sport news Tottenham: Antonio Conte faces a big conundrum in north London as he looks to ... trends now
Harry Kane was buoyant as he left France. Singing and dancing in the dressing room, teasing Marseille fans about fireworks and declaring this first phase of Tottenham’s campaign to be three wins from a resounding success.
‘It was really important just before the World Cup,’ beamed Kane, as he reflected on a comeback victory in the hostile Stade Velodrome to put Spurs into the Champions League last 16.
‘If we’d gone out, it would have been a real sting because you know you’re coming back from the World Cup and playing Europa League and it’s just not the same feeling, so that was really vital.
Antonio Conte faces a big conundrum at Tottenham despite continuing to get the job done
‘We’ve got three games before the World Cup and hopefully we can finish strongly and if we can be there or thereabouts in the Premier League and get through in the Carabao Cup, it’ll be a really good start to the season.’
Kane deserves his place in Europe’s elite competition. He was outstanding in the second half in Marseille, always an outlet on the counter-attack, holding the ball, winning free-kicks, hauling his team up the field and releasing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the 95th-minute winner.
He has every right to have a spring in his step, although others are much less equivocal about the state of play after one year of Antonio Conte. Having cast himself as the quick fix super-coach with the salary to match, Conte invites the pressure to turn Spurs into title winners at the flick of a switch.
The early progress was clear enough. Back into the Champions League and locked into the top four through the opening three months of this season. Still in all competitions.
But winning is not enough for some people when they see others winning with style, a common trend among those charged with fuelling fresh debate and quickening the cycle of change to satisfy the easily bored.
Tottenham are still in the race for top four and finished as winners of Group D on Tuesday
Little wonder fans are torn. Some look positively at the scope for improvement. Others look fearfully at last-gasp salvage operations required to squeeze wins against teams as unexceptional as Marseille and Bournemouth.
Conte remains a hostage to his instant success at Chelsea, where he tweaked formation and turned them into champions. He is supposed to flick the
