Antonio Conte needed help out there on the pitch and he didn't get it from some of his Tottenham Hotspur players during the defeat to Southampton.
The Italian gave football.london a near five minute answer during the press conference but one line of it in particular stood out.
"I think that this is a situation that we have to improve and also I repeat, in a team it's important to have players with experience to manage the situation during the game," he said.
This sentence can be taken in two ways. Firstly it could mean that Conte genuinely believes he does not have enough experienced players in his Spurs squad.
Alternatively it could mean he believes his older, more experienced players did not step up and lead the team through the difficult moments against the Saints.
Whatever he meant, the truth is that he does have some experienced players who should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck against a Southampton side who played very well throughout.
Who was his embodiment on the pitch? Who was carrying out his message in practice and getting others to do so as well?
Harry Kane, 28, Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura, both 29, are all older heads now and have played in a Champions League final, plenty of big games and domestic finals, and the latter won titles and cups galore with PSG.
Son and Lucas contributed in moments in attack, the former scoring Spurs' second goal and the latter integral in both goals, yet it's difficult to say either really stamped their mark in a sustained manner on the match and the same goes for Kane, who must be bewildered at times at the quality, or lack of, that he's surrounded by elsewhere on the pitch.
In midfield, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Winks are no longer youngsters, both 26 and with plenty of Champions League experience between them. The Dane, albeit young at the time, got some important matches under his belt for Bayern Munich on the big stage.
Neither are inexperienced any more and yet when Tottenham and Conte needed them to step up and lead the team from the midfield they didn't.
Both were sloppy in their possession. Winks lost the ball in key positions on more than one occasion and Hojbjerg's passing radar, particularly in the Southampton half, appeared broken apart from on one key occasion.
He had a pass success rate of 82.9 per cent which sounds high but in reality for central midfielders who often play shorter passes, it's not.
Hojbjerg did play a key part in Spurs' first goal with his low cross forced into his own net by Jan Bednarek, but some of the passes the Dane played were odd, when there seemed no clear route to the intended target.
One such pass, which broke down a Spurs move in the first half, drew an angry bellow from Conte, who whipped around and flung his arms out in frustration at his coaching staff.
The Italian was a raging torrent of emotions on the touchline. His demeanour shifted from fury to despair during some of Spurs' horrendous play in the first half but he went on a Marco Tardelli-style run along the dugout to celebrate Son's goal in the second period.
That soon changed to angry words and finger pointing towards Southampton players Oriol Romeu and then Bednarek as they complained to the referee about what they felt was a foul on Armando Broja in the build-up to that goal.
It remains to be seen how long the Hojbjerg and Winks partnership survives in the centre of Conte's starting line-up. It just seems too passive at times.
The Spurs boss made no secret when speaking to football.london this week of his desire to get Oliver Skipp back from a groin injury that was complicated by a further infection, Conte saying he is pushing the medical department to get him back sooner than their two-week prognosis.
That he is desperate to get a 21-year-old he calls an 'important player' back says everything about the tempo and aggression Spurs lose in the midfield when the England U21 international is missing, but also a lack of drive in there.
Rodrigo Bentancur showed that he will soon be starting matches for Spurs as he brought some composure to the midfield and immediately started spraying accurate offensive passes to the front men within his second cameo from the bench.
The 24-year-old three-time Serie A winner brings the experience, despite his age, that Conte needs on the pitch.
"We have to be disappointed because after our first half where we struggled a lot and I think they were good but I think we made many, many mistakes, many mistakes, especially with the ball," Conte told football.london.
"I think this type of situation created a bit of instability, mental instability in my team, especially in the first half. In the second half we started to play, we started to press in the right way and I didn't change anything compared to the first half.
"In the second half we created chances to score but also in the first half. Every time we played the ball in the right way we created a situation to go to score, but I repeat we made many mistakes in the first half, important mistakes.
"In the second half we did well, we scored and then you have to be more good to defend because I have seen the two goals and we conceded twice with the defensive line that stayed there.
"We have to be more accurate but I know very well this season and I repeat, we are going to struggle to get three points.
"I say this before and I continue to repeat. I think that we are improving in many aspects but then we are still too emotional."
Once again, as they have done under many different managers, Spurs showed they just cannot handle the pressing of another team, whether through those midfielders or a backline that struggled after looking much sharper against Brighton.
"We made many many mistakes with the ball and this created problems - also without the ball because when you lose confidence you lose confidence in every aspect, with and without the ball," explained Conte.
