After a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle, Antonio Conte appealed for patience. However, he may have the shadows of Mauricio pochettino hovering over him.
Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron scored the goals that secured Newcastle’s win at St James Park. Harry Kane’s second half goal nothing more than a consolation.
The end result makes it back-to-back defeats for Conte’s SpursManchester United dominated the midweek match against, with a 2-0 win that could have been worse.
The north London sideDespite a difficult October, they are still third on the Premier League table. They are currently five points away from the league lead despite playing a more recent game.
These are their Five-time League-winning bossConte was a well-known name in Italy and England when he signed the contract in November 2013. He reaffirmed his belief in the rebuilding process.
Asked about the result post-match he said: “It means that we need time, patience.
“I spoke about two, three transfer windows before, these were my words before, not now to twist words or find an excuse after a defeat.
“I have the experience to understand the way that we have to follow, it can happen that you can lose a game against Newcastle today and I don’t have anything to complain about with my players for the commitment for the behaviour, for the desire what I have seen tonight.”
Despite one angry talkSPORT caller who thinks Conte has had enough time at the club, Spurs fan and former Crystal Palace and Newcastle star Darren Ambrose agrees with his club’s boss that time is needed.
“Third in the Premier League, Spurs are,” he explained. “Lost three games this season, lost to Arsenal who are top of the league.
“Lost to Manchester United who are clicking and finally playing well and it was the worst performance Spurs have had this season.
“Lost to Newcastle who no one knows what Newcastle are going to do this season, they’ve only lost one game – to Liverpool – in the 98th minute goal.
“They’re the three teams that Spurs have lost to, Conte has already said they haven’t got the quality to win the Premier League, no one’s saying they’re going to win the Premier League.
“We want to see them get as close as they can to winning the Premier League but it’s a low at the moment, losing two games on the bounce, but to come on and call one of your best managers, if not your best manager, to go because he’s lost a couple, absolutely not.
“You’ve got to back Conte, you’ve got to give him an extra two maybe three transfer windows which is what he’s calling for.
“If he goes then fine berate him as much as you want because he would have let Tottenham down but give him windows, allow him to change players he doesn’t like, Emerson Royal…
“We need to give him an opportunity to change that, he’s had two transfer windows, got in [Rodrigo]Bentancur is [Dejan] Kulusevski which have been fantastic signings and this summer has brought in a lot of players to improve the squad, he needs time, you can’t be calling him out because a couple of bad games.”
Alex Crook, a fellow talkSPORT host and expert in transfer, had other ideas.
Talk of Conte’s return to Juventus has resurfaced, with the Italian team in complete chaos under Massimiliano Allgri.
And it comes at a time when the former Spurs boss has ruled himself out of the Aston Villa job as he awaits bigger things…
“Can I make a little prediction?” Crook began. “I’m going to look into my crystal ball and tell you what happens at Tottenham in the future.
“Antonio Conte yet to commit to a new contract, Juventus, Max Allegri bang under pressure.
“Conte goes back to Juventus, Mauricio Pochettino, wanted by Aston Villa, distances himself because he’s waiting for something bigger, back to Tottenham.
“That is what’s going to happen, you mark my words, you heard it here first.”
