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Conte backed to "shake the place up" as three Tottenham concerns identified

mirror.co.uk, 7 November 2021, 07:30
EXCLUSIVE: Former Tottenham star Darren Anderton believes new manager Conte can give the Premier League club a much-needed boost after the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo

Former Tottenham star Darren Anderton has backed new manager Antonio Conte to "shake the place up" after replacing Nuno Espirito Santo at the North London club.

Spurs currently sit ninth in the Premier League, with club chiefs Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici taking the decision to sack Nuno after a defeat by Manchester United last Saturday.

But Anderton believes that Conte, who previously won the English top-flight with Chelsea, is the man to return Tottenham back to their place in the top four.

The former England international does have three concerns about the job facing the Italian, with those being the form of struggling striker Harry Kane, out of favour Dele Alli and the challenge awaiting Conte.

Is a top four place a realistic target for Tottenham under Antonio Conte? Comment below.

"Everything's there at Tottenham to be a successful club, the stadium, the players, it's a strong squad, the support, the fan base," Anderton told Mirror Football.

"Everything's there for a top, top manager to take it to the next level. Conte's gone into places and he has not messed around.

"He has done it his way and if players don't like it or they don't do it then they're out. What's wrong with that?

"At the end of the day, you're the manager. If things don't go your way you're going to lose your job so that's the way it should be."

Anderton spent 12 years at Tottenham, at one point playing under a similar hard taskmaster in George Graham.

And though he believes that some Spurs players may be worried about Conte coming in, he has urged the new boss to be ruthless in his methods.

"I think some of the players at Tottenham will be worried at him coming in, thinking a) 'I'm going to have to work hard' and b) 'is my future here'," Anderton added.

"He's going to shake the place up and, honestly, I think that's what it needs.

"In my day, we had George Graham come in and I just remember everyone being like 'Oh George, work this, work that'.

"My answer to that was if you have good players and you can make them all work hard and play for the team then you have a pretty good chance of being successful."

One of the main problems facing Conte is the form of Kane, who has scored just once in the Premier League this season.

But Anderton is confident that the England captain will soon get himself back on the goal trail and that Conte's attacking style will get the best out of him.

"It's been highlighted because of the summer and the Manchester City situation but the reality is, Harry's been playing in a team that's really average," Anderton said.

"The creativity in the team has been very poor and we've played at such a slow pace that we haven't been creating opportunities, putting crosses in the box.

"The place will get a lift, the team will play at a higher tempo and that will help Harry, no doubt about it.

Of course, it coincides with the Manchester City thing in the summer, but that happens during your career, you go through spells when you're not at your best."

Another player who has been out of form in recent weeks is Dele Alli, with Nuno having benched him for four successive Premier League games.

And Anderton believes that the midfielder has one last chance to prove himself with Conte, otherwise his career as a Spurs player could be over.

"Dele at one point was being talked about as one of the best players in the world. He's had a real struggle for a couple of years, a few injuries which doesn't help," Anderton said.

"Some of it is obviously down to him. But that's now a couple of managers who haven't fancied him or he's done something to upset them.

"This could go either way for him, under a manager like Conte. If he doesn't show Conte that he's willing then he'll be out of there.

"We all know what a talent he is and with that workrate and with that manager, if he shows him some love, hopefully Conte does that, we could see the Dele Alli of old."

Darren Anderton was speaking to the Mirror in conjunction withwhichbookie.co.uk.

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