Dominant display
Antonio Conte was in a great mood in his press conference after the victory against Everton and it's because the difference he is making at Tottenham Hotspur is clear for all to see.
This was the kind of game in which Tottenham would have struggled to break down well organised opponents in the past.
Conte's men rode their luck with some poor finishing from a couple of Everton breaks in the first half but on the whole this was a dominant display, particularly in the second half. Tottenham had 21 shots, 62% of the possession and seven efforts on target compared to the zero the visitors went home with. Hugo Lloris had the easiest night of his Tottenham career as he stood untroubled between the sticks.
The victory means that Spurs have now racked up 23 points from their 10 league games this season, which is their best ever start to a Premier League season and their highest points tally at this stage of a top-flight campaign since the 1963-64 season - which would have brought 24 points had it been three points for a win.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings: Hojbjerg and Bentancur run the show as Doherty and Romero impress
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is also becoming a fortress under Conte with his team having won 11 of their last 12 Premier League games there, including a run of eight victories in a row. It's ten victories in a row there in all competitions.
Everton must hate Conte. He has never lost a game to them, winning five of his matches against the Toffees and drawing two and on top of that, his teams have never conceded a single goal against them in the Premier League.
The most impressive facet of Saturday's latest victory was the energy shown by Conte's men. Most had only played less than 72 hours previously but were still racing forward in the final minutes, Tottenham's second goal coming from a central midfield duo that has played most of those minutes yet was still racing up the pitch in the 86th minute.
It's testament to the work that the late Gian Piero Ventrone and his fellow fitness coaches did with the Spurs players last season and during a gruelling summer that now they are among the fittest sides in the Premier League and have covered more distance than any other team in the competition.
The work on their recovery time with the sports science staff is equally important and that's why Conte is being able to count on his players in time to start again so quickly.
After watching Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg busting a gut to get up the pitch and craft Spurs' match-ending second goal, Conte told football.london that he wasn't shocked to see their energy but it did make him very happy.
"Yeah, (laughs) I was not surprised but for sure to see the intensity that we played with tonight in this game it was for me really positive because it means that if you work and you work in the right way then the performance of your players is always up," he said.
"We played only two days and a half ago but I have seen my players run from the start to the end, to press and show high intensity. I'm really delighted, especially for the players because these performances are repaying the effort that they put in every day that they do in the training session."
Conte was smiling throughout his press conference and he wore the look of a man who can see his hard work being repaid as well.
Bissouma's impact
The sprints forward in the 86th minute of both Hojbjerg and Bentancur showcased not only their incredible fitness levels, their importance to Conte and this Tottenham team but also their adaptation to the attacking demands being placed upon them in this system.
With the arrival of Yves Bissouma into the game so the Mali international sat deep and Hojbjerg pushed to the left and Bentancur to the right. Their new positions higher and wider on the pitch paid dividends when Harry Kane, playing his 400th game for the club, picked up the ball near the halfway line.
He looked up and beckoned for someone to pass to and Bentancur obliged, bombing up the pitch along the right flank. It's not the first time the 25-year-old Uruguayan has delivered with real quality from the wing.
He did so this time with a perfect ball into the box for his Danish central partner and Hojbjerg took a touch inside and then curled a shot that deflected the perfect amount up and over Jordan Pickford and into the top corner.
It was the moment that killed the game and any hope a blunt Everton side might have had of grabbing a foothold back in the encounter.
Conte went mad on the touchline, leaping into the air and then throwing himself into the arms of his coaching staff.
For not only was the victory sealed but two of his trusted generals had again come up trumps for him. Hojbjerg has now played 1,240 minutes during this campaign, starting every match, and Bentancur 1,127. Only Lloris, Kane and Eric Dier have played more minutes than the duo.
Hojbjerg made it three goals and three assists in those 14 matches, adding a real attacking string to his bow under Conte, continuing to develop that side of his game after his attacking exploits at Euro 2020.
In the 2018/19 season he scored four goals and laid on four assists in 31 games for Southampton in his best campaign from an attacking sense since arriving from Germany. The 27-year-old looks set to surpass that in not much more than a third of the time.
Bentancur has one goal and two assists from his 13 games and for someone not known for goal contributions he also looks set to beat previous tallies with his new more box-to-box role.
Neither are attacking midfielders but they are evolving under Conte to be jacks of all trades and on Saturday they both benefited greatly from the introduction of Bissouma.
