Glenn Hoddle praises Spurs’ professionalism to beat Brighton after ‘very difficult week’

Glenn Hoddle praised the Tottenham Hotspur players over how they handled themselves in a professional manner after beating Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday evening.

Tottenham headed into the match on the south coast having had to cope with the sudden death of their fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone who had worked with Antonio Conte for the majority of his career.

Before kick-off at the Amex Stadium, a minute’s applause was held in tribute to the Italian with Hoddle acknowledging how difficult the moment must have been for Conte and the rest of his backroom staff.

After scoring his goal in the first half which proved to be the match-winner, Harry Kane pointed toward the sky in a muted celebration to the 61-year-old.

Hoddle told Optus Sport: “It’s been a very difficult week. It’s been an emotional time and it takes energy out of you as a group of players as well.

“You can see Conte at the beginning of the game, he was really affected in that minute’s applause. In a way he didn’t want to clap, it was affecting him in a big way. They must have been very close and I think that the staff would have felt it even more than the players.

“There was the little point there (from Harry Kane after his goal). A little point upstairs. We know exactly who that was for… that was for you.

“It’s been a good week for them after what happened (in the north London derby). They went to Europe and got a vital point there for the Champions League and now they’ve come off the back of that and won here.

“I thought Brighton were going to come at Tottenham like they did with Liverpool but in the end they just took the ball away from them. The best spell Tottenham had was in the first 20 minutes and they managed to score and the end of it and then saw the game out.”

SpursWeb Opinion

It has been an awful few days for everyone associated with Tottenham and to show the grit and determination to grind out a win against Brighton was something that their late colleague would be proud of.

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