Antonio Conte’s side beat Wolves 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, in their second victory of the season. This came less than a week after Spurs secured a point at Stamford Bridge, with Harry Kane’s 96th-minute equalising goal. In both of the last two matches, the Lilywhites haven’t produced a very good first half display. After the first five or ten minutes against Chelsea, the home side were on top and Tottenham trailed behind on two occasions. After the game, the Italian was asked what he said to his players at half-time.
Antonio Conte said: “It’s always very important to have a moment, especially between the first and second half to analyse with the players. Also with the staff a way to try and improve the situation. Especially in the first half we struggled a bit for many reasons in the physical aspect. I think we play against a team very fast but at the same time I felt that the way we suffered together…we suffered but I don’t remember a big save from Hugo [Lloris]. Then in the second half, I tried to fix some situations in the tactical aspect. But at the same time we had a lot of energy to press high and create chances, and I think in the second half we did very well because we created chances to score more goals and we played with an important intensity. We put good pressure and the second half was really difficult to play against us.”
This tactical change was something Kane also commented on, when he was asked what the boss had said to the Tottenham team, after the first 45 minutes.
Harry Kane added: “Tactically we changed a little bit, the way we wanted to get pressure on the ball and then it’s just about bringing more intensity. When we want to press, it has to be all out press, making sure everyone’s going. Then with the ball, just being a bit more consistent, a bit braver through the lines. For sure, we did that in the second half and created some good chances. I feel like physically, we’re going to be stronger as the game goes on and I felt like that was the case today [Saturday].”
Kane also assessed the overall team performance in what he described as a “tough game”.
Harry Kane said: “Typical Premier League game, no matter who you’re facing. Every team can play, every team can do well, with and without the ball and [in the] first half, that’s kind of what happened. We struggled to get pressure on, they played well through the lines and we had to dig deep a little bit. I thought second half we come out with a real intensity, with the ball, without the ball, created chances and then obviously got the goal and from there, we controlled it well. Overall a really good day, tough game, but delighted with the three points.”
Both the player and the manager acknowledge the changes that were made, to help Tottenham come out and produce a better second-half performance. The Chelsea game in particular, also showed the fight the Lilywhites have and this helped them get an arguably undeserved point from their second-half display.
