Conte felt that playing two games in the space of 44 hours affected his team's performance as they failed to take all three points against 10-man Southampton.
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Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte felt that “ we make some times not the right decision in the final pass or in our finishing” after the 1-1 draw against Southampton in the Premier League fixture at St. Mary’s Stadium on Tuesday. Despite playing a major part of the game against 10-man, Tottenham had to settle for a draw. James Ward Prowse gave the lead to Southampton in the 25th minute before Mohammed Salisu was sent off for fouling Son Heung-Min inside the box, six minutes before the break. Although Harry Kane equalized from the subsequent penalty for the visitors, Southampton held firm to share the points.
Conte bemoaned Tottenham’s fatigue and lack of clarity in the final third as his side failed to close the gap on fourth-placed Arsenal. After the break, it was Tottenham’s attack versus Southampton’s defense. Kane thought he had completed the turnaround when he collected Harry Winks’ pass to fire past Fraser Forster, but VAR intervened due to a fractional offside against the skipper. Tottenham registered 11 shots on target but failed to get past the home defence.
“They were very good and defended really well. The first phase wasn’t easy but at the same time, we can do much better and we can move the ball quicker and in one-v-one situations. To play after 44 hours is not easy for any team and I think I am seeing a bit of fatigue in my players.”
Spurs came into the match on the back of an impressive 3-0 win against Crystal Palace on Sunday, but Conte felt that playing two games in the space of 44 hours took a toll on his players’ body and they didn’t make the right decisions.
“we make some times not the right decision in the final pass or in our finishing. We can do much better but I know that it’s not easy to play 44 hours after the previous game.”
“Harry scored twice – one a penalty and then the second goal but I don’t want to comment on the VAR decision. They are there to do their best”
The Italian coach tried to change things in the second half as he brought in Lucas Moura in place of Dele Ali. The Brazilian’s introduction injected more pace and energy into Spurs’ attack but couldn’t find the winner.
“For sure [a missed opportunity], and you have to try to exploit this situation to try to get three points. We knew very well to play Southampton in this stadium is not easy. At one point in the game, a draw would’ve been a positive for us but we felt the fatigue and our mind wasn’t very clear to do the best of the situations.
“I tried to change things in the second half and I also took Reguilon off as he was on a yellow card and it was much better but we couldn’t find the solution for a second goal.”
Antonio Conte (W4 D3) is the first Spurs manager to go unbeaten in their first seven #PL matches in charge of the club#SOUTOT pic.twitter.com/luLZsTzRSZ
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 29, 2021
The result means Conte remains unbeaten in his opening seven games as Spurs manager, the first to do so in the club’s history. Meanwhile West Ham who had defeated Watford 4-1 leapfrogged Tottenham into fifth spot. .