The summer signing had his best game yet in a Spurs shirt and Everton could not find any answers to the questions he posed. He was dominant in the anchorman role, using his strength to win the ball back repeatedly before spinning and using it well, creating one good chance directly for Kane and starting plenty of other attacks.
It's no coincidence that in the 20 minutes after he arrived on the scene, Spurs registered eight attempts at goal. Everybody seemed to be freed up to find space and energised by Bissouma's introduction.
It was a performance that ticked every box Conte had asked for and you can see the summer arrival feeling part of the team. He leapt on to the back of Hojbjerg as he celebrated with Bentancur after his goal and as he walked down the tunnel Bissouma made a point of coming over to the club's social media camera and said: "Come on, yes! Three points."
It was a simple little moment but one that showcased a man feeling a growing ease with his surroundings and that will bring out the best version of Bissouma. Conte told football.london that he is now getting exactly what he wants from the midfielder who has got to grips with the high demands of the Italian's training sessions.
"Bissouma played a really good game. I think that when we go to play with a midfield three, for him it's in this moment it's better to have two midfielders with him. His impact was really, really positive," said the Spurs head coach.
"I think it's his understanding that he's in a top club and the pressure is different and the level of the intensity of the training sessions are more higher so the focus has to be every, every moment at the top. The demands are a lot and he's understanding this. We're talking about a really good player and he played really well and I'm happy for this."
Hojbjerg admitted that the change to a midfield trio opened up new opportunities for the team.
"Sometimes when you play with two in the middle and switch to three it of course gives you that extra man in there and although you lose someone elsewhere you can find your position and be a bit more patient in your position," the Dane told Sky Sports.
"That means you can overload in certain areas, especially in the middle and I also think it helped us maintain the ball, which is something we are doing but we need to do better and especially when you are playing every three days. With three in the middle it's something you have to be able to do and we did it today."
Richarlison's injury-enforced absence for the game at Old Trafford on Wednesday night might just mean the 3-5-2 is here to stay for the foreseeable future and it could end up being a defining moment in Spurs' and Bissouma's season.
Raiding wing-backs
Another reason for Conte's smile after the game was the performances of his two wing-backs.
Both Matt Doherty and Ivan Perisic were playing in the flying style that the Italian's system requires and thrives upon and both were involved in most of Tottenham's best moments of the match.
Doherty has been working incredibly hard behind the scenes. The 30-year-old looks fitter and leaner than ever before - compare the now prominent cheek bones with photos from across his career when he was already Premier League fit but not Conte fit - and this performance was the reward for his efforts.
You could see Doherty getting more and more confident with each passing minute as he felt sharper and sharper, culminating at one point late in the second half with an impudent back heel during a move.
The Irishman started the match tentatively with his attacking but there was a moment in the first half when he burst down the right and was fouled by Dwight McNeil, earning the Everton man a yellow card.
That moment energised Doherty and Conte could be seen in the tunnel at half-time speaking with him as the team waited to emerge.
The Doherty of the second half did everything Conte asks of his wing-backs, attacking at every opportunity and defending everything that came his way. The build-up to Spurs' first goal was the perfect example of his strengths being utilised.
In true Conte wing-back to wing-back style, Perisic curled in a deep cross that Doherty caught first time with his left foot, keeping it low. Pickford spilled it and it fell to Kane who was felled by the goalkeeper for the penalty.
Kane netted the spot kick and after the game he was delighted for Doherty, one of his closest friends at the club.
"I'm really happy for him. He's been waiting for his opportunity. Since he got injured last season he's had to be patient this year, just biding his time, working hard and getting as fit as possible, just waiting for his chance," the striker said on SpursPlay.
"We've got good competition for places. He's come in and I think he's been fantastic in the two games he's played. I'm delighted for him. I know him really well and I know how much he wants to do well and how much he's been working behind the scenes.
"That performance will only give him confidence and it will give the team and the manager confidence. It's really good to have a lot of players playing well."
Conte was also delighted with the performance of the Irishman and what it means for the games ahead.
"About Matthew, honestly I'm really happy, really happy. He played a good game against Brighton but today he played better than the last game," the Spurs boss told football.london. "He played well in the last game and I was happy also with it but today I have seen again the Matt Doherty of last season.
"I was really pleased and said to him 'finally now you are the player that I know!'. It's important, important for us because to play all these games in a short period, it is important to have all the players available."
On the other flank Perisic also looked more like the wing-back Conte turned into one of the best at Inter.
