Antonio Conte made five substitutions during Tottenham’s tie against Brighton and the depth of the squad helping during matches is not something that has always been a success this season. Since the arrival of the Italian, Spurs have seen improvements both on and off the pitch, which have helped them win matches and now progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Antonio Conte said: “It was important also to breathe the atmosphere for the two new signings, for us, for Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur. It was important to come in and to understand the intensity of this league. I repeat, two good players, two young players with talent. They can help us. Rodrigo, despite his age, only 24-years-old, has a lot of experience because he played 120 games for Juventus. Kulusevski, the same. I think they can help us. I’m pleased that I gave them the opportunity to come in and also breathe this fantastic atmosphere in our stadium. Our fans, the noise tonight was so intense that it was also very difficult to communicate with the players.”
This season Tottenham’s lack of quality in the depth of the squad has been made clear, especially when a number of changes have been made in fixtures and the fringe players just haven’t been able to impress. A busy schedule means rotation is inevitable but it is hard to do so when the gap between the strongest side and the fringe players is big, which is something Conte has previously commented on.
Antonio Conte aded: “It’s difficult for the coach to make rotations because you want the best, but you have to know that if you want to be competitive, you need a couple of players for every role. Between the player who usually plays, and the other player, the gap has to be not so big in every role. This is a problem for all the teams.”
This problem was very evident at Spurs and although it was just their first minutes at Tottenham, could the new arrivals be helping to bridge that gap?
