Conte's chemistry
While Antonio Conte sat staring out the window on his flight back to Italy on Saturday night, preparing to spend some brief quality time with his wife Elisabetta and daughter Vittoria, three things about Spurs might just have made him happy.
After he had dried the tears from the startling realisation that he had not been able to match Nuno Espirito Santo's start to last season with the club, he would have smiled at least at the thought that they are getting points in matches they lost last time out - seven up on the corresponding defeats he oversaw in the last campaign.
Not only that but Tottenham are winning matches without pushing up through their gears. They are picking up points without playing particularly well and that's the mark of a team on the up, one that is mentally stronger. On top of that, Conte can see that tough fitness work he put the players through is bearing fruit already as it's no coincidence that Spurs have looked stronger in the second half of all three matches they have played so far.
READ MORE: Cristian Romero injury update as Tottenham defender seeks to push forward return
That and a half-time rocket from Conte did the trick on Saturday afternoon after a lethargic first half following the usual bright start. The half-time whistle had brought boos from the some of the 61,298 fans who had managed to get to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium despite the latest set of train strikes.
"It's always very important to have a moment especially between the first and second half to analyse with the players," said the Italian. "Also with the staff a way to try and improve the situation. Especially in the first half we struggled a bit for many reasons in the physical aspect. I think we play against a team very fast but at the same time I felt that the way we suffered together... we suffered but I don't remember a big save from Hugo.
"Then in the second half I tried to fix some situations in the tactical aspect. But at the same time we had a lot of energy to press high and create chances, and I think in the second half we did very well because we created chances to score more goals and we played with an important intensity. We put good pressure and the second half was really difficult to play against us."
Conte, who had walked across the pitches of Hotspur Way on Friday night to watch Spurs' young U9s play and shake all of their hands, believes that the chemistry within his first team squad and between him and his players is going to lead to big things in the season ahead.
"I have to be very clear. In my opinion last season this type of game, you weren't so prepared to find this difficulty and probably this type of game you're going to lose at the end," he said. "In fact last season we lost at home against Southampton, at home against Wolverhampton and against Chelsea. Now against these three teams, I was really worried when I saw the schedule (laughs).
"I said that if we repeat the same results as last season we stay after three games with zero points. Instead to get seven points showed that this team is improving in many aspects, but we want to continue to improve because for sure this is not enough to be competitive, to fight for something important, but we have one year in front of us to continue to work, to implement our tactical knowledge. I'm confident because this group is a really good group of people. There is great chemistry between us and I think this is important because when there is chemistry you are able to overcome the difficulty."
There was also another set-piece goal for Tottenham following the appointment of Gianni Vio in the summer, the Italian having worked extensively with the team each week since on their offensive routines. Conte wants them to have any potential edge they can get and it seems to be working.
Harry Kane the record breaker
Once again Harry Kane made the difference and in doing so he sent more records tumbling and landmarks reached.
This seemed like one of his simplest goals, an unmarked close range header after Ivan Perisic flicked on Son Heung-min's header but it was Kane's movement and shimmy after being held by Nathan Collins that created the space for him and the gamble at the back post.
That goal was the 29-year-old's 250th for Spurs, meaning he is now just 16 goals away from equalling the late, great Jimmy Greaves as the club's top scorer of all time.
It was also Kane's 185th Premier League strike of his career which put him clear of Sergio Aguero into fourth place in the all-time rankings. He is now just two goals behind third-placed Andrew Cole and after that only Wayne Rooney (208) and Alan Shearer (260) are left in his sights.
Those 185 Premier League goals from Kane are also the most any player has scored for one team in the competition. On top of that it was Tottenham's 1,000th home goal in the Premier League and it all happened in the week he celebrated it being 10 years since his Premier League debut.
Kane is modest about it all and you won't find him shouting about his personal achievements over the team's end goal.
"I'm extremely proud of all of those achievements. Hopefully a few more to go. Obviously big thanks to the team, the staff, everyone who makes it possible," he said in his club interview for Spurs after the game. "I'm glad that the goal meant something today and we won because that's the most important thing. We've got a long season ahead to hopefully plenty more to come.
"Great achievements, nice stats to have but we've just got to keep on going. I'm feeling good, I'm feeling strong. The team's looking good so we've just got to recover well now. We've got a week until the next game but then we've got a game every three days pretty much after that. It will be a tough spell but hopefully we can use this momentum."
