The sign that Antonio Conte has the fire burning again inside him despite Tottenham future talk
forgiving Forest
There could not have been a better opponent for Tottenham Hotspur to host after a disastrous week than Nottingham Forest
The visitors arrived in north London with the worst away record in the Premier League, just a single win to their name on their travels and only three goals across the entire season so far away from the City Ground.
For a Tottenham team that needed a quick boost to their morale, Steve Cooper’s side were entirely obliging. They sat off Spurs and gave them all the time in the world in the middle of the pitch rather than contesting duels.
With Cooper’s name unexpectedly hurled into the mix by some media outlets as a potential future Spurs coach despite his team’s bottom of the table status, this was not the greatest of auditions in front of 61,460 fans.
One moment in the first half saw two of his Forest players standing around while Oliver Skipp practically walked in between them to take the ball, sparking angry cries from the Forest fans.
This was exactly what Spurs needed and it’s a measure of how strange football is that after a disastrous week with the fans and media criticising the club, the owners, Antonio Conte and his players from all sides, they find themselves back in a strong position in the Premier League table.
For Spurs now sit six points clear in fourth place, just a point behind Manchester United, who do have two games in hand. Games in hand seems to be a theme for the teams below Tottenham but points always mean more than unplayed matches, as shown by Liverpool following up their 7-0 thrashing of United with a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth. Brighton were also held at struggling Leeds.
Tottenham are actually three points better off than they were after 27 Premier League games last season following their similar cup woes. They now sit top of the form table for the past seven league matches.
The home side were dominant on Saturday afternoon and with some cleaner finishing and VAR making some kind of sense it could have been even more of a landslide of a scoreline than the one created by Harry Kane‘s double and Son Heung-min’s goal – his 99th in the Premier League.
As it was, a late Joe Worrall header gave Forest a more flattering scoreline and it could have been even more so had Fraser Forster not got his hand to Andre Ayew’s penalty kick in added time.
“Today it was really important, it was vital to get three points, especially because after the game against Milan we weren’t able to go to the next round of the Champions League but for this reason today it was really important because we know we only have the league now,”
“There are 11 games to go and we needed today to bounce back to show that we are strong mentally and in this type of situation the morale can be really down but instead I see the right spirit, the right fight and the right desire to get the three points. The right desire to get the win and it was positive but at the same time I said to my players now this is the past.
“Today we have one day to rest and then we have to start to prepare the game against Southampton. We have tonight to enjoy this win but then we have to start to think about the next game.”
He added: “I am happy for the response of the whole team, all the players, about the desire, about the will, the spirit but especially the desire to help each other. That’s because I always say to you to create a winning mentality it is important to add players, to sign players but at the same time the most important thing is to create the spirit. The right spirit help you to overcome difficult situations.
“The right spirit pushes you to have a good collaboration, to help each other and if you are a team in every game, every circumstance you are stronger, instead to be 11 single players. Then I repeat we are working a lot to try to build the right mentality but you and I know very well before to arrive at the end of this path you have to work and you need time to do it.”
Eric Dier, back in the centre of defence, believed that his team-mates felt the quick turnaround in their legs in the second half just a couple of days after the defeat to Milan.
“First half we played with a lot of energy, a lot of positivity and played some nice football I thought,” he said. “We managed to get ahead, get the two goals and second half we were a bit more reserved but I think a lot of the boys were feeling it in their legs after a tough two weeks. It was important for us to see out the game and Fraser helped us with that a lot.”
The Richarlison factor
Richarlison ended a difficult week by doing his talking on the pitch rather than in the media.
It’s fair to say the Brazilian’s £60m move from Everton has yet to prove to be a success in any shape or form. So when he poured his frustrations out to a journalist from his homeland on Wednesday night outside the dressing room at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium he was setting himself up somewhat.
For by describing his first season at Spurs as… well let’s just say not the best, after suggesting Conte had led him to believe he was starting against Milan having taken him in his view out of the team for no good reason, he was opening the door for the Italian to hit back and the Tottenham boss was not going to pass up the opportunity.
He came into his pre-match press conference on Friday with what felt like a well rehearsed slap down for Richarlison.
“I watched the interview of Richarlison and he didn’t criticise me. He said ‘my season is [expletive]’ and he is right because his season is no good….He scored zero goals with us, only two goals in Champions League and I think the guy was really honest to tell that his season is not good. His season and our season has still not finished and he has time to recover. If he deserves to play, I give him opportunity otherwise we will play another player.”
Conte was more annoyed by Richarlison’s focus on himself rather than the collective.
