Antonio previews United: “We want to play with personality”
Tue 18 October 2022, 16:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte wants the team to put on a show on one of football’s biggest stages when we face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening (8.15pm).
We performed well at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ last season, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to steal the show with a finishing masterclass, his hat-trick - a 30-yarder, a tap in and header five minutes from time - the difference as we fell to a 3-2 loss in March.
Seventh after that defeat, we lost only one of our remaining 11 matches in the Premier League to climb up to fourth and return to the UEFA Champions League this season.
Seven months later, we return to the red half of Manchester on the back of our best start to a Premier League campaign after 10 games, and Antonio feels this is another important test for the team.
“Last season, Ronaldo was decisive,” Antonio told SPURSPLAY. “He scored three goals and after the game, I said we lost against Cristiano, not United, because I think we played much better than them, and to lose the game... but to have a good performance at Old Trafford is important for your confidence, your trust, and on Wednesday we need another good performance against a strong team, in a difficult environment like Old Trafford.
“We want to play a good game, we want to play with personality, we want to show first of all to ourselves that we are improving, that our level is growing and then, I repeat, we want to give satisfaction to our fans.”
Antonio was asked in his pre-match press conference about how he might line-up tactically, with the team finishing impressively against Everton on Saturday in a 3-5-2 formation and both Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski expected to be sidelined.
SPURSPLAY put to him that he had a decision to make... “You know very well, also last season, it happened that we played some games with the 3-5-2, I have these two possibilities and, for the characteristics of all my players, I think three at the back is the comfortable situation for my players, then, to play with two or three midfielders, can change something.
“The players are prepared. We have another training session to make the best decision. Also, I can move Perisic to a striker with Sonny and Kane. We’ll see. We’re prepared for both situations.”
