The image from Tottenham since the Italian coach arrived to London has changed a lot. He has left behind the characteristic ‘short lead wins’ by Nuno in order to build a more compact block that can both attack and defend properly. On the other hand, Conte is starting to get to know his players and some of them are already making merits to become untouchable in these Spurs.
He has grabbed a draw and three wins so far in the Premier League and we can already notice that Conte, since it is almost Christmas, has set up his classic ‘tree system’ with three central defenders, two offensive full backs, two defensive midfielders, two wingers to make diagonal runs and a striker.
Within this system, the trident formed by Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane is irremovable, which is leaving Bryan Gil and Bergwijn with very few opportunities.
In defense, Dier is a wall that Conte relies on every game and Ben Davies has surprised everyone by becoming into a great left back. The rest of the defensive positions rotate constantly, which is giving some minutes to Davinson Sánchez, Cristian Romero and Tangana. The usual full backs are Reguilón and Emerson.
Oliver Skipp (Skippy for friends and Conte) is the one is earning the coach’s most confidence, as he is taking over the midfield along with Hojbjerg. Conte praised him recently: “Skipp played a really good game. This player is very young and still has space to improve. He played with great passion and heart. He was important”.
But not everything are good news, as Tottenham fell to Mura in the Conference League showing a very poor performance. As a result, Antonio Conte made a very critic statement where he admitted that he was starting to realize about the situation after three weeks in the club and left a last lapidary quote: “Tottenham’s level is not very high at the moment”.
These thoughts are in line with previous coaches’ like Pochettino: “If you want a nice house, maybe you need better furniture”. Mourinho also said last year: “The Spurs have problems that I can´t solve by myself”. All these darts seem to go to the same direction, as they all demand a better roster.
However, exist are the main problem in this team, even bigger than the possible signs. Players like Dele Alli, Ndombele or Lo Celso are starting to have less importance despite having the potential to add. Tottenham need a project with continuity, as four different coaches have been in the Spurs’ bench since Pochettino left.
The confidence on Conte’s project must be total if the board of directors want a definitive change of course and make Tottenham a consistent winning team, and that comes with strengthening the team with optimal profiles for his system and trading those players who barely get any minutes and could have a good market. The machine is starting to get back on track for now so it can work like Conte would like it to.
Translated by Guillermo Bermejo.
Main image: Twitter @SpursOfficial.
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