“If you ask me for rest of interview I think that the guy understood very well that he made mistake because when you speak with ‘I, I and I’, not with us, it means you are thinking only about yourself and you are selfish,” he said.
“For this reason I analysed this situation and to repeat to my players that if we want to build something important, if you want to try to fight for something important, if we want to fight to be competitive and to win a trophy, you have to speak with ‘we’ and not with ‘I”. Because if we speak ‘I, I and I’, it means that you are only thinking only about yourself and not the others and club. The guy understood very well and he apologised and for me it was good because I had an opportunity to clarify for another time the importance of the spirit of the team.”
Richarlison’s apology was rewarded with a return to the first team and the 25-year-old looked intent on showing just how much of a team player he is.
It looked like he had the perfect start as Oliver Skipp picked him out with a terrific diagonal ball and he lashed it first time past Keylor Navas and into the roof of the net. He celebrated with his team-mates in the corner of the pitch only for VAR to rule the strike out for the most marginal of offsides and the images shown did not particularly support the decision.
For Richarlison it would have brought back memories of what he thought was his first Premier League goal for Spurs in September against Fulham, only for that one to be scrubbed out as well.
The Brazilian did not let this latest setback affect him though and he battled away with plenty of quality in the final third.
He played his part in Kane’s opening goal by winning the ball back from Forest down the right-hand side in the build-up.
Then for the striker’s second goal, it was Richarlison who was brought down after taking on Kane’s nutmeg pass. The look on his face said it all when he realised he had to give the ball over to Kane for the spot kick.
The summer signing was desperate to take it himself but Kane is the team’s nominated penalty taker and it was his spot kick to take, as it always is, week in, week out.
Richarlison has a decent penalty record himself, having scored all of the four he took for Everton and the two he took for Fluminese. For his country he has scored one at the Copa America and his only missed spot kick came for Brazil at the Olympics in 2021.
Kane has scored 59 penalties though. While some might have sympathy for Richarlison as he seeks that goal, it was never his spot kick to take.
Again he did not sulk and instead grabbed an assist in the second half, racing down the right on to Cristian Romero’s pass and after seeing his first time cross to Son blocked, he tried again and this time delivered it perfectly for the South Korean to knock down, cut inside and hit a low shot through the defender’s legs and past Navas.
That goal is yet come for Richarlison but this was a promising display and he earned a standing ovation from the crowd when he came off with six minutes of normal time remaining.
Conte attempted to swerve football.london’s first question about Richarlison after the game, instead turning talk to the team, but he was unable to avoid the follow-up and used it as a platform for a rant about rotation.
“Yeah but don’t forget Richarlison started the season really well and at the start of the season after maybe three games he started to play regularly. He played really well. He didn’t score. He scored only in Champions League but he was many, many times in the starting XI,” he said.
“Then he had a serious injury in his calf and the guy was really scared to lose the World Cup [place] if you remember. Then he recovered for the World Cup and then in the World Cup he had another serious injury. He came back after the World Cup and stayed one month to recover after this injury and then he struggled a bit.
“He had other physical problems but I repeat the coach is not so stupid. All the coaches are not so stupid to not start the best XI to not win. It doesn’t care if it’s Sonny, Kane, or Richarlison or Moura or Kulusevski or Danjuma, I want to win and then at the same time I have to take the responsibility to take the best decision, because if one player needs time to be recover and fit but we need to get points and we need to win every game.”
He added: “I understand that if you speak with the players of the whole teams, they want to play every game, every game, every game and also when they are tired. It is not fair this because I repeat we have to try to make the best decision and we want to protect the players sometimes.
“If we see the player tired and then he goes to play because he wants to play and then he gets the injury. He stay one month, two months out and yeah, he is relaxed and I am stressing. I am under stress. It is too easy this.
“I think in England many times you don’t understand this and you think they have to play, the 11 players they always have to play. A strong team, a top team needs 16, 17 or 18 good players to make rotation. This is the way if we want to be competitive and to lift trophy.”
Richarlison might disagree with Conte’s suggestion that he strongly believes in rotation and Arnaut Danjuma certainly would.
The Netherlands international found himself joining Djed Spence as being labelled a ‘club signing’ by Conte ahead of this game and, if that wasn’t enough, the Italian added that he doesn’t even play in a position that suits his system or formation. A wonderful piece of transfer work and communication by Tottenham all round.
This match was about Richarlison though and the Brazilian made his point even if he knows he still needs to add goals to his game – as Conte reminded everyone. £60m is a lot of money for a workhorse but there was enough in this display to suggest that there’s more than that to come.
