In charge: Antonio Conte
(Picture: Manchester United via Getty Images)Tottenham’s defeat at Manchester United on Wednesday was accompanied by a performance which raised uncomfortable questions for Antonio Conte.
The Italian had been looking forward to the visit to Old Trafford as a potential measure of his side’s progress, and the Spurs boss will surely have been stunned and dispirited by the sheer abjectness of their display.
Conte afterwards questioned his side’s ability to compete in “high-level games” and said he would need more time to turn his players into “killers”.
He also offered a not-so-subtle prod to chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici about the strength of his squad, having not made any changes until the 81st minute, long after the game was comfortably in United’s grasp.
“We played with three midfielders because we had only the two strikers, and then you know this type of game, we have many young players that this game is difficult for. It is difficult for all players, and for the young players much more difficult,” Conte said, pointedly.
Spurs’s best-ever start to the season has raised the possibility that they may be outsiders in a title race, even if performances have rarely been as convincing as results. But their display on Wednesday and Conte’s post-match remarks suggest they may not be as far along in their rebuild as expected.
The hope is that the display was a one-off during a hectic season but, plainly, Conte wants more time and signings before he believes the club will truly be in a position to compete with the Premier League’s big-spending “monsters”, like United.
Conte has never hidden his view that money is the main route to building a winning team, which is why comparisons with Sunday’s opponents Newcastle are so intriguing. The newly-rich Magpies are already another club who are now happy to outspend Spurs, and potentially pose an immediate threat to Conte’s rebuilding job.
In the short term, the Magpies can move to within two points of Spurs with a win in north London on Sunday, which would put them in contention for a place in the top four and squeeze the competition at the top of the table. Longer term, their spending power following the Saudi takeover last season means they have the potential to become another “monster” against which Conte’s Spurs must compete.
Despite Conte’s complaints, he had more than enough quality on the pitch at Old Trafford to put on a better show, and the game again raised questions about Spurs’s style of play.
They will be expected to be more front-footed on Sunday, but remain without Richarlison, who is sidelined with a calf problem, while Dejan Kulusevski is still a doubt, with Conte unwilling to take risks with the Swede, who has been nursing a niggling hamstring injury.
The Spurs boss, who has been reluctant to rotate in recent weeks, is expected to bring Ryan Sessegnon back into the fold in place of Ivan Perisic at left-wing back.
