The match and the unbeaten run
This was a game that began as a bizarre contest to see who could make the most mistakes until Son Heung-min grabbed the whole encounter by the scruff of the neck. The result was a 6-2 scoreline, an effective-looking different formation in the second half and suddenly after the midweek frustration in Lisbon, the picture painted appears far rosier as Antonio Conte's men sit second in the Premier League.
Spurs boast the same amount of points as Manchester City - 17 - and have scored 18 goals which is only bettered by City's 23. Conte has led the unbeaten north London side to their joint best start to a Premier League campaign, level with the 2016/17 season when Mauricio Pochettino's team finished runners-up to Chelsea, managed by....yes you guessed it, Antonio Conte.
Should Spurs avoid defeat in the north London derby when the international break ends then they will equal their longest unbeaten run in the Premier League of 14 matches.
READ MORE: Spurs player ratings: Super Son makes hat-trick point, Sanchez struggles but Bentancur dazzles
Conte is making history at every turn, this latest victory made it four in a row at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to start the campaign, which meant Spurs have had a home winning streak of more than three from the beginning of a top-flight season for the first time since 1987/88 when they managed five. Tottenham don't return for a home Premier League game until October 15 when Everton come to town.
Then there were two set piece goals, courtesy of moves from the Gianni Vio playbook, in the first half. First the returning Dejan Kulusevski played a short corner to Ivan Perisic before taking the ball back and whipping it deep to the back post to Harry Kane to make his tally six Premier League goals in as many games.
Then Perisic whipped in a corner that Eric Dier flicked into the far corner, his second goal of the season and it meant that Tottenham have scored more headed goals than any other side in the Premier League this campaign, with their seven in seven games just one fewer than their total for the whole of last season.
It was also the first time the north London side have netted six goals in a Premier League home game since that 9-1 win over Wigan Athletic in November 2009.
These are just encouraging stats though and Conte wants much more than that, something tangible. That Tottenham are not playing that well yet but find themselves unbeaten in the league and around its summit is a good sign, because others will drop points when they struggle and Spurs will get better.
This was a strange open game in the first half with the two sides seemingly gifting the other with the ball as much as possible. Spurs conceded two soft goals and Hugo Lloris had to make more superb saves to follow on from his acrobatics in Lisbon.
Conte had been unhappy with the low energy levels shown in the first 45 minutes and at half-time he told the team to be better in possession, hold on to the ball for longer periods and take on the instructions of where to hurt Leicester. It worked perfectly.
"In the first half, it was a really strange game because I think we started the game very well, we had possession we created difficult from the start, but maybe in our best moment, we conceded the penalty," he told football.london.
"We were really happy for the save for Hugo, then when the VAR decided to repeat the penalty, it was a bit disappointing. Then they score the goal. You know, in this type of situation, your confidence can go down and instead, we were really good to go 1-1, then go to score again with two set-pieces.
"After this, I think we can do much better because I don't know why we lost a bit of confidence with the possession, we lost stupid balls, and Leicester took confidence. They scored 2-2, and after the first half, for sure I wasn't happy because honestly I had seen not a lot of energy in my team and I was a bit worried, but in the second half, it was totally different because the energy was really high.
"We showed great confidence with the ball, we did really well. In between the halves, we worked to understand the way to attack them with the space they conceded us, especially in the flank with the wing-backs."
He added: "I am happy for Sonny to change the game as a substitute in this way, but I am especially happy for the team because we needed this. We have three points, and we are 17 points after seven games.
"I think it was a really good start, and now there is the international break. Fingers crossed, I hope for no more injuries because, in October, we have 12 games in a row, difficult games because we are talking about Premier League, Champions League, Premier League, and Champions League.
"If I have to be disappointed, I am disappointed with the game we lost to Sporting Lisbon because we didn't deserve to lose this game. For this reason, I was unhappy because I don't think Sporting Lisbon didn't show to be better than us."
There is much more to come from Tottenham and that they have such a good foundation to build upon when the fixtures come like a conveyor belt from next month will stand them in very good stead.
Super Son rams home his and Conte's point
There were tributes paid to Queen Elizabeth II before, during and after the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and it was perhaps fitting that on the pitch it was the Son who stepped up when called upon.
Whenever you start to doubt Son Heung-min, that's often when he will remind you just how dangerous a mistake that really is.
