The Mail claims Antonio Conte ordered his Tottenham players to report for training at 11am on Wednesday morning as a potential punishment for their disappointing performance against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night.
Despite not playing at the weekend, Tottenham looked lethargic and leggy as they surrendered a point to Sporting in the dying moments of the clash. Paulinho scored a header, before Arthur made it 2-0 in injury time on Tuesday.
Reliable performers such as Rodrigo Bentancur, Son Heung-min and Ivan Perisic were poor. The likes of Emerson Royal were even worse. New signing Richarlison earned major criticism from Michael Owen following the defeat.
As a result, Conte ordered his Tottenham players to report for training at Hotspur Way at 11am. That is, despite playing the night before. The players returned from Portugal that night, staying at the Lodge at Hotspur Way.
Conte’s decision will come as a reminder to the Spurs players of his demands of the side. Also, the quality he expects. The Italian is said to have ‘tore into’ players in the dressing room at full-time. He wants the mistakes to be cut out.
Conte ordered Tottenham players to report for training at 11am today
The report indicates that Chelsea, who played against Dinamo Zagreb last week at 5.45PM, returned to training at 2pm the next day – indicating that Conte had his players in early. It is believed that the early start was seen as punishment.
Spurs have not been at their best this season. While they have picked up 14 points from a possible 18 in the Premier League, and a win against Marseille, they are still expected to perform better. Last night was coming, in some regards.
Conte will now be looking for a response on Saturday evening when Spurs play host to struggling Leicester. However, Leicester will have had two weeks to recover and work on things on training ground.
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