Conte explains why he was pleased with Spurs performance vs Aston Villa

Antonio Conte has insisted that Tottenham put in a ‘good performance’ against Aston Villa despite falling to a 2-0 defeat.

Spurs fell to their fifth defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday and dropped out of the top four as a result, with Man Utd now sitting in fourth place following their win over Wolves.

After a lacklustre start to the game, the Lilywhites did click into gear and dominated proceedings in the first half but the Villans defended resolutely with men behind the ball and managed to keep the score at 0-0 going into half-time.

The home side started the second half on the front foot and continued to pile the pressure on Villa but it was Unai Emery’s side who took the lead against the run of play in the 50th minute.

Hugo Lloris spilt Douglas Luiz’s effort, with the ball falling to Ollie Watkins, who set up Emiliano Buendia for a relatively straight-forward finish.

With Tottenham throwing men forward to find an equaliser, the away side scored another on the counter-attack through Luiz on 73 minutes.

When asked what he made of his side’s performance, Conte told Football.London after the game: “About the performance, I’m not disappointed because the performance was a good performance.

“From the start to the end, I have seen the right commitment the right intensity, the right desire to get three points, to win duels, to press high, to run.

“If you ask me, football is a bit strange because in the first half we dominated the game but despite this we didn’t create chances to score, because we found a team that defended really deep with 11 players.

“In the second half, we started the same way but then it happened that we conceded another goal. In this period, we are not so lucky for the goals we are conceding.

“I think this goal has changed the situation, has changed the feeling of the players, the confidence of the players, because they didn’t deserve to be one nil down after a big effort, for the whole first half.

“Then in other circumstances (other games), we were good to come back. Today, we didn’t do this. Then the atmosphere becomes warm because you are one nil down and the expectation is to score goals and to win. Then you can pay something emotionally.”

Spurs Web Opinion

The absence of Bentancur and Kulusevski was certainly felt but I thought we were completely on top until Villa scored their first goal. Chances were always going to be difficult to create against a side who defend as deeply as Villa did yesterday but we also failed to show composure in the final third at crucial moments.

Related Topics