NO MURA THAT
Conte’s ready to rip up his squad after shock loss
ANTONIO CONTE has the full backing of chairman Daniel Levy to rip up his Tottenham squad and turn them into winners “at all costs” – with many players now fighting for their future.
It comes after Thursday night’s defeat to NS Mura in the Europa Conference League, one of the most humiliating in Spurs’ history.
Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Burnley, manager Conte said: “We want to grow and compete with other great English clubs. But today there is a gap between the investments made by the owners and the sporting results.We have to fill it.
“We need players with the right mentality and with the quality, players that deserve to play for Tottenham and aspire to be competitive, to fight for this shirt, to win something. I’m making my evaluations and
then I’ll speak with the club.” Conte made nine changes to the side that beat Leeds 2-1 last Sunday to face Mura, only to replace four of those fringe players – Matt Doherty, Bryan Gil, Dele Alli and Joe Rodon – nine minutes into the second half. Davinson Sanchez and Tanguy Ndombele both also appear to be on borrowed time.
Over the past five windows Tottenham have signed 18 first-team players permanently or on loan.Yet their most important players pre-date all of them – Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Hugo Lloris.
Sergio Reguilon, Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Lucas Moura, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and academy players Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp have all impressed Conte, while Ryan Sessegnon, despite being sent off against Mura, is likely to get more chances.
But most, if not all, of the others are playing for their futures.
“The chairman has shown me that he wants me at all costs,” said Conte. “In his words and in the investments made, I saw a vision: the desire to excel. “I said to myself: ‘If we combine this ability off the pitch with what I can give on the pitch, we can really set up a serious and profound job’. “Challenges have never scared me, I just need to have even a one percent chance of winning to start my battle. I have never taken teams that had won titles the year before, mine are always paths of reconstruction. Juventus reached first place from eighth, Chelsea from 10th, Inter Milan from fourth. I know it will take some patience this time.
“In Milan I left a finished job. Here, I have to start all over again and beginning once the season has started is never easy.”