Antonio’s verdict on Eintracht Frankfurt: “The performance was positive” | OneFootball

Antonio Conte took plenty of positives from our 0-0 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League at Deutsche Bank Park on Tuesday evening.

After the disappointment of Saturday’s derby defeat, we were back at it in Germany, producing a performance full of intent against an in-form Frankfurt side who had won five of seven leading up to this game and beat Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin at the weekend.

The only disappointment for Antonio was the failure to convert a host of chances with Emerson Royal, Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son all going close at various stages of the game. Frankfurt also had their sights at goal in this Matchday Three encounter in Group D, but Hugo Lloris was only seriously tested once, a second half parry from Ansgar Knauff’s effort.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY in the tunnel area of the stadium, Antonio said: “The performance was positive because I think we played a good game with great intensity, we put a lot of pressure in every zone of the pitch and created chances.

“If I have to find something that we have to improve, for sure, we need to be more clinical. In this type of game, when you create chances, you have to be clinical, and you have to score. If you don’t score, you don’t win.

“I was sure about the reaction of my players (after Arsenal). We need to be a bit disappointed, because when you produce this kind of effort in a game, you deserve to win, but I repeat, to win, you need to score. We need to be clinical at the right moments to score. At least we finished the game 0-0, this game, at the end, I thought was like the Sporting Lisbon game, it was in the balance, we lost chances to score and then on 92 (minutes) they (Sporting) scored the two goals.”

A point away from home in the Champions League is always a welcome point, and with Marseille beating leaders Sporting Lisbon 4-1 in the early kick-off, our draw has closed the group up – Sporting remain top on six points, ourselves and Frankfurt have four each and Marseille now have three.

We now face successive home matches in the group – MD4 is the return against Frankfurt next Wednesday (12 October, 8pm) followed by Sporting on MD5 on Wednesday 26 October (8pm).

“We need our fans to create an amazing atmosphere, like tonight, because we played not just against Eintracht Frankfurt, but also the whole stadium,” added Antonio. “They pushed their players a lot and for this reason, in the second game, I’m sure our fans will push us from the start until the end because in the next two games, we are playing to go through to the next round.

“I always said in this group there is a great balance. In every game you can win points, or you can lose points, every team. For this reason, it’s upon us, two games to play at home now, then Marseille away, and I’m sure with our fans at home we’ll try to do our best to go through to the next round.”

Watch - Antonio on SPURSPLAY