Antonio Conte praised Tottenham Hotspur’s ability to turn defense into attack as they spared a final grueling run to stun Premier League leaders Manchester City with a Harry Kane-inspired 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium. Stadium.
After three successive league defeats, Tottenham’s top-four ambitions faded, and Conte’s honeymoon period since taking charge in November was truly over.
But the Italian, who has been in the spotlight all week after an interview in which he appeared to imply a weakening of Tottenham in the transfer window, masterminded the “perfect match” to stop the Man City juggernaut, Reuters reported.
Tottenham only accounted for 28% against City, but they defended seriously and always looked like a threat on the counter-attack with Kane, who scored twice including the 96th minute winner, and paired superbly with Son Heung-min.
City had made it 2-2 in stoppage time with a Riyad Mahrez penalty, and it seemed likely that the leaders would win even at the last minute, but Tottenham had other ideas as they revived their hopes of challenging the top four.
“You know that when you play Manchester City you will give up 70% of possession. But I tell the players that when you defend, in your mind you should always attack. In your mind you want to win the ball and attack,” said Conte, who has not lost three consecutive league games as a coach. for 12 years.
“To think of this, in the last minutes, their goal could have killed you. Instead, the players wanted to win.
“I think at every moment of the game my team wanted to attack them. Every time we had the ball I thought about the possibility of harming them.”
The surprise win saw Spurs back in seventh place, and with matches in hand over the likes of West Ham United and Manchester United, they are back in search of the top four.
But Conte knows that one big result won’t work unless you can produce a higher level of consistency.
“This win should give us confidence, and confidence in the work we do together,” said the former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan coach. “But this is a process.”
Dejan Kulusevsky, who joined in January, scored his first Premier League game, scoring Spurs’ opening goal and impressing with new team-mate Rodrigo Bentancur.
But it was the old combination of Ken and Son Heung-min that really tormented City. Son made the first goal for Kane, the 36th time they have combined a Premier League goal, equaling Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard’s record with Chelsea.
“Talking about just one player is difficult for me,” Conte said.
“Sonny was great today. I think Harry talking about Harry’s performance what I have to say, it was great, but the midfielders, the defensive line, the goalkeeper, the players that came off the bench.
“When you beat Manchester City, you played a great game.”