Antonio’s verdict on our 5-1 win against Newcastle
Sun 03 April 2022, 23:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte enjoyed the calmness in a dominant display and impressive 5-1 victory against Newcastle United on Sunday.
Underlining the team performance, the goals were shared around with Ben Davies, Matt Doherty, Heung-Min Son, Emerson Royal and Steven Bergwijn on target.
It was a test, as well. Newcastle were happy to drop deep and soak up our early pressure - we registered up to 80 per cent possession at times in the first half - and then struck first when Fabian Schar’s free-kick flew home on 39 minutes.
Crucially, we responded just before and then just after half-time. Ben headed home a superb delivery from Sonny to level it up on 43 minutes before Matt raced from deep to meet Harry Kane’s cross for 2-1 on 48.
As the game opened up, we turned on the style. Sonny dispatched the third goal from Dejan Kulusevski’s cross, the wing-backs combined as Matt teed up Royal from close range for 4-1 and Stevie put the icing on the cake with a late fifth. It might have been more as Harry, Sonny and Stevie all went close.
“It was a brilliant performance, honestly,” Antonio told Spurs TV afterwards. “I asked my players to start again in the way we finished before the international break, and they made me happy.
“After the first half, in the dressing room I spoke with my players and said to keep patience, don’t lose the concentration and continue to play in this way, you will see we are going to win the game.
“I like the calm... when you feel yourself strong, you show this. Today, we showed this. It’s good for me. I’m proud, proud to see my team showing calmness, resilience, and the right moment to attack, the right moment to control the game and keep possession. Don’t forget, in the last six games, we’ve scored I don’t know how many goals (21). It’s good. Also, we missed chances to score more.
“I have seen great focus, great concentration. I enjoyed watching the game, enjoyed watching my team play in this way, despite the difficulty that we found against Newcastle, especially in the first half, where their tactical plan was to stay deep and close every space, and we were 1-0 down.
“Despite this, I have seen a good reaction, great solidity and mentality. This is very important. It means my players have the confidence and the feeling now is positive, very good, because you can see the way we’re playing, the goals we’re scoring, the chances we’re creating.”
