CONTE THE CONDUCTOR GETS A TUNE OUT OF TOTTENHAM
BOOS at half-time, ecstasy and adulation at the end — welcome to Tottenham Hotspur, Antonio Conte. The Italian won’t forget his first home Premier League game in charge of Spurs in a hurry. Twists and turns, jeers and applause.
Conte will hope it is not always like this. He is a control freak — and for large parts of this encounter his team were anything but in control.
Yet by the end, Conte was thriving on it — not only conducting his team, but his new supporters as Tottenham got over the line.
Four points off a Champions League spot, the north London club will dream that the nights this epic stadium was built to host could yet return next year.
The fact Conte is yet to lose in his three games as manager will fuel hope among Spurs fans. But the 52-year-old is not stupid. And as positive as this result might have been, the magnitude of the task facing him, certainly in the first half, was rammed home here.
Credit to Leeds, they were excellent — Tottenham couldn’t get near their opponents at times. Conte would have looked on enviously at Marcelo Bielsa’s team.
Not necessarily because of their personnel — although Kalvin Phillips was by far the best player on the pitch — but because of the way they are so expertly drilled.
Like a well-oiled machine, each Leeds footballer knows his job, each working for the betterment of the team.
That is what Conte aspires to at Tottenham. History suggests he will get there — but whether it will be with this current set of players is questionable.
Phillips set the tone, forcing a save from Hugo Lloris with a beautifully arcing free-kick inside two minutes. Stuart Dallas saw a long-range shot fly narrowly wide before Joe Gelhardt’s effort whistled just over the bar — all inside the opening 15 minutes.
Spurs were stuck in second gear. Harry Kane, fresh from his seven-goal haul with England, tried to inject some fire into their bellies. But it wasn’t clicking, the home crowd’s frustration increasingly apparent with each passing minute.
By contrast, Leeds were brave, taking the game to Tottenham in the manner of a team who expected rather than hoped, and they took a deserved lead on the stroke of
half-time. Jack Harrison took most of the credit for the mesmerising footwork out on the left that bamboozled Emerson Royal.
His cross was just as assured, laying the ball into Daniel James to ram home at the back post.
Tottenham supporters put the blame on their players, jeering the team off as referee Andre Marriner blew for half-time. Sure, Tottenham were inept, but Leeds were good. Very good. Yet the way Spurs responded will encourage Conte.
Kane saw an effort saved on to the post 33 seconds into the second half to register Tottenham’s first shot on target in a Premier League game for 272 minutes. Then Son Heung-min also hit the woodwork.
Had Lloris not got a hand to James’s low effort in the 47th minute then perhaps this game would have turned out differently.
But on such things Premier League matches turn. And in the 58th minute, Tottenham were level. Harry Winks, who produced an encouraging performance on his first Premier League start since September, laid the ball out to left to Sergio Reguilon, who stroked in a cross that sparked havoc in the box.
Eventually, Lucas Moura found Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on the edge of the area, and the Dane sent a scuffed shot past out-of-position goalkeeper Illan Meslier to spark the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into raptures.
Conte could not be contained, either, celebrating in his usual animated fashion.
But that was nothing compared to the scenes when Reguilon smashed home the winner 11 minutes later. Liam Cooper was booked for a foul on Moura, but what followed was a far more decisive punishment.
Eric Dier stepped up to take the free-kick, his effort deflecting off the wall to leave Meslier wrong-footed. Leeds breathed a temporary sigh of relief when the ball hit the foot of a post, but their respite was short-lived as Reguilon steamed in to hammer home the rebound.
Conte, arms flailing like they might separate from his torso, let it all out on the touchline. It was clear how much this meant to him.
Indeed, as the home supporters’ enthusiasm waned during the closing stages, probably more out of nerves than anything else, Conte — like a conductor in a concert hall — took it upon himself to cajole them for the dying minutes.
By the look of things, the Italian has coaxed Tottenham out of their early-season slumber. TOTTENHAM (3-4-3): Lloris 6.5; Tanganga 6.5 (Sanchez 68, 6.5), Dier 7.5, Davies 7; Royal 6.5, Winks 7.5, Hojbjerg 7.5, Reguilon 7.5 (Sessegnon 79); Lucas 7.5 (Alli 88), Kane 6.5, Son 6.5. Scorers: Hojbjerg 58, Reguilon 69 Booked: Royal. Manager: Antonio Conte 7. LEEDS UNITED (4-1-4-1): Meslier 6.5; Dallas 6.5, Llorente 6.5, Cooper 6.5, Struijk 6.5; PHILLIPS 8; James 7, Forshaw 7 (Roberts 72), Klich 6.5 (Firpo 59, 6), Harrison 7; Gelhardt 6.5 (McKinstry 87). Scorer: James 44. Booked: Gerhardt, Forshaw, Cooper, Phillips. Manager: Marelo Bielsa 6.5. Referee: Andre Marriner 6.5. Attendance: 58,989.