‘It was wrong’ – Stellini opens up on his failed back four experiment in Spurs 6-1 loss

Cristian Stellini has opened up on why he decided to name a back four for Tottenham this afternoon in the Premier League, and why it went so badly wrong. 

Tottenham fell to an embarrassing 6-1 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United this afternoon at St James’ Park, which definitively ends their pursuit of a top-four finish.

In fact, Spurs now have a fight on their hands to finish in the European places at all, with Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Brighton all on the charge.

Cristian Stellini attempted to make a change to the Spurs formation this afternoon, lining up with a back four against Newcastle, but soon saw his side go 5-0 down within 20 minutes.

It was perhaps an indication of why Antonio Conte had avoided a back four entirely during his time in the North London hot seat, with Stellini switching back to a five once Spurs were 5-0 down.

On the back four, Stellini said (SkySports Main Event 23/04/23 from 16:40): “It went so badly because we were not prepared enough to play an important match. We have a good squad but today no-one showed how good we are.

“It was my responsibility to decide how we play and we decided to do it differently because of the injuries. It is my responsibility, I took it and it was wrong.

“I have to take responsibility because once we changed system we played better, scored and showed fight. Its very difficult to understand why the first 25 minutes were so bad.”

On why he decided to go for a back four, he added: “To give energy to the players because we spoke in the week it would be possible to change system, but obviously we didn’t show this.

“We were not prepared to play this type of tough game. To suffer, control the space, win duels, we were not well prepared.

“We had a good mood before the game but if you do not show this during the game. The change showed a different idea.”

Spurs Web Opinion:

I feel like Spurs fans have entered a period of numbness where the wins aren’t celebrated and no one cares too much about the defeats. When there is no direction at the club, wins and losses seem irrelevant. Tottenham need to find a new project that the fans can buy into.

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