Unhappy Conte
Antonio Conte was not a happy man after the game. His Tottenham side had just won 3-2 to top their Champions League group and with a victory at home against Sporting later this month they are through to the knockout stages, yet the Italian was not impressed.
He cut a frustrated figure in the press conference room within the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and his voice was hoarse, battered by his constant yelling at his players in the final 15 minutes as he attempted to coach many of them through the encounter from the sidelines. For Spurs played some sweeping, expansive football at times and could have scored five or six goals, but ended up almost throwing away what ended up being an important victory against an Eintracht Frankfurt side with just 10 men.
Conte admitted to football.london that he, the players and even the fans had made a mistake with the team 3-1 up and with the numerical advantage.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Frankfurt: Son sublime, Kane and Hojbjerg creative and Gil impresses
"It is difficult to start from the end of this game because we played a really good game, despite conceding a goal - one that we could be much better in this situation - but our reaction was an important reaction and we created many chances to score. We scored three times and Trapp was their best player in the whole game," said the Spurs boss.
"That is the positive aspect from the game. The negative aspect is the final part and it has to be a big lesson for everybody, for me, for the players. The game finishes when the referee whistles three times. In the last part of the game, everybody conceded the game ended and for this reason we made a big mistake.
"We conceded a corner and they scored, then we had the opportunity to score the penalty but we missed the penalty. When we missed the penalty honestly, I was a bit scared, because I thought everything can happen.
"We are talking about a really good performance but the final part we have to take a big lesson, everybody. Myself and the players, everybody conceded the game ended. Maybe also the stadium and the fans. It was an important win for us, now we are leading the group, everything is in our hands. We have the chance with the next game with a win to go through the next round."
When football.london asked what it was that Conte would do differently himself in the final stages of the game if given a second chance, he thought for a moment before saying: "It is very difficult to explain. For sure the lesson has to be that no one has to concede the game and also if you are leading 3-1, you are playing against 10 men and everything seems on the right path, but football is difficult.
"It is difficult, now we are talking with a smile because we won, but imagine if this game finished a draw. That would have been a disaster."
Captain Hugo Lloris believed the effort dropped from the team in the second half.
"At the end, you just remember the score, the wins, but on our side we have to analyse performances and always try to improve, individually and collectively," said the Frenchman when asked if the current squad can handle the ups and down better.
"I don't want to compare with the past. I believe today we should have been more able to control the game in the second half because when you have ambition, the field talks by itself.
"Today in the second half, at some point we started to do a little bit less effort. Obviously there were a lot of changes but it's part of the game and a good opportunity for the players who came on. We work so hard every day that you can understand that we can be frustrated after a game like this one, because we should have managed the game better.
"But I'm not unhappy. I'm happy with the three points, that's the most important thing and we had a great reaction after the goal conceded. But it's just this feeling with up and downs. I don't like this. When you want to be a top team you have to be able to control games like this one better."
It really was a game where anything could have happened. At one point there was a strong smell in the air, like something electrical burning.
Some eagle-eyed stewards noticed that a section of the advertising hoarding to the left of Lloris' goal in the second half had some smoke coming out of it. Just moments before Cristian Romero had crashed into it while making a defensive interception.
The tough Argentine merely rubbed his arm for a while before walking off but the advertising hoarding came off much worse from the exchange. That section of it went dark and then the smoke and smell came. Stewards went to check on it and the smoke stopped after a little while.
The Spurs centre-back will be hoping a deduction for the repairs doesn't appear in his next wage slip, but it summed up a night when Spurs chaos reigned as normal. It was a game showcasing both ends of the quality spectrum, but in the end Tottenham managed to get the job done.
Super Son and disciplined Kane
When Son Heung-min or Harry Kane are on form, Tottenham invariably win the match. When both are linking up together, then it's almost a certainty.
"We just understand each other really well. I know what he likes to do and he's the same. The relationship, it's always hard work and good effort. It's always been a pay-off for hard work. Many more to come I hope," said Son to BT Sport after the game, having scored twice and the pair had recorded their 50th combination for a goal.
Son, named man of the match by UEFA, was unplayable on the night. Frankfurt defender Tuta will have woken up last night repeatedly in a cold sweat, having had nightmares about the South Korean star, so difficult was his evening in trying to stop Son from flying down the left flank.
