The World Cup in Qatar provided Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte with a chance to assess a number of his fringe squad members back in the UK ahead of a vital second half of the season. Spurs find themselves in the middle of the hunt for Champions League football and Conte’s squad will be vital.
Ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash with Aston Villa, Spurs sit fourth in the table, one point above Manchester United. However, Erik ten Hag's men have a game in hand, meaning Conte's men face a tough task in 2023 to secure a top four finish.
The second half of the season kicked-off on Boxing Day with a 2-2 draw at Brentford. Despite showing fighting spirit to come from two goals behind, Vitaly Janelt's strike in the 15 minute made it nine consecutive games that Spurs have fallen behind.
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After confirming that World Cup winner Cristian Romero is in contention to return to his starting line-up, Conte has revealed the work conducted on the training ground with his non-World Cup stars during the mid-season break and has listed a number of his fringe players that impressed him.
"For sure, you're right. It was a great opportunity for me and my staff to work with the players, especially with the young players that didn't play in the World Cup," the Italian claimed.
"To work with Pape Sarr, he played in the World Cup but then he came back two weeks before and worked with us. I think Pape Sarr is a really good prospect and I like the two weeks we worked after the World Cup with him.
"It was the same for [Bryan] Gil and we exploited this time to work with Skippy [Oliver Skipp] again, because Skippy is another player that last season in my first two, three months he helped me and helped a lot the team.
"Then he had an injury and he stopped work. It was good for me to work again with him and put him under a bit of pressure under the tactical aspect and physical aspect on his body and mind.
"Also, Harvey White was a good surprise because we are talking about a young player, but really, really clever, a player that I can ask him to play in every position and he is good to do it.
"I think it was positive to exploit this time. Also it was good to bring (Matt) Doherty in a good physical condition after a serious injury. It was the same for Japhet Tanganga, because don't forgot it was the same for him, he had a lot of problems with his knee.
"But during the Christmas period we worked with him and for this reason I gave him the opportunity to play because he deserved his chance. We tried to exploit this period during the World Cup to know much better the young players and work more with them."
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