Despite their impressive second-half comeback against Bournemouth, Tottenham have some serious problems and Antonio Conte knows it.
Spurs deservedly basked in the glory of their turnaround at the Vitality Stadium with rare goals from Ryan Sessegnon and Ben Davies cancelling out Kieffer Moore’s brace, before Rodrigo Bentancur stroked home the winner in stoppage time. But how the second 45 minutes played out only showed the problems Conte undoubtedly has at the forefront of his mind.
In layman’s terms, Spurs simply don’t have enough players that Conte can trust. During his first six months in charge of the club, it was abundantly clear squad depth was the issue and many thought it had been solved with a busy summer window that saw six players arrive in north London.
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Ivan Perisic, who notched his sixth assist of the season on Saturday, was a crucial part of Inter’s Scudetto winning team led by Conte and Richarlison, who has also shown he understands exactly what the Italian expects of him, have really been the only two successes from Spurs’ summer spending spree.
Conte has admitted Yves Bissouma, despite all his quality, has struggled to adapt to his demands tactically, Fraser Forster and Djed Spence have barely featured, while Clement Lenglet’s performances have been rather inconsistent.
Two of those names in Bissouma and Lenglet were brought into the starting Xl for the weekend’s fixture along with Oliver Skipp, Emerson Royal and Davinson Sanchez. However, only one of those five was on the pitch for Spurs’ comeback.
Skipp was dragged off at half time for Lucas Moura with Conte opting for a 3-4-3 before Bentancur, Eric Dier and Perisic were all introduced just after Moore’s second goal, with Emerson and Sanchez, who were at fault for the Cherries second, making way.
Immediately, Spurs had a far calmer presence at the back and grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck in midfield. Dier has been unlike himself in recent weeks but away from the responsibilities of being in the middle of back three, was allowed to bomb forward and deliver some exciting crosses.
Sessegnon found Spurs’ first goal latching onto Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s incisive through ball before Davies glanced home the equaliser from Perisic’s corner before Bentancur completed the comeback, sweeping home the loose ball from a corner.
Given the circumstances, with Spurs coming off the back of consecutive defeats, the victory is an important one and the character shown is commendable but it should not distract attention away from the clear problem at hand.
Harry Kane and Son Heung Min are irreplaceable, we know that. But now we’re starting to find out Conte has more players in his squad that are undroppable. In some areas of the pitch it’s because of the concern regarding the squad players who would have to come in, but in other areas, such as the midfield, it’s down to the importance of the regular starters missing out.
Bentancur has become one of those players, his immediate impact against Bournemouth was evident and Hojbjerg is certainly not too far of joining him in that category, although many already consider him to be there, with his absence especially obvious in August’s lacklustre draw with West Ham.
Defensively, Emerson and Sanchez have simply not been good enough and it’s been known to many for some time, but with the demands Conte places on his wingbacks and Cristian Romero’s fitness issues, they have been forced to play.
The difference between the Spurs team in the second half compared to the first was striking and those early substitutions have shown Spurs managing director of football Fabio Paratici exactly where and why Conte needs improvements in January.
Frankfurt defender Evan N’Dicka has been linked as a January option for Spurs and the club have already been able to take a look at him after he played in both of his side’s group games against Spurs in the Champions League.
Reports have suggested that either Arsenal or Tottenham could land the defender for as little as £7 million in January, less than the £20 million CIES Football Observatory value him, due to the German side being keen to ensure they don't lose their man for nothing.
Meanwhile, further up the pitch, the acquisition of what would need to be a creative midfielder looks more difficult to complete. Conte may be better off focusing on what is desperately needed, which is quality defensive depth.
Conte has previously talked about where Bissouma must make improvements and the Mali international has responded to those claims, while Oliver Skipp is still working his way back to form after a torrid 2022 full of injuries.
However, in the summer Spurs could certainly move for a player like James Maddison and according to CBS reporter Ben Jacobs, that could very much materialise.
Speaking to GiveMeSport , he said: "Tottenham have had Maddison on their radar as well and, come next summer, they might be the kind of club, if they get back-to-back seasons of Champions League football, that's a big appeal to James Maddison."
Of course, no one is expecting 20 world class players to occupy spots in the squad but the gap in quality between those that when 100% fit are guaranteed starters and the players Conte needs to step up in their absence, has grown far too big.
The Bournemouth victory shows this exact problem in the very small sample size of 90 minutes of action.
In last season’s January window, Paratici brought in Dejan Kulusevski and Bentancur which drastically improved the quality of Spurs’ first team and Conte, if it hasn’t been shown already with how the Bournemouth game panned out, will likely be knocking at the door demanding players of a similar ilk in the window this time round.
If nothing changes in January it’s likely this issue will continue and there will be more important games arriving after the World Cup. Conte chose to prioritise the Sporting game risking Hojbjerg and Romero, with the Argentine missing the weekend's game, and he made the decision to rest Dier and Bentancur on Saturday and it nearly cost him, and it most definitely will later in the season if improvements to several key positions aren’t made.
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