The Premier League Golden Boot winner had lost a bit of confidence in the early weeks of this season but the way he took his opening goal belied that loss. Fed by Rodrigo Bentancur, Son ran and he ran and he pulled across to the right and then launched a stunning, curling effort over the diving Danny Ward and into the net.
The experienced Ivan Perisic, then on the bench after coming off almost 20 minutes beforehand, appeared to know what was about to happen as he gradually emerged from the dugout still in full kit and walked towards the technical area before throwing his arms aloft to celebrate the wonder strike.
It was up there with Son's best goals in a Spurs shirt and the attacker's celebration or lack of spoke volumes. He looked angry, he looked annoyed that some had doubted him and he took it out on Leicester City. The second goal was almost as aesthetically pleasing as the first as the South Korean star curled a shot, this time with his left-foot, around a defender and the keeper and into the bottom left corner.
He celebrated with his finger to his lips, shushing those who had criticised him. Son's words after the game were humble and heartfelt, but there's also something refreshing about seeing a footballer getting his anger out of his system on the pitch in a positive way.
"All the frustration, all the negative feeling in my head, in my body, it just went through me. I couldn't move. I just looked up at the stands and thought 'I'm out of this tough tunnel'," he told SpursPlay. "To be honest I was bit emotional because it had been a tough moment for me."
Son is normally a smiling assassin on the pitch but this was him looking as cold as anything and it worked for him because the hat-trick soon followed, running through on to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's pass and hitting a shot underneath Ward. Even the linesman's attempts to stop the goal with his offside flag were batted away by VAR.
That brought three raised fingers from the forward and a smile finally broke across his lips. They were three goals of the highest quality and after the match the biggest hug he received came from fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone.
The Italian pushes the players hard but they adore him and none more so than Son, who shared an emotional embrace for a long time with the coach as he went to carry his match ball off the pitch.
Son will feel he proved his point. Conte will feel he instead proved his because his decision to take the player out of the starting line-up to give him a rest, be it physical or mental, proved to be the perfect one.
Unleashed upon a tiring and game-chasing Leicester side and with that point to prove, Son tore them apart - as he's done so many times before against the Foxes - and in doing so he inadvertently extolled the virtues of the rotation he clearly did not enjoy but Conte wants to bring in to keep his top players fresh.
Even Eric Dier admitted with a laugh afterwards: "We were joking after the game that maybe the manager should drop him more often!
"We're so happy for him. It's been a difficult start to the season. He lives for scoring goals and it's no secret it's been tough. His work rate has been consistently good but it just hasn't been falling for him.
"Obviously he's come back in a fantastic way and that's what we need from the whole squad, players to come in and help us. Whoever comes in has to impact the team in a positive way. We need everyone with the schedule we have to have that mindset and Sonny is the perfect example of that today."
Son became the first Tottenham player to score a hat-trick from the bench in the Premier League. It was his third hat-trick in the competition after the four goals in the 5-2 win at Southampton on September 20, 2020 and three in the 4-0 win at Aston Villa on April 9 this year. Interestingly, all three hat-tricks have come since Harry Kane's last one in the Premier League.
After the match Son let out his relief and showed his emotion as he spoke to Sky, admitting he had felt guilty and believed he had let down his team-mates with his previous performances.
"It was a top performance and I was really frustrated as well. The way I play I can do much better than I have been. I have been disappointed, the team has been doing really, really good but I was disappointed with my performances," he said.
"It was a tough game at 3-2 and you never know in the Premier League. I wanted to do my best for the team. I will always try to do that when I play. I tried to help the team on the bench. I'm glad we won the game before the international break.
"My finishing has been poor this season. I've also been a little bit unlucky with an own goal, two offside goals and hitting the crossbar. I knew goals were coming and I wasn't worried. I've always had great supporters, team-mates and coaches behind me.
"I like to shoot from outside the box - I've practiced that since I was a kid. Even now after training, if I have time, I try to practice from that position and hitting the top corner. I'm really glad the ball finally went in! I was pretty sure I was onside for the hat-trick!"
He added: "I'm glad I've been able to help the team, that is really important and I can go to national duty with renewed energy.
"I'm getting emotional [about the support] to be honest. There has been amazing support and I've always felt like I've disappointed my team-mates and fans with my performances. They have always been supporting me."
