Prior to Tottenham’s away clash against Leicester being postponed because of COVID, Brendan Rodgers spoke highly of his fellow counterpart, Antonio Conte.
The FA Cup-winning boss claimed that Conte has already made a difference to Spurs and ‘you can see the changes’ despite the fact that he has spent a ‘very limited period’ on the training pitch, as he told his press conference.
Tottenham are unbeaten in the Premier League since Conte was handed the keys and these recent postponements are hitting them hard.
That’s three games in a row now that their matches have been called off, added with their Burnley game a number of weeks ago because of the snow.
The momentum and progression Conte was making has well and truly gone out of the window now.
But Rodgers spoke in a positive fashion about the Italian and the tactics he likes to deploy.
“It’s going to take time for Antonio coming in,” said Rodgers. “It takes that little period. You can see the changes despite a very limited period of training time.
“It’s not like pre-season when you can put in place your methods. It’s pretty much been a back three. He will look to develop it.”
It has been 11 days since Tottenham were last in competitive action – when they beat Norwich City 3-0 on home soil.
Conte can be as demanding as he wants to be, the Spurs players, those who are able to train, can push themselves to the limits.
But this lack of game time is seriously hurting the players and nearly two weeks out without a competitive match will become problematic for their match fitness and sharpness.
As things stand, Spurs take on Liverpool on Sunday and that’s the last thing they need given their lack of game time.
Liverpool were in action over the weekend when they beat Aston Villa 1-0 and are due to play relegation-threatened Newcastle United on Thursday evening.
Before anything else, Spurs fans will just want to see their team playing again and then hope that these recent events haven’t affected them too much.
But they aren’t the only ones facing matches being called off, Burnley v Watford followed suit yesterday, as well as Manchester United showdown with Brentford and Brighton.
Given the rise in COVID cases, it won’t be a surprise if football heads towards playing behind closed doors or cancelling the fixture list for the near future.
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