‘No personality’: Emmanuel Petit slams £28m Tottenham star & Conte after defeat in NLD

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Emmanuel Petit slammed Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur who showed ‘no personality and character’ during their 3-1 defeat to Arsenal in the north London derby on Saturday.

The former midfielder was also critical of Emerson Royal for his sending-off in the second half by adding ‘there was no need for that’, as he told Premier League Productions (01/10/22 at 2:40 pm).

At the time of Emerson’s sending-off, Spurs were losing 2-1 and they were trying to inject some life into the game, for their own benefit.

Going down to ten men just put the final nail in the coffin for the away side because Granit Xhaka scored moments later to all but seal the bragging rights for Arsenal.

It was a deserved defeat for Conte and his players, with many questioning Tottenham’s lack of bite and attacking play during the game.

That was touched upon by legendary French midfielder Petit, who also questioned Emerson’s sending-off challenge on Gabriel Martinelli given how far the Arsenal winger was away from the goal.

“I think the best team deserve to win,” said Petit. “We showed composure during the whole game. As I said at half-time, I wanted the Gunners to be more clinical and then they scored a second very easily at the start of the second half.

“Then, the sending-off helped Arsenal to finish the game. But I am quite disappointed with the performance of Spurs. I think they were too shy. No personality and character. And I am very happy with the Gunners, they deserve it.

On Emerson’s red: “It is a hard one, but it’s so far away from the goal. There’s no need to do that.”

SETBACK FOR EMERSON

When Emerson secured a £28 million transfer (Sky Sports) to Spurs from Barcelona last summer, the Brazil star struggled during large parts of that season.

Conte replacing Nuno Espirito Santo at Hotspur Way certainly helped matters because, whilst it took time, he started to become more consistent and a player his manager could trust.

But now he has suffered a little setback, and whilst the debates will rage as to whether it was a red-card challenge from the player.

The fact of that matter is that he didn’t need to make that type of challenge, at that moment, given the lack of danger posed by Martinelli, so he only has himself to blame.