Pundit tips Conte to replace ‘disgraceful’ Spurs players with January reinforcements

Noel Whelan has claimed Antonio Conte has quickly found out which Tottenham players he can and cannot trust after last week’s Europa Conference League defeat to NS Mura. 

Spurs were on the end of an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to the Slovenian minnows, who are rooted to the bottom of Group G. 

Conte deployed a rotated line-up for the European encounter by handing a number of fringe players the opportunity to impress, but none gave the Italian much of a reason to consider them. 

The 52-year-old slammed the level of his side’s performance after the match and admitted he was already starting to see the magnitude of the job ahead of him. 

However, former Premier League striker Whelan believes Conte’s post-match comments should worry a number of Spurs players going forward and now expects the club to dip into the transfer market for reinforcements in January. 

He told Football Insider: “It was embarrassing. I think it’s a disgraceful defeat, a disgraceful performance. I think he is seeing what he needs to get rid of rather than who to keep.

“That was the biggest thing that you saw on Thursday. Players that are just not up to standard for playing for Tottenham Hotspur.

“All it’s proven is that they’re not up to standard. He’s got to go into the transfer market in January and quick. I think that’s all it has proved.

“They’ve had their chances and unfortunately, they’ve not taken it, they’ve let them down.

“They’ve let themselves down, let the club down. Also, they have massively let the fans down who travelled and were sitting at home. To me, I wouldn’t be able to walk down the street if I was some of those players.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

The Mura defeat didn’t paint any Spurs players in a good light and none of the fringe players will have changed Conte’s mind into considering them. Spurs still need reinforcements going forward and Conte is already seeing that, meaning January is a crucial month to secure a couple of incomings.