Antonio Conte has described Tottenham’s clash against Leicester as a ‘strange game’ and admitted that he was not happy with his side’s performance in the first-half
Tottenham emerged comfortable 6-2 winners at the end, courtesy of a 13-minute hat-trick by Son Heung-min after replacing Richarlison just before the hour mark, but the game was finely poised in the interval, with the score at 2-2.
The away side gave as good as they got in the first period and might have even considered themselves unlucky not to go into the half-time break with a lead.
Conte admitted that he was far from happy with his players at the interval but he praised the confidence and energy they showed in the second period.
The Spurs boss told Football.London following the win over the Foxes: “Yeah, in the first half, it was a really strange game because I think we started the game very well, we had possession we created difficult from the start, but maybe in our best moment, we conceded the penalty.
“We were really happy for the save for Hugo, then when the VAR decided to repeat the penalty, it was a bit disappointing. Then they score the goal.
“You know, in this type of situation, your confidence can go down and instead, we were really good to go 1-1, then go to score again with two set-pieces.
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“After this, I think we can do much better because I don’t know why we lost a bit of confidence with the possession, we lost stupid balls, and Leicester took confidence.
“They scored 2-2, and after the first half, for sure I wasn’t happy because honestly I had seen not a lot of energy in my team and I was a bit worried, but in the second half, it was totally different because the energy was really high.
“We showed great confidence with the ball, we did really well. In between the halves, we worked to understand the way to attack them with the space they conceded us, especially in the flank with the wing-backs. Then I think we played a good second half. I am pleased.”
Conte remarked that, on the whole, he has been quite pleased with the way his side has started the season heading into the international break.
However, he rued the fact that they were unable to beat Sporting Lisbon, insisting that the Portuguese side did not deserve three points last week.
The 53-year-old added: “I think it was a really good start, and now there is the international break. Fingers crossed, I hope for no more injuries because, in October, we have 12 games in a row, difficult games because we are talking about Premier League, Champions League, Premier League, and Champions League.
“If I have to be disappointed, I am disappointed with the game we lost to Sporting Lisbon because we didn’t deserve to lose this game. For this reason, I was unhappy because I don’t think Sporting Lisbon didn’t show to be better than us.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If we had managed to beat Sporting last week, the players and the fans would have had a lot more optimism about what can be achieved this season. However, that loss was arguably a reality check that the players needed, and will hopefully serve as a lesson not to switch off until the final whistle.
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