Antonio Conte suffered his second league defeat of the season losing 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
His side was utterly dominated by Erik Ten Hag’s men throughout the game. Conte’s passive approach to the game might see him win games vs the smaller teams but it does not seem to work against the top gun. Their only other defeat in the league came against Arsenal who beat them 3-1.
Conte appeared to send a subtle message to club chairman Daniel Levy after the defeat, attempting to turn the attention away from himself. He spoke about the past and upcoming transfer windows and what needs to be done. He said (via Football London):
“We can improve, we need to continue to work and for sure it is right with the club also to analyse very well why when we are going to play this type of game where the level is very high we are struggling,”
“I repeat we can work a lot on the pitch but we need to continue to work in many aspects.”
Despite the defeat, Spurs season has been going pretty good so far. They sit third in the league and are on the verge of qualifying to the next round of the Champions League as well.
Conte’s style of play may not be the most attractive but it does win him games. Although it can be argued that he might need to approach the game aggressively, specially against the top teams who like to attack.
The club also needs to do more in terms of backing the manager in the transfer windows than it has so far. Despite a number of signings in the summer, it is not enough specially considering they failed to address some of the key positions such as an attacking midfielder and a top class centre-back.