“Lot of road”- Conte gives honest verdict on Tottenham’s silverware chances after Mura embarrassment

To The Lane And Back

·26 November 2021

“Lot of road”- Conte gives honest verdict on Tottenham’s silverware chances after Mura embarrassment

Antonio Conte assess Tottenham Hotspur’s chances of winning a trophy following the loss vs NS Mura

Speaking in the post-match press conference following the loss against NS Mura (h/t Football.London), Antonio Conte gave his thoughts on Tottenham Hotspur’s chances of winning silverware under his tutelage. Spurs suffered a shock 2-1 defeat, putting a dent in the club’s chances to qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Conte rotated heavily on the night to give rest to most of the main squad while giving opportunities to the fringe players. It was a good chance for them to show their quality and impress the manager but ultimately, most of them failed in doing so.

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Ryan Sessegnon got himself sent off in the first half of the match, whereas Harry Kane scored the only goal for his side. Dele Alli, Matt Doherty and Tanguy Ndombele were poor, and Davinson Sanchez had a poor game and was arguably at fault for Mura’s last-minute winner.

Antonio Conte has work to do with Spurs. (PA Wire)

“To win is always important, but then you have to understand if you are ready to win. At this moment I think there is a lot of road in front of us before we think we can win.”

“I like to win, I play to win in every competition that we have to play. This must be the same for my players. But at the same time I want to be very honest, we have to work a lot and improve in many, many aspects.”

Something to think about?

As the Italian conveyed with his aforementioned comments, there is a lot to improve before we can think about attaining silverware. The fringe players were poor on the night and they have to earn their way back into the team if they really want to succeed at this club. But this doesn’t mean that Conte should stop giving them chances altogether.

Antonio Conte in a training session. (Tottenham Hotspur Twitter)

Making wholesale changes to the squad can disrupt team chemistry. For the game against Rennes, Conte should play it safe and put out a strong starting XI that has an experienced spine.

The team should have a strong showing against the Ligue 1 team to put behind the poor showing in the UEFA Europa Conference League up until now. They would also need to match the result of Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem to ensure qualification, who are level on points with just one matchday to go.

At the same time, it is evident that the team is short on quality on the bench and could do with some reinforcements in the coming transfer windows. Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici would need to back the man in charge to reach their ambitions.