The Tottenham man ran clear on 20 minutes after being put through by a trademark Kane through ball, following good work from Richarlison. Son showed composure to slide the ball past the onrushing Kevin Trapp in the Frankfurt goal with his right foot.
Son had claims for a penalty before Kane was awarded one, only after VAR suggested referee Carlos del Cerro Grande look at his pitch side monitor because he had made a Grande mistake in waving away the striker's vociferous shouts for a spot kick.
Kane powered home that kick before Son scored the goal of the night. The constantly underrated Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made it three assists and two goals for him in 13 games this season as he broke to the byline and crossed perfectly for Son, who had taken a step back to rocket home a volley of the utmost level of technique - this time with his left foot.
"When the ball came to me, Pierre saw me before crossing. The ball was just really clear to me and there was only one option to take the volley. I hit it really clean. I was very happy," said Son afterwards.
That Conte felt so unhappy with how the second half ended and then praised Kane's role in the win to ensure there was no criticism after a late missed penalty meant Son did not get as much praise from the Spurs boss as you might have expected.
In fact, whenever he was asked about that wonderful second Son goal he used it as another opportunity to urge the team to stop risking cancelling out great moments like that with sloppy displays like they put in late on.
Conte's feelings on Son are clear. He has a great relationship with the player and thinks he's one of the world's best and perhaps on this night he simply felt the South Korea captain did not need any further praise and the lessons for the team were more important.
Son was off the pitch during those frantic final moments, having done his job and then some having been replaced by the returning Lucas Moura.
"The last five minutes were really tough. In the Champions League you never know what will happen. It was uncomfortable sitting on the bench and watching. The most important thing was the three points," he said.
"It was a really important win. Positive things but always room for improvement. We have to improve because we have a massive game at the weekend. There's still two games to play [in the group]. We have to go again. Two tough games, we need to prepare more than the other teams."
Kane's late penalty, a rare wild and blasted effort over the goal into the south stand was the only real poor moment in a disciplined performance from the 29-year-old. Conte admitted that after the first game between the two sides in Frankfurt, he had decided on a strategy with Kane that paid dividends.
"I think that for us it was really, really important the first leg that we played against Eintracht Frankfurt. In that game we could win but we didn't exploit many important situations. In this game we had two days to work and to prepare situations to hurt them and I think the position of Harry was really, really important," he said.
"Today I asked him to stay in a specific position. In my opinion he played in a really fantastic way and he made our system. He scored and he could have scored the second penalty. The combination was good [between him and Son] and Richy was also good with the strikers."
Kane has missed two of his last four penalties for Tottenham, having scored 21 successive spot kicks for the club before this little stutter.
On that blazed over second penalty, Conte explained: "You know we are talking about a player that is very difficult to miss penalties. He's a killer and I think that also today in the end he was really really tired because he ran a lot. He played for the team and I think he played in a fantastic way today.
"Harry scored and this is good news for us. Also Sonny two goals and now I repeat this game ended. A good win, we are leading our group and now we need to be focused on the Premier League because we have a tough game against Everton at home. Three tough games before Sporting Lisbon, home against Everton, away against Manchester United and then against Newcastle."
On his attacking options for the match against the Toffees, Conte had some mixed news immediately after the game.
"Richarlison played a good game. He had a problem in his knee. I hope it's nothing serious for Saturday's game with Everton. We should have Kulusevski for that game. He's an important option for us. He's vital," he told BT Sport.
However, in his press conference a few minutes later, the Spurs boss said: "We have to recover energy and today I tried to give a bit of rest because we conceded the game close for the result. We have to recover and prepare for the game against Everton well. Good news because Deki Kulusevski will probably be available and Lucas Moura came back to today to play for 10 minutes. We have all the players available and that's good news for us."
Either Conte forgot about that Richarlison knee issue or he had received further word in between his media duties that the Brazilian would be fine. All will be revealed in Friday's press conference ahead of the match against Frank Lampard's side but Conte's attacking options are starting to stack up again.
Bryan Gil's bright cameo but was it too late?
One other attacker grabbed his chance to impress on Wednesday night and that was the lesser spotted Bryan Gil.
