Antonio Conte will have to make do without the majority of his squad during the final international break of the season. Tottenham went into the break on the back of a 3-1 win against West Ham, taking them to fifth in the Premier League table.
After the London derby victory, the Italian spoke about the disappointment of now having to pause from league action, saying: "It’s a pity to have the international break in this moment because in this moment we are in good form, in a good moment about the results, the performance. I know very well there is an international break and with the players that have to go with the national team we will see them after nine days, ten days but with the others we prepared two different situations of rest."
The break hasn't come at the greatest time, as Tottenham have nine games left of the season to try and secure themselves a spot inside the top four. Spurs managed to end their win-lose pattern that they had created through most of 2022 so far, when they defeated David Moyes' side.
However, they will now have to wait before they try and create a winning streak. The break would've been a great time for Conte to spend a couple of weeks working really hard with his squad for the final stretch of the season. Luckily for his players but unluckily for him, the majority of them are on international duty. Pierluigi Gollini is the only player that wasn't called up to play for their country during the November break that has been called up this time.
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Reports have suggested that Cristian Romero will still join the Argentina squad for their matches, despite his current two match suspension, which he got for allegedly breaching Covid regulations in their game against Brazil last year. There is supposed hope that the ban may be reduced, which could be why the defender will have still travelled.
Emerson Royal is the only player who was on international duty during the break in November that will this time remain in the capital. The Brazilian will be joined by Lucas Moura, Harry Winks, Sergio Reguilon, Harvey White and Eric Dier in N17.
The latter shocked many when he wasn't called up to Gareth Southgate's England squad, especially with his consistent form and solid defending for Conte so far this season. When speaking to the media on Friday, the Italian commented on the 28-year-old not being called upon to play for his country.
"Honestly I hope for the players to receive this call up. He’s working very hard and in this moment he’s one of the best defenders in the league," Conte admitted. "He has also big space to improve his performance and his quality and to become a stronger and stronger player." However the 52-year-old did provide some hope for his central defender. "I’m sure if Eric continues to play this way, he has a great possibility to go to the World Cup because, I repeat, he’s one of the best defenders in this league."
Moura, Winks and White have all struggled with game time, with some solid individual performances from what seems to be Conte's current strongest XI making their opportunities on the pitch few and far between. The former has perhaps the most competition for a spot in the regular starting team, especially with the arrival of Dejan Kulusevski and the solid ongoing partnership between Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
The Tottenham boss will also have two of his injured players working to recover during the break. Spurs revealed last week that Japhet Tanganga will be out for the rest of the season due to an operation he has had to have on his knee injury. Oliver Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon have both been out for a while with their injuries, especially the former. In his pre match press conference ahead of the tie against the Irons, Conte provided an update on the injured duo.
"It’s difficult to answer now. We’ll have two weeks to see this improvement and make him ready for the game against Newcastle," the 52-year-old said on Skipp. About Ryan, we’re waiting four weeks to have another scan and then if everything is OK he’ll restart training sessions with us."
The Italian will hope he will have the chance to work with those players at least some of the time during the break, but only time will tell. Reguilon has stepped in during Sessegnon's absence and has produced some decent performances, but still has improvements to make.
This was highlighted in the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the wing-back made two key tackles and four crosses, as well as having three shots at goal. However, there were a couple of occasions where he had a chance in front of goal but he looked uncomfortable and even a bit lost, with the chances amounting to nothing.
This is why the international break could be a perfect time for a player like Reguilon to work with Conte and improve those aspects of his game that he needs to, in order to try and make a strong enough case to keep his place in the Italian's regular XI once Sessegnon returns. Dier can also continue his hard work with the Tottenham boss, to ensure he can keep the consistency he has already shown, which he spoke about after Sunday's game.
"I feel for me this is consistently my best season I have had so far at Tottenham. My consistency, overall [in any position], I don’t think I've ever shown the consistency in the performances that I have shown this season and I feel like my football is the best it has been in my opinion."
The Italian also explained how he would work with his squad during the break. "Before two days to rest and then to work and then other two days to rest and start work again," he explained. "For sure we want to try to exploit this period for those not going with their international team to try to continue to improve on the technical and tactical aspect."
Conte would've hoped that he could use this time with his whole squad and create even more team cohesion and work on the areas that still need improving. However he will have to make do with the eight players that will remain in the capital and wait for the rest of his team to return, before pushing on in the battle for a top four spot when league games resume.
