Carragher claims Conte needs to make a key change to be a success at Spurs

Jamie Carragher has admitted that he was surprised when Antonio Conte took the Tottenham job back in November and insisted the Italian needs to change his modus operandi and get behind a long-term project at the club if he is to succeed. The week leading up to the City game was certainly not a pleasant […]

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Jamie Carragher has admitted that he was surprised when Antonio Conte took the Tottenham job back in November and insisted the Italian needs to change his modus operandi and get behind a long-term project at the club if he is to succeed.

The week leading up to the City game was certainly not a pleasant one for Tottenham, with Conte quoted as saying on Sky Sport Italia that the club may have ‘weakened’ their squad in January.

Many media outlets jumped on the Italian’s comments and suggested that he might walk away from Spurs (The Telegraph).

However, Conte himself cleared the air in the press conference on Friday, questioning why the media was trying to create a rift between himself and the club with mistranslated quotes (Football.London).

The Spurs boss would have certainly taken heart from the response he saw from his players on Saturday as Tottenham pulled off a memorable 3-2 win at the Etihad.

Carragher insisted that the Spurs head coach deserves a lot of credit for the way he set the team up against City.

The pundit told Sky Sports (live blog – 21/02, 01:26): “There was great spirit shown at times the way they (Spurs) hung on and the way they defended. It wasn’t a fantastic performance in terms of dominating the game. Man City do that to almost every opponent.

“They force you back so when you are deep, you’ve got to defend really well and you’ve got to counter-attack well and that’s what Spurs did today.

“The combination of Son and Kane has been so fruitful for so many years but the back three were outstanding, especially Cristian Romero and Eric Dier.

“That’s what you need. For however much possession and territory, City had, they didn’t create too many chances with that domination.”

Carragher insisted that Conte can make Tottenham the force they were under Mauricio Pochettino a few years ago but insisted the former Inter boss needs to look at the project as a long-term one, unlike the other jobs he has taken up in his managerial career.

The former Liverpool defender added: “Conte must take credit and I feel he took a lot of credit earlier on in his time at Tottenham, coming in with nine games unbeaten but of late it hasn’t been of the standard required. Some of the players have let themselves down as well.

“We know they’re not at the same level to compete week in, week out with the top teams due to their inconsistency and that’s where the frustration comes from the manager but I feel for Spurs a little bit as a club when you hear their manager come out and speak like he’s not quite on board.

“I was surprised he took the Spurs job only because they’re not ready to win right now. So if Conte is to stay at Spurs and make it successful it’s going to have to be a longer job than he’s had elsewhere.

“It’s a different remit so if he gets behind the longer-term project and gets the funds he can take Tottenham back to being a major force or certainly where they were under Mauricio Pochettino.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Conte has been clear from day one that he views the Tottenham project as a long-term one and that he needs time to get the team to where he wants them to be.

Since some media outlets did not perceive Conte and Spurs as a good fit when the Italian was appointed, they are viewing all of his comments as a sign of his unhappiness and as him threatening to walk out.

I am also convinced that Tottenham will back Conte in a major way in the summer. So, the project might not be as much of a long-term one as it might seem at the moment.

Privately, the 52-year-old might even be contemplating a title challenge next season, although that might seem unlikely as things stand, given the gap between Spurs and the top sides in the league.

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