Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has puzzled Paul Merson by not building his team around Harry Kane. Instead, the Italian relies on defenders he claims are not good enough.
Merson is at a loss to understand why Conte focuses on a defensive structure at Spurs that limits Kane’s influence. Especially as the 53-year-old’s three-at-the-back formation requires top wing-backs. But Merson does not rate the north London club’s options in that bracket.
Conte has a wealth of players to pick from for his wing-back positions at Tottenham. Matt Doherty, Emerson Royal and, rarely, Djed Spence contend to start at right-back. While Ivan Perisic duels with Ryan Sessegnon to feature on the opposing side of the Italian’s backline.
But while Perisic, who has also featured as a forward, has provided five assists from his 18 Premier League appearances this season, only Dejan Kulusevski (5) has also recorded more than two. Royal (1) is Tottenham’s only other wing-back to create a goal so far this season.
Doherty is yet to lay on an assist through his 11 appearances, while Sessegnon has played 14 times. Spence has also failed to provide an assist but has only featured for five minutes across four matches. Royal has played 926 minutes to Sessegnon’s 703 and Doherty’s 596.
Conte has bewildered Merson by not building the Tottenham team around Kane
Merson has now taken aim at Conte’s bewildering system ahead of Kane and Tottenham hosting his former team, Arsenal, in the north London derby on Sunday. He has noted in a column for Sky Sports how the Spurs boss befuddles him by not building his team on Kane.
“If you are going to play three-at-the-back, your wing-backs have got to be very good,” said Merson. “But Tottenham’s aren’t and they just don’t get the ball forward enough.
“If you look, their defenders touch the ball twice as many times per game as Harry Kane. He’s their best player by a million miles, so how does that work?”
Per WhoScored, Kane recorded 49 touches in Tottenham’s last Premier League game away at Crystal Palace. In the same game, Doherty took 62, Cristian Romero had 82, Eric Dier 76, Clement Lenglet 84 and Perisic 60. Doherty and Perisic also went off on 78 and 86 minutes.
Against Aston Villa in a 2-0 defeat, Doherty (61), Romero (94), Lenglet (83), Ben Davies (77) and Perisic (60) also took far more touches than Kane (35) recorded. While at Brentford on Boxing Day, only Fraser Forster (27) took fewer than Kane (34) among the XI Conte started.
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