Dejan Kulusevski believes Antonio Conte's coaching style has been critical in his personal improvement at Tottenham after stagnating with Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus.
Kulusevski rose to prominence during the 2019-20 season when on loan at Parma from Atalanta, with his form in the first half of that campaign persuading Juve to spend €35million on him.
Although he played 55 Serie A games for the Bianconeri after linking up with them ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, Kulusevski struggled to find the same prominence and consistency he enjoyed at Parma.
Spurs struck a deal in January to take the Sweden international on loan for 18 months, and the agreement will become permanent for £29.2m (€32.6m) if certain sporting criteria are met.
Kulusevski quickly made an impression – from the date of his signing until the end of the season, no player registered more assists than his eight in the Premier League, while Kevin De Bruyne (17), Son Heung-min (20) and Harry Kane (21) were the only three individuals to tally more goal involvements than the Swede's 13 over the same period.
Similarly, his three assists this season is third to only De Bruyne (six) and Bukayo Saka (four) – he is finding his feet, and he does not think he could have found such comfort had he stayed at Juventus.
"In football sometimes things simply go wrong. I have not changed anything about myself in recent months: mentally I went always to go on the pitch and gave my best.
"At Juve, however, it didn't work beyond what I tried to do. I didn't feel great for so many different reasons and when you realise that things are not right, then it's difficult to reverse course by staying in the same environment.
"So, the choice to leave Italy was the best I could have made in that situation.
"In England I am great, everything is better than in Turin, both on and off the pitch. As I said, now I really always want to play football."
Kulusevski has no doubt what the key difference is: Conte.
While he did not want to disparage Allegri, Kulusevski feels he has reacted positively to Conte's demands, which have in turn got the best out of him.
Asked if there was a big difference between Allegri and Conte, the winger said: "Honestly, yes.
"I don't want to say that one is better than the other, because I have great respect for both Allegri and Conte and both have won a lot in their careers, but the job and the ideas of football are completely different.
"At Tottenham, you struggle a lot more in the gym and you can see the results. I can say that from Juve to Spurs, the world changed for me.
"I have never met in my life, even outside of football, a motivated person like Antonio Conte. When he speaks to you, he enters your heart by force.
"At Tottenham my body changed – mainly thanks to the exercises in the gym – in no time. We work a lot every day and better than I did in Italy.
"I love how we train in London and for sure the credit goes to our coach: I'm very happy to play for him."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Mead: Slegers 'a breath of fresh air' at Arsenal
Beth Mead said that Renee Slegers has been a "breath of fresh air" ahead of Arsenal's Women's Champions League tie against Juventus on Tuesday.
Slegers has been in interim charge of the Gunners since Jonas Eidevall's resignation last month, and has impressed during her temporary tenure.
She has won three of her four games at the helm, the latest of which came in a 5-0 victory against Brighton, moving Arsenal up to fourth in the Women's Super League table.
And Mead, who joined Slegers on pre-match press duties on Monday, believes Arsenal are heading in the right direction under her guidance.
“It’s a breath of fresh air with Renee and we’re enjoying it so far," Mead said. "We’re in a good place at the moment.
"We have the environment to build again, it’s a release of new energy right now and when you get the results and the performances, then it makes you a happier footballer.
When asked if she would like Slegers to stay at Arsenal, Mead added: “In some capacity. We love having Renee here and will be happy with whatever she chooses to do.”
However, Slegers revealed she was unsure about what the future may hold, placing full focus on their upcoming Champions League clash.
"I think I get this question every time, and my answer will be the same," Slegers began.
"I'm very much in the moment, I know that this will be the situation for this block, and we as the coaching staff are trying to do everything to help the girls forward.
"I think everyone is putting that little extra in from both the staff and the player's perspective. So I’m just trying to get the best out of Arsenal, because I care a lot.
"I really enjoyed the role I had before. Now I have to play this role for the team, so I’ll play this role for the team. About the future? I don't know."
Arsenal will be looking to improve their recent away from in Europe on Tuesday at the Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo Lamarmora.
They are winless across their last three Champions League away matches (D1 L2), only enduring a longer run in the competition once before (D1 L3 between 2003 and 2005).
The Gunners sit second in Group C on three points, level with Tuesday's opponents, but Slegers is confident of sealing a big result in Italy.
"We are going there to play our best football, and we have a big belief in what we can do tomorrow," Slegers said.
"Looking at what we've been performing lately, and obviously scouting Juventus, we have a big belief in ourselves.
"And then we'll see how the game progresses, what decisions we have to make, but we go there to win."
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