Speaking on his podcast, Gary Neville has been full of praise for Antonio Conte and how he set his team up against Arsenal.
Spurs swept Arsenal aside in the north London derby, and that was down to fantastic performances from their star players and a brilliant tactical plan from Antonio Conte.
Neville noted one aspect of Conte’s strategy, stating that the Italian instructed his team to start cautiously and slowly in order to draw Arsenal out in order to create space in behind.
What’s been said?
Neville praised Conte for how he set his team up against Arsenal.
“You used to say a Mourinho masterclass didn’t you, but I think Antonio Conte has had a look at Mikel Arteta tonight. Arteta is right, you don’t drop your principles, he’s come out of the Pep Guardiola school and he plays his way. Conte will go back to the edge of his own box, and at the start of the game, and whether it was a tactic, he was passing slowly along the back trying to draw Arsenal out, knowing that will leave the space, that was a clever play by Conte and he’s a clever manager,” Neville said.
Mourinho-Esque
Tottenham fans have very different feelings towards Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, but that performance against Arsenal was very Mourinho-Esque.
Setting your team up to draw the opposition out and capitalising on how open they are is a tactic straight out of Mourinho’s playbook, and Conte pulled it off to perfection.
The Italian set his team up, not to dominate, but to win, and his plan worked out to perfection, and in the end, Tottenham did end up dominating as Arsenal went down to 10 men.
Conte got his tactics spot on against Arsenal, and he deserves all sorts of credit for his management.
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