Antonio Conte's 'special request' to Tottenham stars during international break

Antonio Conte may have only just taken charge of his first Premier League match Tottenham Hotspur manager, but he is already making a strong impact.

The former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager's first match at the helm of the North Londoners was a frustrating but promising 0-0 draw away to Everton.

While Conte would have been disappointed his side did not take one of the many chances they created, their performance was a world apart from their 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United.

After replacing the sacked Nuno Espirito Santo, Conte inherited a side eighth in the Premier League table with the third worst goal difference in the division.

However, Football London claims the Italian is so determined to turn Spurs' fortunes around, he has handed out extra training schedules for the stars to undertake over the international break.

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While the likes of Harry Kane and Cristian Romero head out to their respective national teams, Conte's six-person team of fitness coaches will be intensely putting the remaining players through their paces.

And one of those stars is full-back Sergio Reguilon, who has been pushed forward as a left-wing-back since Conte decided to introduce his favoured 3-4-3 formation.

"The gaffer is special," said the Spanish defender.

"He loves training hard but now we don't have a lot of time to train on the things he wants on the pitch. We did a lot of meetings with videos this week.

"For us, it's good. We don't have a lot of time for work. Now we have a week of rest and training well under him.

"And when we come back from national teams, we start again and go in a good way."

Conte is the fourth manager Reguilon has worked under since his arrival from Real Madrid in the summer of 2019.

The Spaniard has been a key player under Jose Mourinho, Ryan Mason, and Santo. But he feels Conte's arrival has significantly raised the mood of the club.

"Yeah [the club has been a happier place], and I think you can see on the pitch the team is more aggressive and more competitive," Reguilon added.

"We believe in the things we're working on in training. That's the way. We have to learn too much under him. For me, it's unbelievable.

"I had a friend at Inter, Achraf Hakimi, and I spoke to him about the gaffer. He told me I will improve a lot under him and I want to do that as soon as possible.

"He told me I will have to work really, really hard but I will improve a lot. In one week, I can already see that."

Conte warned his new crop of players hard work was coming as the Winter months begin to grip the nation.

"Now, we need to work," the Spurs boss said after the draw at Goodison Park.

"We need to improve step by step the physical condition because if you want to bring intensity on the pitch for 95 minutes, we need to improve in an important way our physical situation."