Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has come out to defend his pragmatic approach at Tottenham, insisting: “I’m not stupid – I can teach football to many people.”
Stung by criticism of his side’s derby defeat to Arsenal at the weekend, Conte made an indirect dig at Manchester United shipping six in their own derby, categorically stating that his teams have never been so loose at the back.
But with Spurs starting to underwhelm after two defeats in their last three games, the Italian admitted that his team needed to ‘play with more personality’ at tough atmospheres, after failing to win in two London derbies this season as well as suffering a Champions League defeat in Lisbon.
Another defeat against Frankfurt would leave Conte facing an uphill battle to advance from their Champions League group in Europe. He has not enjoyed the contrast between pundits raving about Arsenal’s fluid style and Spurs’ more pragmatic approach.
Conte defends his tactics at Tottenham
Defending his tactics and hitting back at critics, Conte claimed: “If we were able to exploit the situation, especially last passes, we would have been able to score many goals against Arsenal. Instead we made really bad mistakes for the last passes because we had the opportunity to go one-to-one, but every team has to think and understand the way to play different games.”
“Last season we won 3-0 (against Arsenal) and, when you win, the opponent has to explain, but for me it’s important to have a plan, to put my players in the best possible situation to exploit their characteristics.”
“Otherwise it can happen that you can concede six, seven or eight goals – in England that happens a lot of times. In my career never, never happened because I don’t like to play open, concede a lot of space and concede six, seven or eight goals. I won in England, I won in my past and I think I can teach football to many people.”
Conte also gave a stern response to fans asking about £20 million wing-back Djed Spence, who has been limited to a cameo against Nottingham Forest, to be given more game time.
He quickly responded: “The fans have to be fans. They can think anything but I see every day the training sessions. If I don’t decide to pick a player, it’s because maybe he’s not ready.”
No time to lick wounds
Tottenham will have to put their defeat against Arsenal behind them and put out their best foot against Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday night before another crunch clash against high-flying Brighton in the Premier League at the weekend.
