The minimum you’d expect from an Antonio Conte team – and almost always get – is defensive stability.
Among his league title-winning sides Juventus, Chelsea And Inter Milan was built on a solid structure, with an often unbreakable back line and the primary objective of limiting opportunities for the opposition.
That continued when Conte took over at Spurs in November last season. After some early teething problems, they won 10 of their last 14 games. Champions League. And although they have broken five past Everton, Newcastle United and City of Norwich and four past Leeds United and Aston Villa During that run, their success, in true Conte style, was underpinned by a strong defence. Tottenham They conceded eight goals in 14 games.
The start to the season was also strong enough, with seven goals in their first seven league games.
Since then? Thirteen league games, three clean sheets, 24 goals conceded.
Defensive disaster is a recurring theme.
In 12 of their 20 league games this season, Spurs have conceded at least two goals. In fact, it has happened in all but one of their last 10 league fixtures.
They have conceded the most goals among the top 12 teams in the division. They have given in more than that West Ham United and Everton, who both sit in the relegation zone.
Their defensive record is almost unprecedented in Conte’s managerial career.
Apart from a brief 13-match stint in charge Atlanta In 2009–10, Conte’s teams have, without fail, conceded more than one goal-per-game in every single season since he rose to prominence as manager in 2009 when Bari won the Serie B title.
That time the team scored 35 goals in a 42-game title-winning campaign. After Atlanta came Siena – again, 35 admitted to 42. In three years at Juventus, his granite back line – the defense of Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini – allowed 20, 24 and 23 goals. Siri A Conte’s goals in the season. An incredible record.
After returning to club management in 2016 with Chelsea Italy Coach, Conte’s team has scored the most goals in the entire campaign (two against Chelsea, two against gap) is 38. So, nothing is worse than a goal in every game.
This season, the Spurs are conceding an average of 1.55 goals against per game, slightly worse than the 1.53-per-game his Atlanta team registered after conceding 20 goals in 13 games. It’s a far cry from what Conte is used to.
It’s a record that will hamper Tottenham’s attempts to achieve anything remarkable this season unless he can address the now all-too-familiar failings that were once again on display against. Manchester City Last night at the Etihad.
Accepting soft targets? Check it out. Reacting badly to adversity? Check it out. Late marking? yes Hugo Lloris mistake? yes
Conte oversees tough defense at Chelsea (Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
And this is where finger pointing gets tricky.
It’s not Conte’s fault that Lloris, a goalkeeper who at 36 is clearly in poor condition, leaves the clangers, or that. Eric DearHis form fell off a cliff after earning a late start England Remember in autumn, or that Clement Lenglet Choose a good support cushion for Riyad Mahrez Here, or that Christian Romero He hasn’t been half the player he’s been at the start of this season, or that his wingspan is far below the standard required for a typical Conte team.
Yes, there is all that. But there is also Conte’s point was Getting a defensive tune out of almost all of these players last season. And they looked solid enough at the start of this one. Then the schedule got horrendous (13 games in 43 days with no free midweek), a small squad suffered injuries and goals against Spurs were easy.
Given that schedule, those injuries and world cup, there are fewer situations here but you would also say that this team has some players who have improved significantly over the last half year. Some have retreated.
Personal form is one thing, strategy another, but Conte poured cold water this week on the suggestion that he might move away from his famous formula and 3-4-3 formation.
He has played at the back four times before, including spells at Juventus and Chelsea, but at Stamford Bridge in a title-winning 3-4-3 at the start of the 2016-17 season – A decision that changed the leagueNot just one team – he is exclusively married to other than the odd 3-5-2 game.
“To play a back four, you need to have defenders with specific characteristics,” Conte said in midweek. “At Chelsea, I started with a 4-2-3-1 and then I changed because the characteristics of the players were not good enough to play a back four. When I arrived at Tottenham last season, this is the best solution to exploit the characteristics of the players. In the future, maybe we can try to change, but if we (do so and) lose, I am justified. ok?”
He filled the back four from the start of Spurs’ 4-4-2 at home to Chelsea in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final last January. What might it look like today? Perhaps a 4-3-3 of: Lloris; Emerson Royal/Matt DohertyRomero, Dier/Lenglet, Ivan Perisic/Ryan Sessegnon; Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves in his twenties, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg; Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, Richarlison/ Son Heung-min.
Who benefits from the switch? For twenty one. You’d expect more control in midfield too, but left-back isn’t an obvious choice and getting a defender out of the side when you’re shipping goals feels like an impossible move, especially when scoring at the other end. The end is not the issue now.
“It’s not good to concede four goals,” he said after last night’s loss, adding that it was the first time in his career he could remember conceding four goals in one half.
“A game like this (2-0 up at half-time), with more experience, you never lose. You can buy experience, but we have to try to buy experience step by step. For this season, when I tell you that we just We have started the process to try to become competitive, which means we are working on this aspect as well.
“A team with more experience will never concede four goals. When we concede four, the first person responsible is the coach, then the players.
“Maybe we need to work on being more compact defensively. But the goal conceded depends on the whole team.
More experience (or in reality, greater quality), as Conte himself suggests, is not coming anytime soon. The growing pains will continue.
But if the Spurs are to reverse their season’s negative trend, something has to change – because the alternative looks the same.
(Top photo: Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
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