Antonio Conte commenced lifestyles at Tottenham with a win in the Europa Conference League towards Vitesse Arnhem - a facet that had provided one of the final nails in Nuno Espirito Santo’s coffin.
But there had been both reasons to be pleased with what he saw and indicators of the tough paintings that lies beforehand of him and his workforce to whip this squad into appropriate shape.
Conte hasn’t had time this week to make his mark. The former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter boss changed into only employed on Tuesday and had only been introduced to the gamers and watched education as a spectator by the time he turned into given the professional cross-ahead to take rate on Thursday.
He therefore didn’t virtually trade the employees, choosing 10 of the eleven players that had started out Nuno’s final game on the weekend, a 3-zero sorry defeat to a struggling Manchester United. But he right now positioned his trademark 3-4-three system in location and that will be a crucial a part of any future fulfillment.
There is no doubting the attacking first-rate within the Spurs squad and Conte might be delighted that he can work with gamers as properly as Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura.
All 3 attackers had been involved as Spurs raced right into a 3-zero lead in the first half hour. There is also promise within the wing-lower back positions - such important roles in any Conte crew - with Sergio Reguilon and Emerson Royal getting forward on the left and right respectively.
But where Conte will need to get to work rapid is on the defensive facet of the ball. He is understood for his extreme, physically disturbing fashion of play that calls for consistent urgent and going for walks. That became lacking from Spurs, mainly when they went 3-0 up, which changed into what allowed Vitesse to combat their manner again into the sport fantastically without problems before the primary 1/2 turned into over.
At 3-2, the visitors looked assured and both facet should have scored the following goal at that stage – but for a store from Hugo Lloris early in the second half of, it thoroughly could have been 3-3.
Conte may also need to polish the hard edges that persist, along with Cristian Romero’s propensity for a reckless undertaking. The Argentine became sent off after amassing a yellow card in either half of, placing tremendous strain on his teammates till Vitesse had a participant in their own despatched off. It will take careful training to rein that in and coax out the pleasant defender that exists internal him.
Spurs made it unnecessarily difficult for themselves, but a win is a win and now Conte may have a far clearer photo of a way to approach his modern assignment.
