Antonio Conte will be expected to freshen up his Tottenham team on Saturday evening against Leicester City following their 2-0 Champions League defeat at Sporting CP. Only opting for the one change at Estadio Jose Alvalade after having no game last weekend, Spurs' performance in Lisbon did highlight that fresh faces in the XI to face Leicester are a must.
Slow going forward, sloppy on the ball and just looking off it in general at times, the Lilywhites did still have some good opportunities to win the game, notably through Emerson Royal at the start of the season half. Playing poorly but managing to get away with it in a number of their opening games in the 2022/23 campaign, this time the Lilywhites were duly punished by stoppage-time strikes from Paulinho and Arthur.
Conte now needs to see a reaction from his team when they return to Premier League action this weekend when Leicester make the trip to the capital. Not only do Spurs need to get three points on the board to maintain their unbeaten start in the league, it is also imperative they deliver a 90-minute performance to wow fans as they have yet to do that this season.
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Making fans sit up and take notice in the run-in last term with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski in full flow as they scored for fun and beat teams convincingly, Tottenham currently look a shadow of the side that managed to wrap up fourth after winning ten of their final 14 games in 2021/22. Now it is on the boss to get his team playing that way again, with a few tweaks here and there, including bringing Kulusevski back in from the off, required.
As well as the Swede starting in the front three again, Tuesday's defeat in Lisbon could potentially play into Yves Bissouma's hands. Playing a starring role in Brighton's midfield before his switch to north London, Spurs fans have only seen glimpses of the Mali international so far.
Brought on for the final few minutes in each of the first four league games, Bissouma was then named in the XI for the first time away at West Ham with Rodrigo Bentancur missing. The 26-year-old struggled in east London and was far from his best in the 1-1 draw, although he wasn't helped at all by picking up an early yellow card that left him walking a tightrope for the remaining 70 minutes.
Always going to need time and a decent run in the side to fully adapt to Conte and Tottenham's ways, we've only seen five minutes of Bissouma since that game after he was introduced late on in the 2-0 victory against Marseille. Conte did see positives from the player at West Ham, but he did make it clear that his new signing "needs to work" and he has a "lot of space for improvement".
"He needs to work, he needs to work. He needs to go totally into our idea of football. For sure he is a step behind Bentancur and Hojbjerg, but also the same for Skipp as Skippy worked with me all of last season," he explained in his press conference ahead of the Fulham game. "I'm pleased with what I have seen during the game. We are talking about a player with good skills, strong physically and a good engine.
"At the same time he has a lot of space for improvement and he can improve to become a thinking player because in that position is important to understand what the team needs with the ball, without the ball. We are talking about a player that for sure is a good signing for us and he can help us a lot."
Persisting with midfield duo of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Bentancur once again, the pair didn't have a telling impact on proceedings and were overrun numerous times. The former was guilty of some sloppy moments on the ball throughout, with the latter better in possession than his partner but still not doing enough to help make things happen further forward.
Tottenham have been crying out for something different in midfield to help link up with the front three and a progressive player in the middle of the park could potentially make all the difference. Calls for Bissouma have considerably gone up a notch or two since Tottenham's showing in Portugal and it may now be the midfielder's time to shine.
Not only excellent at winning the ball, Bissouma would bring plenty of energy to Tottenham's midfield and help the team transition from defence to attack with his forward-thinking play. Capable of playing box-to-box and an excellent dribbler to boot, the introduction of the Malian would hand Spurs a midfield upgrade if he can replicate his Brighton form in N17.
Conte has previously admitted that he is going to have to rotate his team over the coming weeks due to the hectic schedule and fans should get their Bissouma wish as a result. Just needing something extra in midfield at present after some frustrating performances, the introduction of the summer signing could help address the issue that was clear for all to see in Lisbon.
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