His head coach Conte said: "I am pleased for Sonny, for sure, because we can speak, we can try to give an explanation if a player doesn't score especially when he is a striker, but at the end, the striker has to score because if the striker doesn't score, the confidence goes down.
"For sure, in the last seven games, he had a lot of chances to score, but he was unlucky. For him to score three today in only 13 minutes, I think it was a record for me, the first time to score three as a substitute in this time.
"To see Sonny with the ball after the hat-trick, then also the trophy for the best player of the game was great. It was amazing for me, for the team-mates because we needed this. We, not only Sonny, we needed this. I am happy, but I repeat, this is not a problem.
"If we solve the problem in this way, we have to repeat the situation in the next game with all the players. In the future, all the players ask me 'please, please, please put me on the bench' and then they come in and score three goals, but I am joking, of course."
Bentancur and a midfield three
Son stole the show on Saturday but his wonderful cameo should not overshadow a dominant display from Rodrigo Bentancur in the second half.
In the first 45 minutes, the Uruguayan had been sloppy at times when Tottenham needed him to hold on to the ball.
After the break he more than made up for it with an all-action performance covering every blade of grass. First he pressed high up the pitch, dispossessed Wilfred Ndidi and ran through and calmly curled a shot in off the inside of the right-hand post.
It was his first goal for Tottenham Hotspur and it came with a finish that was as clinical as anything Son or Kane could produce.
He then started the move for Son's first goal through pressing and tacking James Justin before playing a ball through to the South Korean to score and in doing so Bentancur recorded his first assist of the season.
He almost had another with a fine curling ball into the path of Son only for the player to scuff his effort in the box, the only miscue of a top drawer display.
"Rodri is amazing. What a fantastic player," Eric Dier told SpursPlay after the game. "I think we play well when he plays well. I think that's biggest compliment that I can give to him.
"When he plays like he did in the second half we're such a good team with him, because he offers so much defensively and then with the ball he's got so much quality and a lot of personality as well to play and play in tight spaces. I'm really happy for him. Rodri was fantastic today."
It was a performance in the second half that ticked all the boxes for a Conte midfielder. Defensively dominant, full of energy but also contributing when getting forward through the centre.
What will also have caught Conte's eye is how good Tottenham looked when they switched to his other favoured formation as a manager - the 3-5-2.
The formation provided another redemption story of sorts for one of his team. Yves Bissouma found himself publicly outed by Conte in the days before the game for struggling with the "tactical aspect" the Italian wants and needing to improve in his defending.
Against Leicester, Bissouma slotted in well and with a nod to the latter critique, it was the former Brighton man who won the ball back on the edge of the Spurs box with an inch-perfect tackle before playing it to Hojbjerg to launch the attack that led to Son's hat-trick goal.
Conte has said he prefers the 3-4-3 because it gets the best out of his attacking options and he can fit more of them in.
However, with Kulusevski's ability to play as a right wing-back, there must be a temptation after seeing how Bentancur excelled in a three, Bissouma looked comfortable and Hojbjerg impressed, to go with a 3-5-2 at times with the Swede on the right.
Conte shook up the wing-backs on Saturday. Having hinted to football.london on Thursday that he could play Ivan Perisic on the right, he did just that with Ryan Sessegnon coming back in on the left.
The duo started the game brightly, raiding down the flanks before Conte switched them after Leicester's second goal, putting Sessegnon on the right. It was Perisic who departed the field first, replaced by Emerson Royal just 10 minutes into the second half.
The Croatian had a mixed game. He was superb going forward with one assist from his corner to Dier and he could have had more with a couple of great crosses, including one that led to a Davinson Sanchez header tipped on to the crossbar by Ward.
In defence, Perisic was not as secure, typified by his two wild, mistimed lunges early on in the build-up to Leicester winning a penalty through Sanchez's equally poor attempt at a tackle.
Emerson came on and was solid as usual but with the midfield trio allowing more latitude for the wing-backs to get forward, the possibility of playing with all three central midfielders and Kulusevski on the right - the man sacrificed for Bissouma on Saturday - must be creeping into Conte's mind.
Next up is the trip to the Emirates Stadium after the international break and playing just two midfielders against Arsenal's packed centre of the pitch could be disastrous.
The thought of unleashing one of Premier League's best midfielders in Bissouma alongside Bentancur and Hojbjerg in a powerful midfield, surrounded by the creative wide men of Perisic and Kulusevski and the pairing of Son and Kane up front is a very attractive one.