The 21-year-old Spaniard had come on in Germany last week but struggled on the whole with the physicality of the game and made Conte's public comments from back in February about him not being suited to the English style of football look accurate.
Fast forward a week and Gil looked like a man on a mission with his 10 minutes or so at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
He ran and he battled and he showed tenacity in his play, with plenty of skill to boot. One dribbling run ended with a poor touch but when he suddenly found the ball presented straight back at his feet by an errant Frankfurt backheeled he pressed forward.
Gil weaved in and out, tying his marker up in knots before the defender had no choice but to stretch out a leg behind him to trip him in the box. Kane blazed over the resulting penalty.
There was still another moment for Gil when Kane broke down the left and the Spain U21 international was sprinting into the box, calling for the ball to be played across.
Either through tiredness or simply cruel fate, Kane's ball across was at the right height for most Spurs players but not the diminutive dribbler from Spain and despite his best attempt at a leap towards it the ball merely whistled over his Beatles-style locks.
Gil worked hard and he proved that he can offer something to Tottenham but his bright cameo might just have come too late with Kulusevski and Lucas now back in the frame. History suggests that Conte will turn to the others ahead of Gil when he looks at his bench full of substitutes.
This was a little display though that showed Gil can carve out opportunities and he can be a nuisance especially when the game is stretched and the opposition is tired.
It's all about building trust with Conte and eroding his fear that the level of the team will not drop if he comes on to the pitch and this went some way to showing that, albeit in a stretched game.
The only thing Gil can do now is to continue to work hard behind the scenes, impress the head coach and grab any chance that comes his way and if that doesn't work then the loan exit door will likely open in January.
Defensive sloppiness and the wing-backs
At the other end of the pitch, Spurs were less impressive. In the centre of defence Eric Dier picked up an early 11th minute yellow card in having to stop a dangerous break but not long after he made a mess all of his own making in failing to control a simple pass from Romero.
Frankfurt recovered the ball and despite a brave touch on the floor from Hugo Lloris, it was worked to Daichi Kamada to score from the most generous of defensive mix-ups.
Dier recovered after that and played some excellent balls over the top into the path of the attackers. He even got a rest late on with Davinson Sanchez replacing him after 78 minutes.
The problem for Conte will be that, despite that early mistake, Spurs looked far shakier without the England international in the backline and it's difficult to see when he can be rested if that's how the rest of the defence is going to respond.
Lloris looked better after his mixed recent displays and Romero seems to be steadily getting back to sharpness, advertising hoarding breakages aside. The left-hand side of the back three appears to be where Conte feels most comfortable with rotating, happy with either Ben Davies or Clement Lenglet there.
The wing-backs brought differing performances. Ryan Sessegnon was rewarded for his impressive showing at Brighton with back-to-back starts and he responded with another promising 90 minutes under his belt.
The England U21 international links up well with both Son and Kane, who are always looking for his raids down the left. He could have had a goal himself if he'd been slightly more aggressive when running into the box for a low cross from the battling Richarlison.
In the end the ball was tackled against him before bouncing onwards to force Trapp into a save, but had Sessegnon got his foot to the ball first it might have been more difficult for the Frankfurt goalkeeper to get anything behind it.
On the other flank Emerson Royal struggled to muster much ammunition to quieten his critics. Defensively there were a couple of well-timed tackles in his own box but he was also outjumped by Faride Alidou for Frankfurt's second goal.
Going forward it's simply the same story for Emerson. One moment summed up the differences between the two flanks in the first half. The ball was swept out wide to him by Kane after the striker had surged forward as Spurs broke at speed.
Unfortunately the Brazilian failed to control his pass properly, it span behind him and after turning to collect it and Frankfurt had managed to get some numbers back, Emerson attempted to pass the ball but it was cut out.
The wing-back returns to his Premier League suspension this weekend against Everton and Matt Doherty will likely have the chance again to show that he can offer more in the role, unless Ivan Perisic comes in on the right if Conte is keen to keep handing Sessegnon starts.
Djed Spence remains patiently waiting for his opportunity. He will be hoping that Spurs wrap up their qualification from the group against Sporting because he then might - it's a big might - get opportunities in the game at Marseille and then the Carabao Cup tie at his old side Nottingham Forest.
