LONDON – Antonio Conte has always been a coach with the rare ability to come up with a remedial solution quickly and at the same time, but then again, he has never before faced a challenge like this. Tottenham Hotspur.
When Spurs left the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 total loss of semi-finals for Chelsea, accompanied by chants of “Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happening again”, from away fans, Conte merely became Tottenham’s newest manager to discover that this is a club that always stumbles when under pressure. .
“At the end of two games, Chelsea deserved to be in the final in this competition, we have to be honest,” said Spurs manager Conte. “In the second half we created many chances to score and we deserved a better result than losing 1-0 but if you judge the two games, Chelsea deserved to win. .”
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Conte, the manager appointed in November after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked after less than six months in charge, recognized the need to make big changes at the club, but the usual approach His first was shock therapy, which was successful in his first attempt. seasons in Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan, won’t work at Spurs.
This time, he needs to press the reset button. The only problem for Conte is that he may also have to sanction the departure of Harry Kane to bring in the necessary financing to finance the much-needed rebuild.
That’s a Catch-22 situation. Spurs without Kane haven’t even thought about it – he’s their only world-class player and the one whose goals have kept the team within touching distance of the elite in recent seasons.
But even with Kane, who scored disallowed for offside as Spurs chased the game in the second half, Tottenham were easily brushed aside by Chelsea, who reached their third national cup final. (four if counting UEFA Super Cup) since the coach. Thomas Tuchel came to power 12 months ago.
However, dealing with Kane is a bit easy. If he stays, Spurs keep their best player; If he goes, they will bank at least £100m to fund reinforcements.
The problem for Conte is what to do with the rest of the players who are not good enough or of lesser quality around them. Besides Kane and the wounded Heung-min Son, he really doesn’t have much to do.
For this game, the Italians have chosen a team consisting mainly of players fighting for their future at the club, but apart from Kane (who has made it clear for almost a year now that he wants to leave) , none of them did anything to suggest to Conte that they were worth paying off.
Matt Doherty, Harry winks, Royal Emerson and Giovani Lo Celso All insist they are not qualified or committed, while the winger replaces Bryan Gil showed no flair that he was expected to bring when he came from Seville last summer.
Dele Allimeanwhile, remains unused on the bench, while leaving no room for club record signings Tanguy Ndombele, who was booed by fans after his unimpressive performance in Sunday FA Cup win over EFL League One team Morecambe.
Sources have told ESPN that Conte will happily offload all of those players, plus Netherlands midfielder Steven Bergwijn, should the right offers come in this month, but, in a game hit hard by the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be wishful thinking to expect Spurs to raise the money. significantly through sales.
But Tottenham’s problem runs deeper than the lack of quality in the squad. This is also a club in need of stability off the pitch having had three full-time coaches – and interim Ryan Mason – since Mauricio Pochettino led the club to the 2019 Champions League final.
Less than three years have passed since the previous failure Liverpool in Madrid, but all the promises made by Pochettino’s Spurs have been slowly eroded by a combination of poor recruitment and misjudged management appointments – Jose Mourinho and Nuno – since Pochettino left in November 2019.
The players had to suffer the consequences. Their confidence has been undermined by Mourinho and Nuno and the squad is currently unbalanced – a mix of players signed by three different coaches with different tactical requirements.
Those same players were made by Chelsea to look like rookies who played with the confidence, arrogance and conviction of a team that had won big and knew how to do it again.
Conte has a tradition of turning it around and getting Spurs back on track, but he has never been a team builder during his time as a top-level coach, so he is entering new territory at Spurs and, if explosive personality has led the way when leaving Chelsea and Inter return, he may not even be around to see the work.
But for now, Spurs are not even showing signs of playing. As soon as Antonio Rudiger put Chelsea ahead in this game in the 17th minute to make the total score 3-0, Spurs were out of hope.
Yes, they had two penalties overturned by VAR, after referee Andre Marriner pointed at the dot, and Kane was displeased to see his “goal” disqualified in the 63rd minute, but Tuchel and his players are never in danger of giving up their advantage.
It’s a routine win for Chelsea, who will face Liverpool or Arsenal in the final at Wembley on 27 February, when Spurs fell again.
Conte has everything to do, but at least he has dealt with it. Repairing it will be the hardest job of his career.
