad.
"We tried to do it in January with [Rodrigo] Bentancur and [Dejan] Kulusevski and we tried to do that in this window on a numerical and quality aspect.
"But to be competitive and to fight to be a title contender and to try to get a place in the Champions League, you need at least three transfer windows more to improve and to be in the same level as the other clubs.
"I'm sure that we are going in the right way for the capacity of the club at this moment to invest money.
"We have to be realistic to understand that there are clubs who can invest different money and other clubs that can invest normal money. For sure, the path is hard because of this aspect.
"We want to continue to improve. I am happy to have this group of players and the new players are inside the team and inside the dressing room. We did the right things, but we have just started, if someone thinks we have completed the situation, we are very far from this."
Tottenham earned praise for completing several deals in the early stages of the window, but Conte does not believe that will give them an advantage over wealthier rivals.
"If you sign a player £80million or £100m on the last day you have a big advantage, because it means you are signing a top player," he added.
"You can sign players also for free or on loan, and it is a different situation. I want to be very clear on that."
After beating local rivals Arsenal to Champions League qualification last term, Spurs return to Europe's premier club competition when they host Marseille on Wednesday.
Conte claimed Spurs' congested fixture list will represent a crucial test of where they stand, adding: "The season starts now for a club like us playing in the Champions League, because in the Europa League and Europa Conference League you can allow yourself to make big rotations.
"But in the Champions League you have to play a strong team and this is a harder task. This is a good opportunity for me and the club to understand if we miss something."
Foden matches Messi and Haaland feat with 50th league goal under Guardiola
Phil Foden equalled the feats of Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland when he scored his 50th league goal as Manchester City stormed into a 3-0 lead against Brighton.
Foden scored twice in the first half at the Amex Stadium on Thursday, setting Pep Guardiola's team on the way to a potentially pivotal win in the Premier League title race.
The England international's first, which came after Kevin De Bruyne's excellent diving header, came as his free-kick deflected in off the unfortunate Pascal Gross.
It was that goal that marked Foden's 50th in league football, with all of those coming under Guardiola.
That makes Foden just the third player to score 50 league goals under Guardiola while aged 23 or younger, after City team-mate Haaland and Barcelona great Messi.
Foden netted his 51st Premier League goal soon after, drilling in after City capitalised on some slack Brighton play.
Xavi commits U-turn and elects to stay at Barcelona
Barcelona head coach Xavi will continue in his role next season after an unexpected reversal of his decision to leave at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, according to widespread reports.
The former Barcelona midfielder announced in January that he would walk away from the job at the end of the current season, even though his contract was due to run until the end of the following term.
Xavi acknowledged the Barcelona role had taken its toll but reportedly changed his plans after a meeting with Blaugrana president Joan Laporta on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old was initially appointed as Barca coach in 2021 before leading the LaLiga giants to the top-flight title in the 2022-23 campaign.
Xavi's initial announcement of his intentions to depart Barcelona came after a tough period following defeats to Girona, Real Madrid and Athletic Club before revealing the news in the aftermath of a 5-3 loss to Villarreal.
The Blaugrana turned their fortunes around after that decision became public, though, going 13 games unbeaten across all competitions.
Unsurprisingly, that run encouraged Laporta, vice president Rafa Yuste and sporting director Deco to plead with Xavi to continue until the end of his agreed contract.
Though that undefeated streak ended with a 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain that dumped Barcelona out of the Champions League quarter-finals, Xavi has now agreed to stay in his role.
The league title is almost out of reach this term, however, as Real Madrid moved 11 points clear of second-placed Barca with Sunday's 3-2 Clasico victory.
Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot
Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.
Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.
Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.
Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.
A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.
“Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.
“We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.
“In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.
“But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.
“We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.
“We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”
Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.
“We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.
“For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.
“We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.
“We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.
“I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.
“We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.
“It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