The problem for Conte is that while he trusts Emerson and will laudably back his man, the Brazilian's lack of suitability to the Italian's wing-back needs is growing ever more glaring, especially in games when his counterpart on the other side is showing how potent the role can be within the system.
Emerson was not helped by Hojbjerg showing him how to deliver a perfect cross from the right for Son's bullet of a second goal.
That the Tottenham fans are starting to grow frustrated with Emerson being selected only intensifies the glare on his performances and therefore any little mistake is going to be jumped on and the dismissal of Spence by Conte as simply a young prospect for another day is only going to become more of a talking point.
The opportunity is there for Doherty to emerge from the chaos and claim the shirt back as he did earlier this year. Up next is Everton and in the same fixture last season the Irishman grabbed two assists in an impressive display. A repeat performance would be perfectly timed.
Lessons learned but Conte stirring echoes of Mourinho
There was something eerily familiar about the way Antonio Conte admitted to football.london that he had lessons to learn after the game.
It came in the wake of the Italian making all five substitutions and taking out players who needed a rest ahead of Saturday's Premier League match against Everton and replacing them with others in the squad.
It felt like he was suggesting he should not have made those changes and instead seen out the game with his strongest players that he could trust.
Rewind back to October 2020 and the night Jose Mourinho regretted making changes to his Spurs team - albeit to their starting line-up - for their Europa League match at Royal Antwerp. The performance was poor, he made four changes at half-time and they still lost 1-0.
After the game Mourinho said: "I would like to make 11 [substitutions]. I didn't make five because I was afraid of a long 45 minutes without any changes to make. There is only one to blame, which is me, I made the team, I chose the players to start and at half-time I tried to improve the situation, but it was not enough."
He added: "Look, you know what our best team is. You know the same thing that I know, that everybody knows, but I always like to think the players deserve an opportunity. We have a big squad with lots of good players.
"It's my responsibility to give them opportunities to play and also their opportunity to catch the chance with both hands and be in conditions to ask for more and tonight my future choices are going to be very easy, but again, there's only one responsible. Not the players. It's my responsibility because it's my decision to play."
From that point on Mourinho was very wary of rotating his players and with Conte admitting on Wednesday night that he should not have had made changes in feeling the game was won, there's some echoes of that night in Antwerp, if not quite to the same degree.
Conte needs to trust his squad because of the sheer number of games in such a short space of time and they can't give him nights like this when he doubts whether they can come in en masse, either into the starting line-up or as substitutes.
His reliance on Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur will not have been swayed by the pairing of Yves Bissouma and Oliver Skipp together late in the game. The duo looked like the new pairing they are and it's a vicious circle because they need the minutes together to get that comfort and understanding of each other's games but Conte can't afford to let them learn that way.
Only Lloris (1,170 minutes), Kane (1,158) and Dier (1,158) have played more minutes this season than Hojbjerg (1,150) and Bentancur (1,037). Hojbjerg has started every single game this season and in the last campaign there were only two Premier League matches he didn't start in, one through illness.
Spurs miss the underrated Dane when he's not playing and the same is becoming true for Bentancur, but much of that is because the alternatives are so rusty due to their lack of playing time.
Bissouma has been one of the Premier League's top midfielders in recent years and Conte believes Skipp is going to become a star in the league, but both need to learn to hit the ground running with whatever minutes they get to build the trust to earn starts.
Otherwise Hojbjerg and Bentancur are going to be run into the ground and despite their high levels of fitness, eventually one if not both will suffer an injury.
The coming games bring a variety of different challenges in Everton, Manchester United, Newcastle, Sporting and Bournemouth before the month is done.
"For us, that would be a great achievement [to reach the knockout rounds of the Champions League]. That was our first target in this season to go through to the next round," said the Spurs head coach.
"Now our focus has to be on Saturday because I tried to exploit this situation, I tried to give a bit of rest to players. We have tomorrow to rest and then on Friday we have to prepare the game against Everton.
"An important game for us, I think Everton didn't start the season well but now they have good balance. They are a strong team, Frank Lampard is a really good manager and they are doing a really good job,. For sure, we have to be at our best for the game on Saturday."
For Conte, which players he picks in the games ahead and how they respond is going to dictate just how much momentum Spurs can build up ahead of the World Cup break and also just how important the January transfer window might be.
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