Once Antonio Conte was asked about the VAR decision that went against Tottenham at the London Stadium the floodgates were open. The Italian pounced upon the opportunity to air his grievances about the Premier League’s implementation and interpretation of the technology at its disposal, spending over seven minutes of his press conference discussing the various issues caused by English football’s most contested subject.
During an absorbing and generally measured rant, Conte revealed that he had congratulated referee Peter Bankes for making the “right decision” to award Spurs a penalty for an Aaron Cresswell handball – “with a smile, not in a polemic way” – stated that the VAR Stuart Attwell had “embarrassed” his colleague by nudging him towards the pitchside monitor and called on the Premier League to “cut off VAR” entirely for the good of fans and players.
To an extent, Conte’s annoyance was understandable. It took almost four minutes for the original decision to be overturned and it is debatable whether the right conclusion was even reached. But he conveniently missed out the part where his team took the lead anyway. And the bit about how his team were fortunate to earn a draw, as they did in another high-octane London derby at Stamford Bridge a few weeks ago.
In terms of points, Spurs have made a strong start to the season, only Arsenal (15) and Manchester City (13) have accumulated more. But as was the case when Nuno Espirito Santo led Spurs to three successive wins this time last year, results haven’t provided a true reflection of performances. Conte’s side has played well in spells and often looked deadly on the break – David Moyes admitted opponents are always on a “knife edge” given the quality of their forwards – but overall they have been far from convincing.
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The full list of completed deadline day deals - and who Chelsea, Leeds and Arsenal could sign01 September, 2022Conte’s ploy to utilise a back three and deploy Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski in attack has served Spurs extremely well, but there have been numerous occasions this season where the midfield two have been overwhelmed. West Ham exposed a couple of other issues in midweek. Namely that Spurs can be vulnerable to teams that press high and lack enough ball-players to pass out from the back effectively and consistently.
Classy assist from Antonio,
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 31, 2022
Elegant finish from Soucek!
West Ham United are back in the game…pic.twitter.com/zAIg8qiwba
West Ham’s equaliser was well finished by Tomas Soucek and well-crafted by Michail Antonio, but initiated by Hugo Lloris. The Frenchman skewed an attempted to pass to Ivan Perisic into touch under minimal pressure from Antonio and a throw-in and five touches later and he was collecting the ball out of his own net.
Spurs almost gift-wrapped a second goal for their hosts after committing a catalogue of errors in their own third. First, Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic played a thoroughly unconvincing one-two on the edge of their own box which ended with a back-pass to the keeper; Lloris then attempted a risky pass out to the touchline which was partially intercepted by Jarrod Bowen; and finally, Perisic casually played the ball straight to Soucek in his own box with the Czech almost setting up Bowen to score.
Sucking opponents in and progressing the ball out from defence is a key part of Conte’s strategy as bypassing a press and therefore taking opponents out of the game, creates space for Kane, Son and Kulusevski to counter-attack. According to FBREF, Spurs rank fourth in the Premier League for touches in their own defensive third which indicates that playing out is a deliberate ploy. But it is not a tactic that seems to suit the personnel, especially when Cristian Romero is absent.
Spurs also rank 11th in the Premier League for passes completed but 18th for passes made while under pressure from an opponent, which suggests they can struggle without time on the ball. Neither Chelsea or West Ham managed to beat Spurs but perhaps they have provided a blueprint to the rest of the league over how to do it.
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