Cranky Conte slams ‘crazy’ run of games for Tottenham GUIDE TO TONIGHT’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
ANTONiO conte wants his Tottenham bosses to lobby the Premier league for a kinder fixture schedule as his team embark on a ‘crazy’ period of three games in seven days.
Spurs get their champions league campaign under way tonight when they host Marseille, managed by conte’s former Juventus team-mate igor Tudor.
The clash will be Tottenham’s first of three in a week — they travel to Manchester city on Saturday before
flying to Portugal to face Sporting lisbon on Tuesday night.
This comes after the north london club endured a similar stretch of three Premier league matches in seven days — two of which were away from home.
conte slammed his team’s fixture pile-up, saying: ‘Honestly, to see this schedule about Tottenham is incredible, it’s crazy because we played three games in a week against Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Fulham.
‘Now we are playing after four days, but we are starting to play again three important games against Marseille in the champions league, city away and Sporting lisbon away.
‘i think maybe this is the first time in my career to see a schedule like this. Honestly, i try to check the schedule of the other teams and i have seen that in this situation Tottenham are penalised a lot.’
Of the top flight’s other champions league representatives, chelsea and Manchester city both had a slightly easier run of three domestic fixtures in eight days, before last night beginning a sequence of three matches in nine days. liverpool played three games in eight days ahead of a stretch of three more matches in seven days. conte added: ‘in this situation we are unlucky, but in the future, and also i spoke with the club, we have to pay great attention to speak to the Premier league because we have to pay attention when there is this type of schedule.
‘One day more, one day less can totally change your life and you can drop points. This is no good for a team like Tottenham. When you want to start to think as a winner, you have to take care of the details and the schedule is a detail that is very important for every club, especially for a club that wants to fight for something important. i think we can do much better for the future.’
The very fact Spurs are preparing to welcome champions league football back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a minor miracle in itself.
The club were heading for a season of mediocrity under Nuno Espirito Santo, but his sacking in November and the eventual appointment of conte led to Tottenham achieving what many believed was impossible when the italian took over.
Spurs will fancy their chances of progressing to the knockout rounds. in addition to Marseille and Sporting, they will face Europa league winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the group stage.
Nevertheless, conte is under no illusion of the challenge that faces his players as the club embark on their first champions league campaign since the 2019-20 season. The former chelsea manager added: ‘The people who know football very well understand you need a process to work, on the pitch, outside the pitch. But at the same time you need to invest because in this competition you play against the teams with the best players and the best coaches.
‘For sure, the story of a lot of clubs in this competition is really, really big. and to be at the same level, at this moment, is unthinkable (for Tottenham). But for us it has to be a big push to try and improve and reduce the gap and fight for something important.
‘To win the champions league, it means you are, every season, a team that lives in this competition, it’s your natural habitat.
‘Other teams have to build and go step by step but with ambition. i think we have to try to grow with ambition. With the ambition to go in every game and fight, to get a win.’
TOTTENHAM (3-4-3): Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Royal, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
MARSEILLE (3-4-2-1): Lopez; Mbemba, Balerdi, Kolasinac; Clauss, Rongier, Veretout, Tavares; Gerson, Guendouzi; Suarez.
TOTTENHAM v MARSEILLE
ARE you Arsenal in disguise? Marseille’s dressing room contains a real Gunners allegiance. There’s Matteo Guendouzi, Sead Kolasinac and Nuno Tavares, along with other former Premier League players Dimitri Payet (right) and Eric Bailly. Tottenham are in for a game tonight but there’s something brewing under Antonio Conte. He has the same dilemma as every other coach — he needs to look at how he rotates his team across three games a week — but his new Brazilian livewire helps him with that predicament. Just remember, Richarlison: if you score tonight, be sure that the goal is good before you whip off your shirt like against Fulham!
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-1 TO TOTTENHAM NAPOLI v LIVERPOOL
NAPOLI are a stubborn side who are second in Serie A and unbeaten this season, albeit only five games into the campaign. Still, that’s better than how Liverpool have started 2022-23. Jurgen Klopp’s side are in a rut domestically and it will be interesting to see what forward line he selects in Europe tonight. Mohamed Salah’s goals have dried up. Should he be rested for Napoli and, say, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez (right) and Diogo Jota get their chance as an attacking three? What midfield does he use after Fabio Carvalho, Fabinho and Harvey Elliott had little joy against Everton? It’s a tricky game for Liverpool, this, and I’m saying an in-form Napoli will pose them problems.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1 AJAX v RANGERS
HAvE Ajax got any players left? It felt like all I heard over the summer was how their top talents were being targeted. They may have lost Lisandro Martinez and Antony to Manchester United — and their manager Erik ten Hag — but this remains a club with a super track record in Europe. Last season they won all six group games in the Champions League and they start this campaign against a Rangers side still shaking from that 4-0 loss to Celtic on Saturday. I fear for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team defensively. Calvin Bassey (right) was influential in the Rangers back line last season but he’s now an Ajax player.
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-1 TO AJAX
LIVE on BT Sport 4, 5.45pm kick-off.