Sun 15 January 2023, 20:17
Tottenham HotspurAntonio Conte underlined the importance of not giving up as he reflected on a “tough day” against Arsenal.
After a purposeful start, we fell behind when Hugo Lloris couldn’t keep Bukayo Saka’s deflected cross out of the net at the near post, with a long-range strike from Martin Odegaard leaving us with it all to do. Thomas Partey also rattled the woodwork with a thunderous strike, while Lloris made some good subsequent stops to prevent the visitors from further extending their advantage.
At the other end, Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale had to be on top form, first denying Heung-Min Son shortly after the opening goal, then keeping out Harry Kane’s header right at the end of the first half. That trend continued after the break as we gave everything to get back into the game, the returning Dejan Kulusevski going close on several occasions with Kane and Ryan Sessegnon dramatically denied by Ramsdale as the game went on.
Despite another key attacking player, Richarlison, also returning from injury off the bench, it just wasn’t our day, with Antonio telling SPURSPLAY afterwards: “For sure, I’m disappointed and I’m sorry for our fans because I know the importance of this game.
“It’s a tough day because we are talking about a bad result, about a loss. I think the performance was good because I think we started the game in the right way, in a strong way, but then we conceded a goal and after this, we had the opportunity to level the game with Sonny but the Arsenal keeper made a fantastic save and instead of going to 1-1, we conceded a second goal.
“The second goal could kill everybody, but instead I think we had a great reaction in the second half because we didn’t lose our heads. In this type of situation, the risk is to start to play, to lose the distance and to lose the balance and then instead of recovering the result, you risk conceding other goals. Instead, I think we created other chances to score. We were unlucky because after a few minutes, we had the chance to go 2-1. I think their keeper was the best player on the pitch today. That means that we tried to attack, we tried to create chances, but now we have to move on as we know that on Thursday we have another tough game against City.”
Asked if he needed to make any tweaks at half-time to help us get back into the game, Antonio continued: “During the first and the second half, I think the coach has to understand the right way to go into the minds and the hearts of the players. I said to my players to stay in the game, don’t lose their heads and to show that we wanted to fight until the end and have no regrets. I think at the end of the game, we can’t have regrets for what we did.
“We are trying to overcome a difficult period and to see on the pitch again (Dejan) Kulusevski, for 20 minutes Richy, and also to see that Rodrigo Bentancur is very close to recovering… in this period, we exploited the situation to see young players like Pape Sarr, like Bryan Gil, to see again Japhet Tanganga and Skippy to play again, for Tottenham it’s important to understand and it’s important for me because I know that I can count on these players.”
