Conte picks out surprise Tottenham ‘negative’; states what Spurs ‘must’ become

07 Nov 2021, 17:47 by Steve Pearson · TEAM talk

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte bemoaned one negative aspect of his side in the final third, and claimed his side must become “stable” after battling for a clean sheet.

Conte was made to wait for his first league win at the Spurs helm after overseeing a frantic 0-0 draw at Goodison Park. Spurs’ two best chances of the first half came to their wingbacks, but neither Emerson Royal or Sergio Reguilon could keep their composure at the critical moment.

Substitute Giovani Lo Celso struck the post in the game’s late stages, though Everton were the stronger of the two sides in the second half.

The scores remained deadlocked until the final whistle, with a clean sheet one of the few positives Conte will take.

MATCH REPORT: Conte left rueing double near miss, as Everton hold Tottenham despite late red card

Speaking in his post-match press conference (via Football London), Conte said of his side’s stunted final third play: “If I have to see a negative aspect in this game, I think we made many mistakes with the forward pass.

“If we make the final pass in the right way, we had chances to score. If we made the final pass in the right way, we could have chances to score. Instead the last pass we made many mistakes.”

The game’s major talking point centred around an overturned penalty decision initially awarded in favour of Richarlison.

Replays appeared to suggest Hugo Lloris had got his hand to the ball before felling the Brazilian, and that viewpoint was shared by Conte.

The Italian said: “My view is very simple because I cannot understand if the referee don’t go to VAR and don’t watch what happened but if VAR call you and you go and you watch and you see it is difficult to make a mistake.”

“Lloris touched the ball before. To make a mistake after you watch VAR is impossible. I have seen and he took the right decision.”

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On his defence which largely restricted Everton to half-chances, Conte concluded: “I think when you want to become big, when you want to try to be competitive, you must have a stable team.

“Not ups and downs, ups and downs and today we didn’t concede a goal and I think that is a good start to improve. On Thursday we scored three goals and we had chances to improve our score but then we conceded two goals.

“I think we must learn to be stable, and there is only one way to be stable, to make offensively together and defensively together and all the players have to go into this idea and today I have seen the will to sacrifice to pay attention to the details.”

Conte urged to copy Chelsea transfer masterstroke

Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp has urged Conte to copy a hugely successful Chelsea transfer by making a major signing that would “transform” Tottenham.

Making Tottenham hard to beat will be a top priority of Conte’s. And according to former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, Conte should follow Chelsea’s example and sign experienced 37-year-old campaigner, Giorgio Chiellini.

Chelsea acquired another veteran centre-half last season in the form of Thiago Silva. The Brazilian has been everything Thomas Tuchel could’ve hoped for and more, with his leadership and organisational skills helping to guide the Blues to Champions League glory last season.

Redknapp believes signing Juventus and Italy hero Chiellini could have a similar transformational effect

“I doubt very much if 37-year-old Giorgio Chiellini will be on it. But for me, he’s the one man the new Spurs manager should move Heaven and Earth to bring to London.

“I know they’d hardly be signing someone for the long term. But in terms of sorting them out immediately, there would be no one better.

“I’ve said plenty of times that squad is packed with talent but what they really need is a leader, an organiser, a winner. Chiellini ticks every one of those boxes.”