Conte did not hold back and praised both Kane the player and Kane the man.
"Harry is a player who has to make the difference, for his quality, for his ability. We're talking about a really world-class striker who can be dangerous in all aspects on the pitch," said the Tottenham head coach. "We tried to exploit him, to give him the possibility to score. For me, the big surprise about Harry is not only on the football aspect but the person.
"We're talking about a really good person, a really good man. He's always ready to help the team, to work for the team. Usually when you have this type of player, they can be a bit lazy without the ball. Because they like to play with the ball but without the ball [they think] 'I don't run because I have to be fresh when we have the ball'.
"But this was a big surprise with me, working with Harry. I know he reached another big achievement, a personal big achievement. But we're trying to work together, with the team and always with Harry to have not only personal achievements, like last season for example when Son was top scorer in the league, but to try to have a big achievement together for the team and the club.
"I think every single player is ready to exchange a personal achievement to reach a trophy. We're working on this aspect. The path is difficult, the path is long but we have to try to do this."
Kane could have had a second goal but sent a terrific header against the crossbar and he would have had an assist from a quick curling free-kick had Son Heung-min been more clinical as he ran through.
In his own interview for Spurs, Conte appeared to say that Kane is Spurs' "most important player" and with his remarkable and ever-growing goal tally it's a difficult statement to argue against, even with the talent assembled around him which include last season's talented Golden Boot winner Son.
The difference now is what Kane's goal could mean for Tottenham. The England captain's goals are normally what separates the club from simply finishing lower in the table, whereas with Conte and his bigger and better squad, Kane can now be the difference between a very good season and something special.
Conte's wing-backs
Conte admitted that he finally saw the Ivan Perisic he knew in the second half of the match against Wolves.
The experienced Croatian was handed his full debut on Saturday and in the first half he looked sluggish and struggled with the pace of the Wolves players down his flank. It was only as the first period wore on that he managed to get up the pitch more and he delivered a great cross for Kane to send a looping header that Jose Sa managed to get fingertips to in the top left corner.
The pace of the Premier League will be the biggest adjustment for the 33-year-old, but he looked like he was getting to grips with it in the second half. He made one important tackle on the edge of the Spurs box and kept pushing up the pitch and his flicked-on header to Kane from Son's corner made it two assists in two games for the England captain. Perisic had won that corner in the first place with stepovers and good wing play.
Perisic did appear to be holding his leg at times in the five minutes before he came off and then the physios came over to check on him in the dugout. The Croatia international did return from a serious calf injury sooner than Spurs expected, but it is perhaps worth noting that he seemed to be focusing on his left leg on Saturday, when that previous calf injury was in his right.
That Conte did not mention any injury after the game may be a good thing and the Italian did also praise Ryan Sessegnon, who looked bright when he replaced Perisic, and the 22-year-old will get plenty of minutes this season in rotation with his older team-mate if he can continue to maintain his fitness.
"[Perisic] struggled in the first half, then with the rest of the team he improved a lot," said the Spurs head coach. "I have seen the Ivan Perisic I know from Inter. When we were together at Inter.
"For us he is very important because we are talking about a player with a great experience. A player that won a lot in his past, has played in an important team. He can bring experience.
"I was really pleased with the impact of Ryan Sessegnon. For Sess, who is playing well this season it is very very important to have a player in front of you like Ivan.
"In front of him Sess has a great career, and I think for Ivan was the same as the rest of the team. First half he struggled, second half he improved a lot. Now I want to see him in the same way - in the first half the same as the second half like the rest of the team."
On the right, Conte continues to select Emerson Royal. You know exactly what you are going to get with the 23-year-old Brazilian and that's plenty of solid defensive work, enthusiasm and the fitness to get up and down the pitch.
However, you will also see him struggle at times with attacking decision-making, hesitancy in the final third and Conte did let out bellows of frustration at times and hand gestures galore on Saturday when moves failed down the right, which to be fair he also did on the other flank with Perisic when the Croatian played a poor pass in the second half rather than shooting.
For Conte wants his wing-backs to be auxiliary strikers at the far post and that's something that for all of his strengths Emerson can't give him. However, his defensive solidity gives Spurs a better base in the Italian's mind than Matt Doherty, who has been recovering his fitness after his knee injury, and the so far untested Djed Spence.
