Spurs star explains why players should take Conte’s outburst as ‘a positive signal’

Son Heung-min has said that he and his Tottenham teammates are loving working with Antonio Conte and insisted the players must see the Italian’s passion to improve results as a ‘positive signal’.

Conte certainly did not hold his emotions back after Tottenham’s loss to Burnley on Wednesday, seemingly implying that he might not be the right man for the job and that his position needed to be evaluated (Football.London).

If the 52-year-old was hoping to shock his players into a response against Leeds, that is exactly what he got as the Lilywhites emerged 4-0 winners from Elland Road.

Son admitted that the players were just as frustrated after the loss to Turf Moor but insisted they are enjoying working with a manager as passionate as Conte.

When asked about the Spurs boss’ comments last week, the South Korean told BT Sport: “Obviously we were all frustrated after the result. Obviously, we know we can do better, especially with Burnley [because] we know how difficult that place is.

“We let ourselves down and we were disappointed. Today we wanted to show great character, to show we can improve. We showed that.

“We have a fantastic manager. He brings passion, he brings so much positive energy. We are all happy to work with him. I think it’s so, so important we keep this.”

“That’s why he’s special. He’s so passionate. He wants to win, he wants clean sheets, he wants us to be better. This I think is such a positive signal. We should take this as improvement and we should be also that passion for the games coming.”

Son insisted that Tottenham’s commanding win over Leeds on Sunday was just a starting point and that the Lilywhites needed to become more consistent.

He added: “Obviously we won today, we can be better, but we can’t be super, super happy because we have many more games to come. We have to be consistent, stay focussed, stay well and get some other good games.

“We will try as hard as possible to play consistently like this. I think it was a great performance but as I said before, we can’t be happy when you win.

“You can’t be too disappointed when you lose. We need to be consistent like I said before. We need to really prepare well for the games, be humble and I think this is really important for the rest of the season.”

Spurs Web Opinion

To say that Conte’s post-match comments after the loss to Burnley was intended as a wake-up call to the players, would be to give the Italian too much credit.

I just think he got carried away with the disappointment and anger that comes with losing four matches in five. I would be surprised if that was the last emotional outburst we see from the 52-year-old at Spurs.

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