Antonio Conte has admitted that Emerson Royal has made a "good improvement" to his game since last season. First-choice at right wing-back for a lot of the 2021/22 campaign before Matt Doherty nudged ahead of him in the pecking order, the Brazilian finished the season back in the side following the Irishman's knee injury.
Continuing in the team this term, Emerson has been an ever-present since the opening day and has so far contributed with one assist after teeing up Dejan Kulusevski against Southampton. Getting into good positions in Tuesday's Champions League defeat away at Sporting CP, the wing-back did have a three opportunities to score but he unfortunately failed to take them.
The attacking side of his game may let him down at times but the 23-year-old has clearly impressed Conte over the past few months. Maybe not a natural wing-back after operating as a full-back for his whole career up until the head coach's Tottenham arrival last November, Conte insists he is "really happy" with the player's performances.
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"In my opinion Emerson had a good start in this season and he can play in this position. I'm happy with him," the Italian told football.london in his pre-match press conference. "He could have scored three goals in the last game. He has improved a lot since last season. Don't forget Emerson played every game in this period, for sure now he can be a bit tired.
"As a full-back you can be fatigued because you become a striker when you are going to attack and you have to become a defender when we have to defend, but I'm really happy about Emerson's performance because you have to think, compare last season and he's made a good improvement.
"He has to continue to work to do it and at the same time you know that we also have Ivan Perisic who can play on the right or left and Sessegnon, he is fit and he's in a good moment of form. For sure maybe he's one of the players that in this moment deserves to play, like Deki, but we'll do it with the right time and the right patience, to try to do the best for our team."
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