"Then after the first and second half I spoke with the players and said 'ok, football you can make a mistake but then you have to play again'.
"Otherwise when you make a mistake and go down and don’t want to play, don’t want to press, don't want to run - to protect yourself, and we are in trouble.
"I think this is what happened because in the second half I asked them to be brave, to have courage with the ball, without the ball and I think we played a good second half until the goal.
"Then we conceded two goals that for sure we could avoid, because we were with the defensive line in the position and… yeah but I repeat these are part of the process and I repeat always the same thing, to get three points we have to struggle.
"We have to struggle and give 120 per cent, and I repeat the effort today was the maximum. I can’t tell you that my players the effort was not good, the commitment was not good - no.
"I have to tell thanks to my players because the commitments was top, but then you know you have to improve in many, many aspects - and we have a long, long road in front of us."
The defence was wildly inconsistent and Davinson Sanchez perfect encapsulated that.
There were times in the first half when the Colombian looked to be the only one trying to bail Spurs out of difficult situations with some good tackles and important headers, particularly amid the mess of Southampton's first goal for Broja.
However, Sanchez was also poor on the ball when he tried to come out of defence, giving it away 17 times, a pass success rate of just 76.4 per cent from a centre-back who is on the whole playing shorter, simpler passes.
Alongside him, Emerson Royal was also gave it away 17 times. He had a pass success rate of just 72.7 per cent, with only Lucas (65.5) and Kane (63) worse, although those two players would be expected to play more risky attacking balls and they played half of the passes the wing-back did.
There's no quality coming from the Brazilian's attacking play. His wild celebrations against Brighton of a poor cross into an empty box that happened to be deflected into the goal seem to be born more of the shock of actually contributing offensively.
The problem for Emerson is that his defending was shaky as well.
He allowed the ball to run across his body instead of clearing in the lead up to Broja's leveller.
Then he was nowhere near Elyounoussi or Adams for the second and third goals for the visitors. Southampton targeted his side all night and you could see why.
Emerson is still young and Conte can improve him but it does make Spurs' inability to sign a new right wing-back in January all the more frustrating when it was clearly a position earmarked before the window opened.
The desperation is also shown in how quick Conte was to point out that Dejan Kulusevski can play in the role when he joined, despite not really doing so much before.
Ben Davies' had an unfortunate slip in the lead-up to Southampton's first goal and Cristian Romero, while showing moments of authority and pass success rate far beyond his fellow defenders, was unable to rescue the backline. Joe Rodon must still be wondering what needs to happen for him to get more game time.
There was potential late relief with Steven Bergwijn's strike, set up by Romero, but it was correctly ruled offside by VAR and Spurs did not deserve a point on the night against their energetic, organised visitors.
It comes back to this potential lack of leadership at Tottenham across the pitch.
Hugo Lloris is vastly experienced and a big voice at the back but a goalkeeper cannot affect much across a pitch.
At the other end, Kane worked hard but could not drag the team along with him, up to his level of quality.
The leadership needs to come in the centre of the park.
Hojbjerg speaks well and with passion and has shown moments of quality for Spurs since arriving from Southampton, particularly in his first season at the club, but whether the former Saints skipper is someone who dictates what other Tottenham players must do on the pitch is unclear.
Winks has not shown that at all. During one moment, he called out Sanchez for not closing down a shot but simply received an angry rebuke from the Colombian for not doing similar. The authority was not there to back up the criticism and all it did was create a situation that got the crowd shouting their anger at both.
There's a belief within Spurs that Oliver Skipp could one day become a club captain, something publicly stated by Jose Mourinho, but it is far too early for the 21-year-old to fall into that category.
Likewise Bentancur is too early in his Tottenham career to start ordering people around, although his experience and title wins could give him more gravitas in the months and years to come.
Spurs' transfer profile is for young players who retain or improve their value but the lack of leadership in the team is a problem that must be addressed and you will continually hear the head coach speak about the type of player the club buys and also, indirectly, the problems that brings.
It is one reason why Conte is keen to have Eric Dier back. The fans have not always taken to the centre-back but every single manager has and a lot is down to his voice in the backline.
Others do listen to the articulate 28-year-old and he will make a difference to Tottenham when he returns either this weekend or next from his thigh injury.
In the meantime Conte will be looking closely to see who steps up within his squad, and which players attempt to lead the others or sit in the perceived comfort and security of the background.
The truth is that there will be no such security in the shadows because if Conte cannot 'count' on you, then you will not last long at his Tottenham Hotspur.
