Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris has played down fears over Antonio Conte’s commitment to the club, saying the head coach is not the type to “give up in any circumstances”.
Spurs’ up-down form continued last night as they recovered from Saturday’s defeat to Manchester United with a 2-0 win over Brighton, narrowing the gap to fourth-placed Arsenal to three points.
Conte’s mood has tended to fluctuate in line with his side’s results and, on the eve of the game at the Amex, he dropped another suggestion he could walk away in the summer, saying he would “stop” if chairman Daniel Levy or managing director Fabio Paratici do not share his “vision”.
Lloris says the squad understand and share Conte’s frustration over their inconsistent form but insists players and coaching staff alike believe Spurs are steadily improving.
“After four months we start to know each other well, I think Antonio is showing a lot of passion and he’s doing his job with a lot of emotion,” Lloris said. “At some moments we can understand his frustration. The players as well, we have this frustration but we keep going, we keep working.
“Antonio and his staff provided the best from day one and they are not the kind of people who are going to give up in any circumstances.
“In the Premier League you face difficulties but we — everyone — feel the improvement. We really feel the way and the direction we want to take as a team and I think game by game we want to keep improving to make the chance to compete for the final race.”
Conte has challenged his players to finish in the top four and a comfortable win on the south coast, sealed by goals from Cristian Romero and record-breaker Harry Kane, closed the gap to Arsenal, who lost 2-0 to Liverpool, and moved Spurs level on 48 points with Sunday’s opponents West Ham.
No fewer than seven times since the turn of the year Spurs have followed up wins with frustrating defeats, and Lloris has piled the pressure on this weekend’s “massive” derby, saying it is potentially decisive in the race for Champions League football.
“It’s clear: West Ham is going to be massive for us and could make the difference for the final race,” Lloris added. “When we started this week, we had a clear target with Brighton away and West Ham home to take maximum points to be close for the European places.
“It’s important to keep our feet on the floor and move game by game, but I really feel improvement of the team, even with the loss against United.
“After the game there was frustration, obviously, but there was a real feeling that we are clearly showing a direction in the way we play football — and again last night. It’s been now a few games in a consecutive way that we are growing in terms of maturity and growing in terms of good feelings.
“We had some disappointments, but I believe it’s part of the process. Sunday is massive for Spurs if we want to be in the right place for the final race and keep our chance, keep our hopes for a strong finish.”
Kane ran onto a pass from the excellent Rodrigo Bentancur to finish a counter-attack for his 95th away goal in the Premier League, more than any other player in the competition’s history and in 104 fewer appearances than second-placed Wayne Rooney.
He also moved ahead of Frank Lampard as the Premier League’s outright fifth-highest scorer, on 178, as he continues to chip away at Alan Shearer’s record.
Romero deflected home Dejan Kulusevski’s shot in the first half to set Spurs on their way against the struggling Seagulls, who have now lost six on the spin.
Afterwards, Conte also turned his attentions to Sunday, saying: “We will have a crucial game against West Ham. They have the same target and we are talking about a team that in the last season they arrived before us, they’re playing Europa League. To get three points on Sunday will be very important to continue to have a hope to reach fourth place.”
