‘The situation is clear’ – Conte insists lack of attacking options has cost Spurs this season

Antonio Conte has stated that the injuries that Tottenham had in their forward line cost them against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Conte was already without the injured Lucas Moura and Richarlison while Dejan Kulusevski was also sidelined with a muscle problem just ahead of the clash against Villa.

With Rodrigo Bentancur also sidelined with an injury, the Spurs boss chose not to deploy a 3-5-2 and instead stuck with a 3-4-3,  handing Bryan Gil his first Premier League start alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min upfront.

Although Tottenham were the much better team for large portions of the encounter, they struggled to break down a resolute Villa side, who defended deep.

The home side also failed to show composure in the final third when opportunities come their way and ended up paying for it, with Villa scoring twice on the counter-attack in the second half.

Conte admitted that he could not find a solution to change the game due to the injuries that Spurs had to deal with.

When asked if he is short of attackers, the 53-year-old told Football.London: “The situation is clear and I think you can see our situation from the start of the season.

“We had Bryan Gil who played a good game but he’s a young player, and you need to give young players time to become stronger physically.

“I’m pleased from what I’ve seen from him today in the game. Then there is Kane, Son, Richarlison and Kulusevski. When it happened that two of these (are injured), and this season it happened a few times, with Richarlison and Kulusevski, you are in trouble.

“Also Sonny has to continue to improve and it becomes difficult this situation. Because if you ask me about the central defenders, they played a good game, the two midfielders played a good game, the wing-backs played a good game.

“And then we struggled a bit upfront because we found a team defending really deep. If you have a solution on the bench to change the game, it’s easier because you change the cards during the game.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Given the injury records of Richarlison, Moura and Kulusevski this season, one can understand why Conte is reported to be keen on attacking reinforcements in January.

In fact, one can argue that is an even bigger priority than the right wing-back position as Matt Doherty has shown yet again that he has the attributes to thrive in that role.

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