Antonio Conte urged to upgrade four players that ‘aren’t good enough’ – opinion

Tottenham Hotspur wing-backs “aren’t good enough,” according to Paul Merson.

Spurs have improved massively since Conte has taken charge last year and after a couple of unsettling years post-Pochettino, Spurs finally look like a solid team again.

Last season, he led them to the Champions League beating arch-rivals Arsenal to the fourth spot on the last day, and he is off to a good start this season as well. Despite having less-than-appealing performances, they have won for the majority of the season. They are in third place in the league and first place in their Champions League group.

However, the last few performances have been below par with them losing twice in a row in the league and then drawing against Sporting in the Champions League.

And with Conte’s system heavily reliant on his wing-backs, Paul Merson believes the current players in that position are just not good enough.

In his column for SportsKeeda, he wrote:

“Antonio Conte always plays a three-at-the-back formation, and you need to have top-draw wingbacks with this system.”

“Tottenham have one of the best forward pairs in Kane and Son, but there’s no ammunition behind them. You’re only as good as the people who give the ball to you.

“Tottenham play with three defenders and three holding midfielders. They need a passer in their midfield.

“The two wingbacks that are supposed to step up in the final third aren’t good enough.

“If Tottenham had Reece James, Chilwell, and Cucurella, they wouldn’t be a million miles away from being a solid top-four team.”

Merson is right here – the wing-backs have not been able to make an impact the way Conte would want them to. Emerson Royal is terrible offensively and has had quite a few dreadful performances defensively as well but Conte has had to stick with him in the position.

Matt Doherty had filled in the role during Royal’s suspension and although Conte was said to be impressed by his performances, he put Royal straight back on his return. And new signing Djed Spence hasn’t really had a sniff under Conte with the manager perhaps not trusting him with the position yet.

It is an area that Conte will need to revisit in the next transfer windows since his system relies on it.