Emerson was expected to be the one who gave way and left this summer, but appears to be incredibly happy and settled at the club with his compatriots Lucas Moura and Richarlison as well as being close to the other South Americans in Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur. He's popular among his team-mates, is good friends with Son, and he's a bubbly character in the camp.
If no bid arrives that tempts Tottenham or Emerson to part company then the mass of matches to come in September will force Conte to rotate and that's when Doherty or Spence will need to show him what they can do because Emerson will feel right now that the shirt is his to lose.
Romero, the defence and Hojbjerg
This was a back three without Cristian Romero for the first time this season, even if the Argentine was desperate to go against the medical department's advice in order to play.
The 24-year-old Argentine was ruled out of the game due to the adductor muscle injury he suffered late on in the match against Chelsea the previous weekend. Despite reports in his native Argentina, the injury in his groin is not believed to have been sustained during a challenge by Chelsea's Marc Cucurella - although that did leave its painful mark - and instead came from another action in the match's latter stages.
football.london understands that Romero was told by Spurs' medical department that the adductor injury would require three to four weeks of recovery time. However, the hardy Argentine was champing at the bit to get straight back into contention and Tottenham boss Antonio Conte confirmed that the defender immediately offered his services to play through the injury in the match against Wolves.
That offer was not taken up by the Italian due to the potential risk attached to it, with the defender still not back in training this week and instead receiving treatment for the injury. Romero, always desperate to play for club and country, is understood to have felt similar last season when he was ruled out of the final three matches of Tottenham's season with a hip injury but wanted to play.
Spurs will monitor Romero's muscle injury closely in the days ahead and how it reacts to the recovery process before deciding on his return to training and matches with the player keen to return for Tottenham's game at Nottingham Forest next weekend if given the green light by the medical staff.
Conte, who has always shown a willingness to keep the club's medical department on their toes, will listen to all sides before making his decision ahead of that game.
In Romero's absence, Davinson Sanchez again filled in on the right of the back three to good effect as he did during those final three matches of the last campaign.
On Saturday, the Colombian was probably Tottenham's best defender in that back three on the day and rushed across to cover twice in the first half with inch-perfect sliding tackles to deny Goncalo Guedes in the Spurs box.
There was one awkward moment when he ran back to cover in behind yet again only for the falling long ball to hit him on the back of the neck, but the chance led to nothing and he continued to make further important interceptions in the second half.
It is now more than seven and a half hours since Tottenham conceded a goal in the Premier League with Sanchez in the backline. He's not always given his due by sections of the support mostly because of some clumsy moments in the past, but Sanchez is a more than capable deputy for Romero.
There were plenty of vocal moments from the Tottenham defence as they tried to organise themselves throughout, not least from captain Hugo Lloris.
The Spurs skipper unleashed one verbal volley in the second half at Son as he felt there was a chance for Spurs to break into the space behind the South Korean star if he threw it quickly. Son instead told Lloris to calm down the play, leaving the angry captain feeling an opportunity had been lost.
The exchange continued for the next minute or so even with Son at the other end of the pitch. It's not the first time the pair have argued over a missed opportunity to make a run, their heated row on the pitch and in the dressing room after Lloris accused Son of not tracking back against Everton a couple of seasons ago making its way into Amazon's All or Nothing documentary about the club.
One player who was a dominant voice on the pitch on Saturday was Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was named man of the match by BT Sport in their coverage of the game. The 27-year-old Denmark international divides some opinions in the Spurs fanbase, with some desperate to see Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma paired up.
The Dane is not as technically gifted a player as those two, although he can score a goal, dribble and pick out a pass, but he is a leader and he reads the game well. He also has that bit of nous in big matches and his workrate was crucial to Spurs' victory. There were a couple of lung-bursting runs up the pitch to relieve the pressure and one late shot that could have brought him a second goal in as many matches.
Hojbjerg has been linked with Real Madrid this week in the Spanish press as a Casemiro replacement and the numbers behind his performance against Wolves showed why they might be interested.
The midfielder had a 95.6% pass accuracy from 68 passes, completed all six of his attempted long balls, had a 100% dribble success rate, made 85 touches, played 17 final third passes, won two tackles, had that one shot on target and made one interception.