Three of their own
There are goalscorers and then there is Harry Kane. With every passing week the 29-year-old hits a new milestone or draws closer to the next.
Saturday’s match featured Tottenham’s all-time goalscorer becoming only the third player to score at least 20 Premier League goals in a season on six occasions. He managed 18 and 17 twice in his other three full campaigns.
Kane took his tally to 203 Premier League goals, which means he is now only five behind Wayne Rooney, who is second in the competition’s all-time top scorer list. The two men are England’s joint all-time record goalscorers, albeit with Kane reaching the 53 goals in just 80 games compared to Rooney’s 120.
The Tottenham striker is now just 57 goals off Alan Shearer’s Premier League tally of 260 and it is that chase that is likely to prevent him from moving to a team abroad within the coming years.
Kane’s first goal on Saturday was a trademark header, guiding it into the far corner from Pedro Porro’s pinpoint cross. His second was notable as it was his first penalty since that fateful miss in the World Cup quarter-final against France and Hugo Lloris.
Rather than looking for a corner of the net this time, Kane played the percentages and guided it high and down the centre of the goal, Navas diving away from it as it sailed into the back of the net.
It was a case of getting back to business for Kane. While the pain of that missed spot kick will remain with him until he can exorcise it for England, and rivals fans will constantly remind him of it, he showed that he’s not going to let it define him.
“Today Harry was a good example but not for the goal that he scored, but for his commitment and his desire,” said Conte. “Today in my players I have seen the fire in their eyes.”
On whether he had any doubts about Kane taking his first penalty since that night in Qatar, the Spurs boss responded without hesitation: “No, never but he can kick the penalty also if he is blind [makes the gesture of being blindfolded].
“We are talking about a player who is a world class striker and is really important but for me it is really difficult to think and to answer this question. We talk about singular achievements you understand? Instead we want to speak about team achievement you understand?
“This is the problem because a singular achievement is yeah, good for the players but at the same time it would be better to speak about to win together and to celebrate a trophy together and then also singular achievement.”
For Kane, all he has are singular achievements because Tottenham have not progressed alongside him.
It’s difficult to see Spurs chairman Daniel Levy accepting any bids though from Premier League clubs for Kane this summer, unless someone makes the most eye-watering of bids for a then 30-year-old in the final year of his contract.
Even then, Levy would likely weigh up the money gained against the hefty costs of attempting to replace what Kane brings to the team with at least two signings in a striker and a creative playmaker.
On top of that, a team with Harry Kane in it is more likely to qualify for the Champions League. With that logic in mind, one without him is less likely to qualify and therefore miss out on the huge sum of prize money and TV revenue that clubs receive. For context, Spurs earned £90m in reaching the Champions League final in 2019 and £61m the following year for reaching the last 16. That income has only increased with each passing year.
So while some might suggest Spurs would not want to lose Kane for free in the summer of 2024, it’s not that cut and dried a financial decision when you take all of the above into account.
The striker is likely to assess his options in the summer, including whether Tottenham are a Champions League club once again and crucially who is to take over from Conte, if the Italian does depart as expected. Kane’s thinking on the matter could even play a part in that decision as Levy looks to do all he can to convince him to commit to a new contract.
Kane currently has the captain’s armband in Hugo Lloris’ injury-enforced absence and that role could well be offered as part of any negotiations, especially if the Frenchman decides to move on this summer.
The striker spoke after the game about the team’s return to winning ways.
“They were three really important points for us today to bounce back. It was a really solid performance. We were a lot more clinical in their final third with the delivery and the finishing and we’re going to need more of that from now until the end of the season,” he said.
“It was an important three points and there are loads of games to go but it was nice to get back to winning ways.”
He added: “We had Richy’s goal as well which was disallowed, that was tight. I think we started on the front foot and created some good chances and took them. Then second half we scored at the right time to kill the game.
“It was obviously disappointing to concede at the end but every game in the Premier League is going to be tough. It’s nice to come away with a win but we’re not going to get carried away. There’s lots of games to go and we move on to next week.”
Kane believes Tottenham can finish in the top four in back to back seasons, but knows there are more twists and turns to come.
“Fourth place is definitely there to be had, obviously with Liverpool dropping points today it was good to capitalise on that, but there’s going to be lots of chopping and changing from now until the end of the season,” he said. “We just have to be ready and take our moments when they come.”
Another academy player received a standing ovation and that was Oliver Skipp. The 22-year-old is growing sharper and more dominant with every passing game.
The midfielder has started four Premier League games in a row and two Champions League matches and he now looks every inch the player he was becoming in the first half of last season under Nuno Espirito Santo and then Conte, before that pelvic injury ended his campaign.
