Antonio’s verdict on Bournemouth: “We showed great character, great desire, great will”
Sat 29 October 2022, 18:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte underlined the importance of our comeback win at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
Trailing 2-0 against an impressive, energetic home side thanks to Keiffer Moore’s goals on 21 and 49 minutes, something clicked when Ryan Sessegnon slotted home from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s pass to make it 2-1 on 56 minutes.
The arrival of Lucas Moura, Eric Dier, Rodrigo Bentancur and Ivan Perisic, then Bryan Gil, kept us on the front foot for the rest of the game as Bournemouth retreated. We racked up 19 corners - Bournemouth forced into 38 clearances - and scored from two, as Heung-Min Son and Perisic’s deliveries continually putting the home side under pressure.
Ben Davies peeled off to the far post to meet Perisic’s deep corner to make it 2-2 on 72 minutes and then in the third minute of five in added time, Bentancur met Son’s inswinger, his header was initially blocked, the ball fell back at his feet and he planted the calmest of finishes into the roof of the net.
The result ended a run of two straight losses in the Premier League and the players can now take this momentum into a crucial UEFA Champions League match against Olympique de Marseille in France on Tuesday evening (8pm UK), where we need a point in our final group match to progress.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY at the Vitality, Antonio said: “The feeling, for sure, is positive. Also, (even) if we didn’t take the three points, I’ve seen a good reaction from my players. This is very important.
“They showed me great character, great desire, great will. I think, honestly, that sometimes we lose a bit of confidence in our potential, in the way that we are good.
“At the end, for us, it was vital, this win, especially after two losses. Okay, against Newcastle, I didn’t think we deserved to lose, but United was a bad loss. Then, after what happened against Sporting Lisbon, today was really important to get three points, to stay in a good position in the table and to prepare ourselves for a final, because on Tuesday, we are going to play a final against Marseille. We want to go there, play and, for sure, we will have to show great character in this game.”
It was put to Antonio the character needed to recover from 2-0 and go on to win an away game in the Premier League... “Yes, it shows a lot of character and, at the same time, don’t forget Bournemouth are not in Europe and for them, it’s five games in a row. For us, it’s 10 games.
“For sure, at the start, the energy was different between us and them. Despite this, we showed that we are good physically. I repeat, we have to be strong mentally and today we showed this. The players know very well that we can lose games, we can lose points, but I don’t want players to think for one minute that we have to give up, or don’t believe that we can come back after 1-0 or 2-0.
“This team is well organised, we have good players, they work very well and, for sure, we have to try to improve under this aspect and start with great confidence about our potential and to show that we are a good team, and we are a strong team from the start. Sometimes, in this aspect, I think we can improve.”
