Antonio Conte bemoaned Tottenham’s laboured performance in the 3-1 FA Cup win against Morecambe on a day when a section of the club’s fans turned on the record signing Tanguy Ndombele.
Conte needed to introduce Lucas Moura and Harry Kane as 69th-minute substitutes – together with Oliver Skipp – as a heavily rotated lineup trailed 1-0 against the League One strugglers.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium support booed Ndombele when he took an age to leave the field after Conte’s decision to replace him with Skipp. But Spurs turned the game around late on, Harry Winks’s equaliser being followed by goals from Moura and Kane.
“In the first part of the game, for a big part of the game, we struggled,” Conte said. “In this type of game you have to score and, when you concede, for sure your opponent starts to feel they can beat you. We struggled to be creative and also to score goals. We had some chances but not too many.
“At the end, we have to be a bit disappointed because we can do much better. In the end, it’s OK. We mustn’t be happy, for sure, but we reached the target and that’s all. We have to do much better and also to know that we have to struggle. We have to know that if the situation is this, we have to be prepared to struggle this season.”
Ndombele, who started for only the third time under Conte, did not break his slow stride as the fans reacted negatively to him when he went off. But the manager was keen to downplay the flashpoint.
“This type of situation, they are in football,” Conte said. “You have to be good to change the opinions. I was a player and it happened sometimes to me that someone was unhappy with my performance.
“This is our life. It’s OK. We have to continue to work and try to be better next time. We have to know very well that if we perform well, the fans are happy. If you don’t perform well, the fans are not happy.”