Skipp brought his all-action style to the pitch on Saturday, dominating in the engine room, and with his returning confidence so his passing is proving to be a useful weapon for Spurs and Conte.
Further up the pitch the young midfielder provided that raking ball through to Richarlison for the early ruled out goal, but it’s deeper where he’s playing clever, quick passes between opponents and between the lines and it is getting Tottenham quickly up the pitch.
Injuries have stricken Spurs’ midfield but they have also placed Skipp back in the spotlight and he’s grabbing the opportunity with both hands.
There was also a place for another academy player in the matchday squad with Romaine Mundle on the bench once again, after being named there against Portsmouth in the FA Cup third round in January.
The versatile 19-year-old winger’s inclusion in a Premier League squad was just reward for his fine form for the U21s in recent weeks and it was another step in his development and another proud moment for the club’s academy.
Porro promise and Forster the best summer signing
After that shaky start at Leicester, Pedro Porro is adapting to Premier League life with every completed match for Tottenham and his reward this time was a first assist for the club.
The 23-year-old arrived at the end of January as a £40m signing but one who first had to get past an in-form Emerson Royal.
Quickly becoming a popular member of the squad, Porro, who rivals Son as having the most fixed smile fixed on his face, has worked hard behind the scenes to show first Conte’s staff and now the head coach since his return that he can handle the tactical demands of the wing-back role in the system.
His delivery to Kane’s head for the opening goal was inch-perfect. He then chipped the ball deftly into the striker’s path in the build-up to Spurs’ penalty and he played a dissecting ball between two Forest attackers to Romero in his own half to start the move for Son’s goal.
Porro also worked hard at the other end of the pitch and the player feels that he is now starting to find his feet.
“Before I joined Spurs I knew the demands of the club,” he said in an interview for the club’s matchday programme. “I’ve not been here long, but I have been trying to get settled as quickly as possible and I’ll keep doing that.
“You can see it every day, the experience of the people here. They have made me feel welcome and I feel that I have been here much longer than I have.
“In truth the first couple of weeks here were tough. It’s a different league, a different style. The players here have a strong mentality, which is fundamental if you want to play here, but I’ve not been here long and I’ve tried hard to settle in. My team-mates have helped a lot and we need to keep pushing in the same direction now.”
Porro believes that the squad must stick together to grab a spot in the top four.
“The most important thing right now is to keep our heads up. It’s been a very difficult week, after being knocked out in the FA Cup and the Champions League,” he said. “The team needs to stay strong and focus on getting top four in the Premier League, which would be an achievement too.
“Now is the time to finish as high up as we can in the Premier League. We have to stay strong for the future. Now the most important thing is today, to get back to winning ways and bring the confidence back.”
Porro arrived in January but a summer signing also impressed on Saturday in the shape of Fraser Forster.
The 34-year-old is in the running to be Tottenham’s signing of last summer which as a free back-up goalkeeper is as damning an indictment of the club’s work in the market as it is of his work.
Yet that’s no reflection on Forster’s efforts because he’s come in and done everything asked of him in Lloris’ absence.
The former England international did not have much to do until the second half when he saved low down from Brennan Johnson. He followed that up with a terrific reaction save to keep out Serge Aurier’s close-range header from a corner before saving with his leg low down from Emmanuel Dennis moments later.
Forster did come out and flap at a corner leaving Worrall to head home behind him, but he more than made up for that moment with a strong penalty save from Ayew in added time.
Eric Dier had plenty of praise for the veteran goalkeeper, who has got sharper and sharper with the increasing minutes under his belt.
“I think maybe just his performances in general, I think he has made a lot of great saves recently,” said the centre-back. “It is never easy to come in and to play as the second-choice keeper.
“You never know when that might happen. It comes out of nowhere and then to be in every game. He’s obviously got a lot of experience and he is a very reassuring presence back there, so I’m very happy for him.”
Forster’s distribution with his feet is also top notch. He shows a composure that Lloris does not and he moves the ball quickly and accurately. On Saturday, every single one of his 16 passes found its man, including two long balls.
With more than £110m spent on the other summer signings, it might just be that the oldest of them all and the cheapest has made the biggest impact this season.
Conte fired up again
Antonio Conte spoke after the game about seeing the fire in his players’ eyes but that might just be because they have seen the Italian sparked back into life.
On Wednesday night, the 53-year-old appeared passive and accepting of the aggregate defeat to AC Milan. He seemed to go through the motions on the touchline, occasionally getting animated and earning himself a yellow card, but mostly he looked resigned to the team’s exit in the pouring rain.