There's a theory among some back in South Korea that when the Croatian plays, Son Heung-min doesn't play well and that Perisic gets into the box more than the attacker does. Some fans have even gone as far as to claim that Perisic does not pass to Son.
While the numbers appear to support the first theory - Son's five goals so far have all come with Ryan Sessegnon on the pitch rather than Perisic - although it should be stressed that all of those goals only came in two matches.
As for the second claim, Perisic does pass to Son, frequently, and the two players linked up really well against Everton, especially on a number of occasions early on. In the second half the Croatian set up a big chance for Son, curling a cross into the attacker in the six-yard box but the South Korean misjudged his header, the ball striking his shoulder rather than his head and bouncing into Pickford's arms.
As for Perisic being in the box, that's the Conte way with his wing-backs and exactly what he wants from Sessegnon as well, to make those runs in to the back post. In the 3-4-3, the role of the two players either side of Kane is to act as number 10s in a role that can encompass running through the middle, out wide and also tracking back. No role in a Conte system is set in a certain way. Everyone has instructions galore, which is what makes him such a demanding coach.
Perisic is one of the world's best wing-backs in Conte's eyes and it's early days in his partnership with one of the world's best forwards in Son, who is so important to Tottenham and played well again against Everton. Both are top drawer players and as they get to learn each other's games the understanding will grow and grow. The 3-5-2 formation when used will force Son into a more advanced striker role closer to Kane and that could also help him get more goal involvements.
"Ivan Perisic today played in the way that I know him," Conte told football.london. "Also Ivan for his injury before he struggled a bit to have a good performance. Yes normal performance but my expectation about him are like today, to play like the top."
There were also a couple of nice moments for Djed Spence. The 21-year-old wing-back got namechecked unprompted by Conte on Friday, the Spurs boss saying that he was happy with Spence's improved training and that he was beginning to understand what it takes to be a player in a Champions League club under Conte.
Spence's reward was a few minutes against Everton. Before he came on, he was sent to warm up and got a great reaction from the fans in that north west corner of the stadium.
When he came on the crowd gave a roar for him that will have given him great confidence. He was unfortunate that he and the waiting Lucas Moura and Oliver Skipp had to wait so long to come on as the ball did not go out of play.
They ended up coming on in added time at the end of the game and none of them got a touch of the ball.
This was progress though for Spence and if Conte is happy then the minutes will come and on the other side of the coin, simply working with the Italian every day will have improved the young wide man vastly on the training pitches of Hotspur Way.
Happy Kane, Happy Spurs and that Conte contract
It's a good moment at Tottenham Hotspur. The club are a point off the top of the Premier League and for now there is a seven point gap between the top three and Chelsea in fourth spot. The Blues do have two games in hand on Spurs but points on the board are always better.
Tottenham are in the driving seat in their Champions League group, the new signings are all starting to gel and understand Conte's demands and in Harry Kane they have a world class striker enjoying his best ever start to a season.
Kane has netted nine goals in his first 10 Premier League games, a goal every 98.4 minutes, and he is loving life under Conte, a man who has made him central to his system, calling him his "reference point".
It is the first time in Kane's career that he has scored in five successive Premier League games and against Everton he had 13 touches in the opposition box, his most in a match since January.
It was fitting that on his 400th appearance for Spurs, Kane netted his 258th goal for the club, putting that midweek missed penalty behind him with a powerful spot kick.
The striker is now just eight goals from going level with Jimmy Greaves' record 266 goals for Spurs and becoming the all-time leading scorer in Tottenham Hotspur’s history seems more of a formality than a challenge at this point.
Even the number of minutes he is racking up is not fazing him. Kane admitted on Saturday that he is enjoying playing every three days because of the rhythm it brings to his game.
All the attention being on Erling Haaland at Manchester City is benefiting Kane because he's just going about his work and then some away from the glare of the national spotlight until the World Cup rears its head this winter.
The progress being made at Spurs is reflected in the fact that both Kane and Conte are willing to discuss new contracts with the club. Both are naturally linked together because each man will be keen to see the other sticking around as they both see the other as being among the world's best.
When Kane came off the pitch late in the match against Everton after a dominant performance, Conte grabbed him before he got to the dugout and did not let him go for a while, enveloping him in a big hug and saying something with real emotion into the striker's ear. It was the perfect image to show just how much the Italian is interlinked with the England captain.
