SPURS Conte’s comeback A FOUR-CE
ANTONIO CONTE was thrilled he didn’t have to “kill” Ryan Sessegnon after the wing-back put a miss behind him to spark the Tottenham comeback.
Spurs were trailing to James Wardprowse’s well-taken volley when Sessegnon failed to get on the end of a Dejan Kulusevski cross.
But he made amends for it soon after with his first Premier League goal for the club and, once level, Spurs turned it on to crush Ralph Hasenhuttl’s sorry Southampton.
“If I hadn’t scored that I think he would have killed me,” Sessegnon said of his manager.
“There was a moment a couple of minutes earlier when Kulusevski cut back and I arrived too late and I knew I couldn’t arrive too late the next time he did it.”
Conte laughed at the idea that Sessegnon’s (below) miss could have proved fatal for him.
Although he did confirm a second would have doubled down on his already considerable disappointment. The Italian said: “If you remember before there was a cross and he was behind his opponent and we were really upset with him on the bench. “He has to attack the second post and find the right position. “But then he scored. He has great potential but he has got to show this potential.” There was plenty of potential on show here in North
London for the season ahead given Conte chose not to start with any of his summer signings.
The arrivals of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma and Djed Spence for a combined £115million, along with those of Ivan Perisic on a free and Clement Lenglet on loan, had created a real buzz around the club over the summer.
And there were expectations that fans might see a couple of them at least from the off barring, of course, the suspended Richarlison.
However, Conte chose to keep faith with those who did him so proud at the end of last season to show the new boys the levels they must be get to.
And how right the ‘old boys’ proved him with Sessegnon, the very impressive Eric Dier – with his first Premier League goal for three years – and Kulusevski on target.
Hapless Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu gifted Spurs’ their third with an own goal which looked easier to clear than turn in, much to his boss’ frustration.
Hasenhuttl said: “Like the first goal, we cannot concede a goal here.
“It was easy to clear the ball with the right foot. This is simply not good enough at this level.”
Emerson Royal deserves credit for the role he played in the last two goals, and Dier’s deft header for the second was delicious.
Conte added: “It was a really good start for us, really important to have this reaction after 15, 20 minutes and being 1-0 down, despite starting well, with great personality, good possession to create situations to score.
“The reaction was really good. We kept calm, continued to play in the way we know.
“Then we won, three important points, but most important, the way we got three points, with really good football.”
For Southampton, this was a dreadful start to the season and added to the annoyances of Hasenhuttl that were carried over from last campaign, which they ended with nine defeats in 12 top-flight games.
The Saints boss said: “It felt a little bit like the opponents switched into the next gear and we couldn’t follow.
“It was frustrating to see how big the gap is.”