‘I wasn’t angry’ – Conte explains what he told Spurs players after Man City loss

Antonio Conte has revealed that he was honest with the players about the team’s defensive shortcomings following their loss to Manchester City last week.

Tottenham slipped to their third defeat in four matches against City last Thursday despite leading 2-0 at half-time.

The result dented Spurs’ hopes of finishing in the top four and some reports suggested on the back of the loss that Antonio Conte’s future at the club was looking increasingly uncertain (Daily Mail).

However, Tottenham battled back to return to winning ways at Craven Cottage yesterday, with Harry Kane’s strike towards the end of the first half proving the difference between the sides.

Spurs were put under pressure by the home side in different parts of the game but showed some resolute defending, which had been missing over the last few months.

Conte expressed his delight at the fighting spirit shown by his players and revealed that it was one of the issues that he discussed with them after the City loss.

When asked what he told the players in the meeting, the Tottenham head coach responded (via Football.London): “First of all, I wasn’t angry, this has to be very clear. In these situations, sometimes you are a bit upset but I wasn’t angry.

“I showed only the stats and when there is the stats it’s the truth, when it says 21 goals in the last 10 games, you have to accept and to understand that maybe we can do much more, but together and me also.

“Maybe I didn’t work on some aspects and for this reason when I have a good relationship with the players and I tell them always the truth, they know that if I want to, they accept it because they’re really good players and smart people.

“Then today they tried to give me an answer and today they give me an answer very well but this has to be not the only game despite a difficult game today against Fulham.

“For this reason, now my expectation is to build on this win for the rest of the season, to be competitive and to make our fans proud of our team.”

Spurs Web Opinion

One should not underestimate the difficulty of our challenge yesterday as Fulham were high on confidence and had been really tough to beat at home this season. We could have easily crumbled when put under pressure but instead, the players stood firm and showed that they are ready to fight for Conte.

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