After Conte became Tottenham manager, the team initially achieved an unbeaten record of 6 wins and 3 draws in the Premier League, and Conte also became the best record in the history of the team after taking over halfway through. In the past 5 Premier League games, Spurs lost 4 and only won Manchester City. Is this because the "Commander Kong" only fights the elite? The answer is clearly no. Tottenham's biggest problems at the moment come first from the back line and the second from the boss who wants to shoot the team, which brings about a wave of hearts and minds.
01. The problems in the defensive line are too serious: Conte's three-centre-back system can't be held back
Tottenham have lost five of their first 19 rounds (in fact, five when Nuno was in charge of the first 10 rounds), but after four of their last five games, the team have fallen to 8th in the table.
Notably, Spurs conceded 32 goals in 24 Premier League games, even one more than the number of goals scored. Conceding an average of 1.33 goals per game, especially 2 goals per game in the last five games, has become a big problem for the team.
Take, for example, the defeat in which Tottenham were reversed by Southampton, when the team conceded its first goal, the team was given a second chance to defend after Ben Davis's jaw-dropping mistake.
As a result, when Emerson went to the flank defense, all six people in the middle were in a state of watching. 5 defenders + 2 backs only Emerson is in defensive mode, and everyone else is watching. In the end, the Southampton players scored easily between Tottenham's extremely clear defensive line and the backline line.
The second goal conceded was a terrible defensive position for Spurs. There were five defenders in the back line, and as a result, four came to the left side in front of the penalty spot, and there was only one right wing defender Emerson in a large area at the back point, and there was no midfield protection.
Left centre-back Ben Davis's poor selection of positions allowed the 2 centre-back partners behind him to move sideways at the same time, causing the opponent to hit Emerson at the back of the 2-on-1, and finally bring a goal scene.
Conte's adjustment is to pair Romero with Emerson, the former right centre-back and the latter right-winger, which is not a small help to the defense. Even in the front, Emerson and Romero have a strong front-to-top confrontation ability and can complete the first-line counter-attack.
The problem is that neither of them is a very good type of attack, Spurs is Kane passing, other people's playing style, the right side must have a certain ability to attack autonomously. So when Emerson was replaced by other better offensive teammates, Tottenham's trouble was even greater.
Romero, like Emerson, is a person with defensive stats but will be the one who concedes the backdrop. This will be very abrupt in tortuous in Tottenham's game. Is this Romero's fault?
In the past five defeats, two of them were 0-2 defeats in which Emerson did not play, and the other two games in which he was replaced were conceded by the team 6 minutes and 7 minutes after replacing Emerson.
In the battle against Manchester City, Emerson completed several key 1-2 blocks at the back post. As a result, as soon as he played, Romero was blown off a penalty for accidentally handball in the blocking of the cross in the supplement, is this an accident?
Six minutes after Emerson came off the court, the opponent's free kick hit the right back post, and Romero was pressed by Benjamin Mili to break the goal, becoming the background board for losing the ball in two consecutive games.
In fact, Emerson, like Romero, is a defensive mobile active and crisis-aware existence. As a result, they have become the background board for conceding goals in a row, which actually shows that the rest of Tottenham Hotspur are "far away" when the other side gets the opportunity.
02. Don't be fooled by Manchester City! Kane hasn't been in good shape this season
On the other hand, many people will be deceived by Kane's last game against Manchester City and the key kill, the problem is that after the transfer failure, Kane's form this season is actually very unstable.
Kane has played 23 Premier League games so far this season, but has only scored seven goals, made a total of 76 shots on goal, and wasted 12 excellent scoring opportunities.
Like this wave of attacks, Emerson sent a cross from the right into the box and Kane's header from the centre was too high. Kane is now more and more like a forward who passes well, and is becoming less and less efficient when going deep into the box.
Looking at this wave of attacks, when the Emerson man picked out the middle of the cross after the ball was split, it may be too much power, and Kane wanted to barb but kicked empty. Kane has been in the box this season and has been a bit overwhelmed most of the time. Maybe it's because his teammates have a low pass quality, but he's not in that good shape either.
After playing against Manchester City, Kane faced Burnley with another 3-foot shot on target. While that free-kick attack was a bit of a shame to grab a point and hit the frame, Kane's shot felt a bit disappointing.
In the game, Kane's value and role are increasingly reflected in the passing aspect. Especially when it comes to offensive and defensive conversions, Kane's ability to take the ball as a front and send a straight plug to bring out a single knife seems to be his greatest existence.
But the problem is that Kane is too obsessed with finding Son Xingyu, this time there is obviously a lot of space on the flank, but his pass is somewhat deliberate.
Kane's ability to pick up the ball is unquestionable, and the quality of his passing is high. But if you only look at Sun Xingyu, it will seem to be half the work. In particular, the other side also understands his habits more and more, and further reduces Kane's counterattack efficiency.
03. Conte wants to talk to the boss: the team is distracted and he doesn't get enough support
The most positive players that can be seen at Tottenham are several new entrants, such as Kulusevsky, Romero, Emerson and so on. The team's old courtiers, even Kane, will look a bit "lazy" this season.
The cause of the problem may not be just because Kane's transfer was unsuccessful, but there are more deep reasons. Conte wanted someone to talk to, perhaps to solve a more complex problem.
The team made reinforcements in the winter window, but the results were worse. The possibility of the Tottenham boss selling the team is also a key point that leads to military instability.
Tottenham's shareholders are Joe Lewis, an 85-year-old Jewish businessman who makes up 71 percent, and Levi, a Jewish who makes up 29 percent. The latter became team president since 2001 and once earned an annual salary of up to £6 million.
Spurs' revenue has soared in recent years, rising to around £400 million at one point, quite close to the Premier League powers. That's because Tottenham's stadium is built with leverage, and the team's debt is as high as £700 million. So Levi has always been eager to complete the transfer after the valuation is larger, which is one of the reasons why he is reluctant to release Kane.
As Arsenal star Keion criticized: "In Levi's eyes, Tottenham's player is a piece of meat, he will only want to make the most money." "When such statements continue to accumulate, it will also make the players' motivation to disappear further in adversity.
There is also a sharp problem, that is, the Tottenham manager always lacks the right to build a team. Even Conte, who was in the honeymoon period, tasted bitterness. He wanted to sell Ndombele, Ali and others to raise funds in the winter window, and then brought in 4 new signings such as Traore, but the new recruits were Kulusevsky and Bentankur.
Just like in his second season at Chelsea, Conte named van Dijk, Lukaku, Sandro, Chamberlain and Llorente, and the noir sent Morata, Bakayoko, Drayant, Rudiger, Zampakosta and Emerson, Giroud, etc., which eventually led to the complete failure of Conte's plans and tactics.
epilogue:
A team's success requires a lot of effort, and a team's failures are often similar. Spurs can unite people's hearts and minds for a period of time by changing managers. But when the honeymoon period was over, the team's downward momentum seemed out of the coach's control.
When Pochettino and Mourinho both suffered defeats, when Conte, who had managed the top two in the league with an average record, was in a quagmire at Tottenham. If you want to save the team, you may really have to pray that Levi will sell Tottenham Soon.