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Football London
Football London
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Alasdair Gold

Ben Davies explains Antonio Conte's Ryan Sessegnon decision and praises new Spurs signings

Ben Davies has admitted the Tottenham players are hurting at the moment but he believes their current malaise is just "a blip" under Antonio Conte.

Spurs' 2-0 defeat on Sunday at home to Wolves was their third straight loss in the Premier League and brought boos at half-time and full-time.

Davies admitted that the Tottenham players failing to show a reaction after Wednesday night's poor showing against Southampton was a bad look.

"It was very disappointing. It wasn't great and we have to reflect on it and get better as a team," he said. "Any time you lose a game like this in that fashion, you have to look back on it. It was very disappointing.

"We know the quality Wolves have got, we know they're a good side. We were sloppy and gave them opportunities, more than I thought that we got done by their hard work. So it's disappointing in that sense and we know we have to be better."

On whether Conte had laid into them after the game, he added: "It hasn't been anything like that. We'll reflect on it properly, analyse it and work on the right stuff.

"Any time you're not winning games you're going to get questions and we have to deal with that. It's important not to overreact.

"There's a good group of boys in there and everyone's determined to be better. The standards we have set are better than we've shown [against Wolves] and it's up to us to prove that.

"It's a group that's hurting right now. It's a tough result to take, we know how much better we have to be.

"I think it's a blip. We've shown the quality we have and what we can do under this manager. We're confident we'll be able to put it right."

Davies had to shift to left-back after just 28 minutes with 21-year-old Ryan Sessegnon hooked by Conte as he switched from a 3-4-3 to a 4-2-3-1 formation after Wolves had scored both of their goals.

Sessegnon had to complete a long, dejected walk around the edge of the pitch before the head coach came over to chat to him when he reached the dugout.

"It's never easy for that player when it happens but we're sure it was a tactical decision and we had to go and take the chance," said Davies. "Unfortunately today Sess was that player."

Tottenham's January signings from Juventus Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski both played their part in the game, the former playing the full 90 minutes and the latter coming on for Sessegnon.

Davies believes both players are going to play a pivotal part in the remainder of the season for the north London outfit.

"They're going to be very important for us for the run-in now for the amount of games we've got. They're very talented players," he said.

Davies has become an ever-present himself under Conte, who sees in him a similar figure to his former Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta, and the Welshman is enjoying his time learning from the Spurs boss.

"Yes of course. To have the opportunity to work under a world class manager is always nice as a player," he said.

"Sometimes you learn more in the tough times. This is where we have to really take in what he says.

"We know he has the skill-set and the mental ability to make us better players. All we can do is learn from that."

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