Not accepting compromise and Conte's clear rotation message
Tottenham need a strong leader and in Antonio Conte they have a man who does not doubt himself for a second.
When he was asked whether it had been too easy at Spurs in the past for most players to be picked week in, week out, his response was emphatic.
"Honestly, I don't care what happened in the past. I have my management, I have my own idea, and my story speaks very clear," he said. "In every situation I work in, I lift a trophy at the end. It means maybe my vision, my work, and my idea of football have to give credit.
"Otherwise... I go with my idea, I go with my thoughts, my way to build something important. I think the club is really happy for what we are doing with the players, with the staff and for sure I don't want to compromise. I don't accept compromise of anybody.
"This has to be very clear. I go for my way, I go for my road, and this has to be very important because I know I am going to try to build something important for the future, for the club that decided to work with me."
Conte's words were clear. Either get behind me or get out of my way. You can apply those sentiments to his players, those within the club or even the doubting fans.
The Italian did everything but whack his league title medals on the table. His logic holds though. He has won everywhere he's gone so he might just know what he's talking about.
The Tottenham fans are going to struggle with his rotation at times. They haven't been used to having plenty of options in various positions and many supporters are split between their clashing calls for money being spent on a stronger squad but always calling for the perceived strongest starting XI to be selected.
Conte does not care what those on social media think, but he does want to change the culture within the club.
"The people do not understand for the coach to manage this type of situation is not easy. It's not easy because sometimes you prefer to play with 13 players, but in some moments I have to take important decisions," he said.
"First of all, you have to try to be honest in the decision because if you are honest, you don't lose the respect of your players. I think in my career, every decision that I am going to take is always for the best of the team.
"The players know very well that I want to win and every decision is for the best of the team, also for the best of the player, to protect the players, because if we have an injury, Harry Kane an injury, Sonny an injury, to only talk about Dejan or Richy is difficult. To have Lucas Moura out for one month, it is difficult to manage the situation."
He added: "It's normal, and I want to bring this team to think of a superior level, not to stay in the middle. Not to stay at Tottenham because there I play every game, every game, every game. If you think like this, you are probably not going to fight for something important in my opinion.
"We have just started this path with the club. To have Richarlison up front, with Harry, Sonny, Deki and also Lucas, then there is Gil, who is a good prospect and young, it means the situation gives me the possibility to have rotation.
"In the first four games, Richy was on the bench, and then in three games with Deki on the bench, today Sonny was on the bench. When we start to play after the international break, 12 games in a row, for sure, I will make rotation. The only thing I ask my players is to give me the possibility don't drop the level when we make this rotation. We always want a strong team because we want to fight for every competition."
Once the players pick up Bryan Gil off the floor after the shock of finally being acknowledged publicly by Conte, they will no doubt have to get into the mindset of being ready to come in and out of the team at a moment's notice.
The games from October 1 come so thick and fast that the Spurs head coach is going to have to rotate his squad heavily to prevent injuries, fatigue and burnout and that includes Harry Kane.
"Honestly, In the past, I did the same in every situation I worked in: Chelsea, in Juventus, in Inter Milan and yeah, when you want to be competitive and fight for something important, and I repeat, we have just started our path because, in my opinion, our squad is not still ready to be strong, strong compared with City, Liverpool and Chelsea - then we fight also with Arsenal and United," said Conte.
"We have just started, but if the players want to play for something important, to lift a trophy - they have to understand this. Otherwise, they continue to play every game, but they don't go to win anything.
"This is clear. Clear. It happened in the past here, and I repeat, I want to try and change. I want to try and change to bring this team to another level. I will try to do my best, but I'm not worried about this. For sure, it's not easy. It's not simple. But I have to get the best decision in every moment.
"Also, today, Romero, he was on the bench. I played Sanchez. Emerson played every game until now, then I decided to make a rotation. Yeah, I repeat, if you want to stay in a team with ambition, you have to accept this type of situation. Otherwise, you have to go to a medium team, and then you are sure you will play every game, and then it will be very difficult to lift a trophy in this way."
In The Terminator movie series, the line "come with me if you want to live" is an iconic and often repeated one.
Conte's message is similarly clear but ever so slightly different with the Italian simply stating to Tottenham and its players: "Come with me if you want to win."
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