In his press conference after the game there was no anger or even the sound of disappointment, just an uninspiring flat tone as he accepted defeat to a team he reminded everyone repeatedly had won the Serie A last season.
Then something changed. Perhaps it was the public criticism from Richarlison. Perhaps it was a growing irritation over the boos from the crowd in reaction to his final substitution of that game, throwing Davinson Sanchez on in the final 10 minutes.
Perhaps it was the response from the media who had written him off at Spurs. Perhaps it was the lack of love from the Tottenham fans who no longer sang his name inside the stadium, some even chanting for their former manager Mauricio Pochettino as they left the ground.
Whatever stirred Conte up, he came out swinging on Friday in his pre-match press conference, taking shots at Richarlison, the club’s signing of Danjuma, the media for constantly asking about his future and even the Spurs fans with their “finished patience” for creating a difficult atmosphere for the players.
When football.london asked him about the boos surrounding that Sanchez substitution for Kulusevski in midweek, he asked whether the crowd’s anger was for the Colombian or for his decision.
When the answer came back that it was for the substitution itself, the incredulous Conte chuckled at points as he explained the tactical basis for the switch and that “I think I have a career behind of me and the experience to try to make the best decision”.
With his belief that the supporters’ patience has ‘finished’ so Conte appears to have been released from any concerns about trying to please the fanbase. Maybe he feels he cannot win them back but at least he can leave with his record intact and one that may be viewed differently in the future.
Conte’s immediate situation at Tottenham will remain linked to the results his team achieves in the weeks ahead. The club would no doubt prefer to take the least costly route of parting company in the summer with a top four finish achieved.
However, if that Champions League qualification looks in doubt before that then panic could well set in among the hierarchy as it has done so many times in the past.
For Conte’s part, he is not looking to take shots at the club. Those around the Italian believe he greatly appreciated the support he and his staff received from the hierarchy after the death of Gian Piero Ventrone, as well as his close friends Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli, and then during his health problems in the past six weeks.
The summer might be different if as expected he returns to Italy and he will no doubt return to form and look to self-preservation and maintaining his brand in any interviews in his homeland, but there is a respect for Levy.
The summer narrative Conte will hope to shape will be of his miraculous efforts in taking Tottenham to back-to-back top four finishes after the club had been in the wilderness. He’s not wrong, although that wilderness did only last two seasons with sixth and seventh place finishes.
Conte has already gone back to that tried and tested statement that finishing in the top four is like winning the title for Tottenham.
“You know very well the race for a place in the Champions League will be really, really tough because you see the competitors,” he said after Saturday’s victory. “You see there are many, many teams involved and I think in this moment there is only one place available because City and Arsenal they are fighting to win the Premier League and United I think they are showing they have great continuity of good results.
“I think there is one place and there are many teams, many important teams that are in this race.
“We have to try to do our best and for sure I repeat for us to finish in the top four is like to win the Premier League. It happened last season and I spoke about a miracle. I continue to say maybe this season it will be much more difficult, much more difficult because Liverpool is a competitor in this race.
“Newcastle is a competitor but Newcastle is a different Newcastle to the past. They invest a lot of money and they have a strong team. See Chelsea and what happen and their position, but I don’t consider Chelsea outside because Chelsea has the possibility to win the last 11 or 12 games in a row because the squad is really, really strong.
“We have to think to ourselves. Before during an interview, they ask me about Liverpool and today Liverpool lost but we have to think to ourselves.
“A top club looks to themselves, not to look at other results and see. Think to get three points and then what happen on the other teams, it doesn’t care. We have to be focused on our path and to try to do our best until the end of the season and then we see which is the position we are able to achieve.”
The players believe they can finish the season in the top four again and although it’s certainly no substitute for silverware, it can form the basis of whatever comes next season.
“We have to try, we have to try. 11 games now. We’ve been here before,” said Dier. “Last season we’ve been in this position and we have to take that experience and use it to try and go on a really good run until the end of the season.
“You know what the Premier League is like, there will be bumps along the way but we’ve got to try and give everything for these 11 games. We’ve got to try and give everything as a squad and as a club.
“Yeah, obviously Wednesday was a huge disappointment but at the same time it is a good motivation for us to push for that top four because those are the nights you want to be involved in football.”
As with last season, Spurs and Conte will benefit from having no more midweek matches other than one in late April. That week brings seven potentially decisive days with a trip to Newcastle on the Sunday, Manchester United coming to town on the Thursday and then a journey to Liverpool three days later.
