Antonio’s verdict on ‘intense’ draw against Sevilla and latest on Ben Davies
Sat 16 July 2022, 18:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte declared himself ‘very happy’ after a hard week’s work in Korea culminated in a hard-fought draw against Sevilla in our second match of the Coupang Play Series on Saturday.
Harry Kane opened the scoring five minutes into the second half at the Suwon World Cup Stadium with the Spanish side equalising through Ivan Rakitic on 64 minutes. This was a tough test following our 6-3 win against Team K League on Wednesday, with Sevilla physically strong, well organised and both sides not afraid to put a foot in.
Harry, Heung-Min Son, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Hugo Lloris all played 70 minutes after playing 45 on Wednesday, Eric Dier completed the full 90 and there were returns for Dejan Kulusevski and Ben Davies after injury, although Ben hobbled off late on after taking an awkward fall.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY pitchside, Antonio told us: “It was a game played with intensity, one side, the other side, great pressure from both sides, my opinion is that it wasn’t a ‘friendly’ game, it was a real game.
“For us, it’s positive, especially because we are working in pre-season, at the same time, to play this type of game when you know you have a bit of fatigue is good for the connection between the players, to speak a lot, to help each other.
“Then, I have seen positive things. For sure, we have to try to improve in other aspects but, after this week in Korea, I am very happy, we worked very well and showed a great attitude, great commitment, great desire to prepare for a good season.”
As for Ben, Antonio added: “I don’t think that’s a big problem. In this moment, he has pain in his ankle but, honestly, I hope when we start our training sessions again he can start the sessions with us. I don’t think it’s serious, and I think he’s okay. Ben is strong, a really good player, strong physically and mentally, and he wants to play every game. For this reason, I’m confident he be in training very soon.”
The travelling squad will now return home having played in front of almost 110,000 fans on this enjoyable tour of Korea - 64,000 at Seoul followed up by just under 44,000 in Suwon. Next up, Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday (23 July, 3pm) - available exclusively on SPURSPLAY.
