Really struggling to break down sides who sit behind the ball and make life very difficult for them, Tottenham do seem to flourish when teams attack and duly give them space to exploit. Winning at the Etihad and then hitting Leeds United for four a week later, this weekend’s trip to Liverpool could be the perfect game for Antonio Conte’s men despite their opponents’ stunning form.
Antonio Conte said: “When you play against these important teams, it’s important there is the great desire, no? For everybody to find a way to stop this top team. For this reason, against Manchester City it happened twice and we drew with Liverpool at home. For sure, when you play with a team that likes to play face to face, for the characteristic of my players, my team, maybe it’s better than when we find a team very, very deep with not so much space to exploit. I find this. Also in the game against Leicester we found a team face to face – you attack, we attack, you attack, we attack. It’s better then when we find a team who defends very deep and doesn’t [allow us to] find space.”
Taking a point off Liverpool back in December following a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs perhaps should have come away with all three given the chances they created against the Reds. Starting with a midfield trio of Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks and Dele Alli that day, the Lilywhites had to do without the likes of Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the game, while Oliver Skipp was brought on from the bench.