Spurs have a little cushion with both of their contracts. Kane's current deal runs until the summer of 2024 and the club have an option to extend Conte's contract until the same time period.
With the Italian especially, the World Cup-enforced winter break presents the perfect time, without distractions, for all sides to sit down and decide what comes next and whether it is simply the contract option being triggered by Spurs or a new deal offered.
Those around Conte suggest he would be keen on the latter, despite publicly telling football.london in the summer that he is not concerned by contracts.
For Spurs, Conte's impact is clear with that top four spot last season, bringing lucrative Champions League football back to the club and that record start to this campaign, with just one defeat in the Premier League so far. As appraisals go, the former Chelsea and Inter boss is in a very strong position.
It's a happy camp and having Conte locked in would create the stability among the squad's big names.
The 53-year-old continues to live in a luxury apartment within a central London hotel with his wife Elisabetta remaining in Italy with their teenage daughter Vittoria in her final years of secondary school. The couple did not want to disturb their daughter's educational and social development and take here out of school and away from her friends, but it is a balance that seems to be working fine at the moment.
Conte flies back to Italy straight after any game that has a day off after it and his wife and daughter come to England to stay with him at the hotel at every opportunity. Suggestions of a return to manage at Juventus were shot down by Conte himself and the lack of money in Serie A at the moment only furthers the impression that the Spurs boss' best prospects appear to be with his current club in north London.
He keeps speaking about the future at Spurs and for an emotional man, Conte seems more settled and stable in his workplace than he has done for a long time. He's at a club where those behind the scenes listen intently to his every word and those above him just get out of his way and let him do what he does best. If Conte could win things with Tottenham then it will be the biggest achievement yet on his glittering CV.
He's got a growing connection with the Tottenham fans. They sing his name in every match and he will respond from the dugout when it's not an important moment in the match with the game still tight. He appreciated them having his back when he was emotional after the minute's applause for Ventrone against Brighton and they in turn love his passion as he turns their club into something special.
This record start to the season has only further convinced Conte that he and the club are going about things in the right way.
"I didn't honestly know until before the game people told me that if we won it would be the best start for Tottenham. For me it was the same because for me it's vital to play and get three points, then I'm happy. If I don't win I'm not happy. To have this good start is positive," he said.
"It's important because it means we're working well with the players and the club. We're doing everything with common sense in my opinion. We know each other and our possibilities. We have to continue in this way and for sure I'm really happy for our fans because when you play and you have around you this atmosphere.
"The fans push you from the start until the end and they sing your names, it makes us proud and they give us a lot of push to give more and more for this club."
With 10 wins in a row now at home for Spurs, Conte wants to continue to make the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one of the most difficult places for teams to come.
"When we play at home this stadium has to become our fortress. This is very important that this message arrives to our fans because they play an important role, an important part in this situation," said the head coach.
"To play against a team with the fans with the support that pushes their team in this way, it makes your life difficult if you are the opponent. It means the same for us when we played for example against Sporting it was really difficult for us and it was the same against Frankfurt. Now I think to play in our stadium has to become very difficult, very tough for every team that is coming to play."
The only blot on this weekend's good vibes was the calf injury for Richarlison. The Brazilian was visibly upset when speaking to reporters from his homeland while on crutches after the game as he fears his World Cup dreams could be dashed.
"It's kind of hard to say because it's so close to realising my dream [playing at the World Cup]," he told ESPN Brasil. "I've already suffered an injury similar to this, I hope it can heal as soon as possible, or less. I was stopped about two months at Everton.
"I know it's hard to talk right now, but let's see, I'll recover. Monday I have tests to do, but even walking hurts. Let's wait. It's all so close, it's about a month to go, and we've been getting ready, working every day so that nothing serious can happen. Unfortunately, today I had this calf injury, but now it's just a matter of waiting, doing the treatment every day so that I can recover as soon as possible."
Conte confirmed that the 25-year-old will miss the match at Manchester United on Wednesday. The players are off on Sunday after their exploits against Everton and everyone will be hoping the Brazil attacker's scan on Monday brings some good news and likewise Dejan Kulusevski's setback in training last Thursday is soon overcome.
Spurs are heading in the right direction and with three of their five Premier League matches at home before the World Cup there is a confidence about what's to come and that all emanates down from Conte.
The Tottenham boss turned to this reporter as he left the room on Saturday and said 'I'll see you on Monday'. Another day, another press conference before another game but Conte is loving it. It's a new dawn, a new game and he's feeling good.
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