Alongside him Rodrigo Bentancur had a sloppy first half, giving the ball away in some dangerous positions, but the Uruguayan vastly improved in the second period. Yves Bissouma came on to join the duo in the final minutes to bolster the midfield and the Mali international will be desperate for his full debut.
Oliver Skipp was set to return to outdoor running at the end of this week as he makes progress in his recovery from a hairline fracture in his heel caused by a freak training collision with a team-mate and the England U21 international, who has a big fan in Conte, is expected to be available as the games come thick and fast soon.
Conte has plenty of strong options in his midfield and that competition should push them all on in the weeks and months ahead.
Conte makes a clear transfer statement
Antonio Conte made it very clear to football.london after the match that if a single Spurs player in his plans leaves the club then they must be replaced. That does not include the unwanted quartet of Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele - now at Villarreal and Napoli respectively on loan - or Sergio Reguilon and Harry Winks.
Instead Conte means the likes of Bryan Gil and Japhet Tanganga and any other first teamers who might depart if a late tempting offer arrives, as well as potentially Pape Matar Sarr if academy midfielder Harvey White is not seen as suitable central midfield back-up to the four senior options.
On Saturday, Valencia boss Gennaro Gattuso had said in a press conference: "I like Bryan Gil, I like players that look to play football. We're working on it. Next week we’ll fix the problems that we have."
So with that in mind, football.london checked with Conte that a new attacking midfielder would be arriving at the club before the transfer deadline if Gil did as expected head off in the coming days. The response from the head coach left no room for doubt.
"I was very clear in the press conference before this game. This squad is this and if someone goes away then another has to come. This has to be very clear for everybody. Otherwise we stay with this squad and we continue our path with these players, this squad," said Conte.
"But if someone has to go away, along another must come. This is very clear for me, for the club, but we are totally agreed on this aspect."
When asked whether he thought Gil would be leaving, he somewhat swerved a perhaps difficult answer, adding: "This is not my task. About the transfer market you have to speak to the club. I think we have to respect their role."
Spurs would have two paths to choose from in replacing Gil. They could either sign a natural replacement to fill the role Conte requires from the two players who play in his system behind Kane, numbers 10s who can also play as strikers or out wide.
The other option is to bring in a more natural striker to provide a rotation option for Kane and then Richarlison, who can do both, slips into that number 10 role.
football.london understands that among other targets Spurs are continuing to monitor the situation with Everton's Anthony Gordon, although Chelsea currently look to be leading the race for the 21-year-old following their recent reported rejected £45m bid.
Tottenham have a firm interest in the versatile winger and were keen on a double deal with Richarlison earlier in the summer, with Gordon understood to be interested in playing for Conte and in the Champions League but unwilling to push for a move from the boyhood club he loves.
The other key component for Gordon if he were to move from Everton would be game time. He is now a regular starter for the Toffees, their number 10, and to step down to an occasional bench role at a club further up the table would be a difficult decision.
There was a reluctance from Everton to discuss a move for Gordon earlier in the window but Frank Lampard admitted on Friday that while he does not want to lose the talented winger, the Toffees ultimately will have to decide what is right for the club. It has been reported that Everton need to raise a lot of money in player sales in order to buy anyone in the final days of the window.
As well as Chelsea and Tottenham, Manchester United and Newcastle have also been tracking Gordon. For Spurs, the youngster being a homegrown player would help their current situation in that regard as they need to get foreign players off the books if they are to register any more new signings from abroad in their Champions League squad.
Spurs must get players out of the door first and those within the club claim that all active transfer work is first being focused on that task rather than on incoming transfers. If any of those players in Conte's plans do then complete moves out of the club, Tottenham's managing director of football Fabio Paratici will whir into action on any incomings, switching to targets he lined up earlier in the window.
The end goal is keeping Conte happy. The head coach made his position very clear on Saturday evening - his squad must remain numerically intact with the required quality for him to constantly rotate with.
Everything is harmonious within Spurs. Unwanted players are heading out the door and those within Hotspur Way speak about the good vibes in the dressing room. Conte himself has spoken about the chemistry now present between him and his players. He seems more settled than at any point since joining the club and perhaps more settled than he ever was at some previous clubs.
Paratici and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy have one job to do before the transfer window closes at 11pm on September 1. Keep Conte content and the club happy.
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