Antonio’s verdict on our narrow loss at Old Trafford
Sat 12 March 2022, 20:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte was left with mixed emotions after our 3-2 loss against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday - pleased with the performance, disappointed with the result.
The game was certainly there for us as we came back from 1-0 down and 2-1 down, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to produce one of his world-class, decisive displays, his hat-trick seeing United over the line even though we’d controlled large periods of the game.
Ronaldo hit a bolt from the blue from 30 yards to open the scoring on 12 minutes, but we worked our way back into the game and levelled from the penalty spot via Harry Kane on 35 minutes after Alex Telles handled Dejan Kulusevki’s cross.
Crucially, United took the lead again three minutes later as Jadon Sancho broke clear and put it on a plate for Ronaldo to tap home, Sancho marginally onside after a VAR check.
Into the second half, Heung-Min Son went close before Harry Maguire turned Sergio Reguilon’s cross into his own net for 2-2. Ronaldo had the final word though, rising highest to power home Telles’ corner for 3-2 with 10 minutes left.
Speaking to Spurs TV pitchside at Old Trafford, Antonio reflected: “We have to be disappointed because after this type of performance, you deserve much more.
“At the same time, we have to be realistic and to know that twice we were good enough to come back here against United, in this stadium, in this atmosphere, that’s not easy, and we were good to do this.
“On the other hand, we have to improve with experience to manage parts of the game in the right way. The game is not only one game, during the game there are four or five games, and we have to try to manage that much better, to understand when we have to push a lot, when we have to increase the intensity, when we have to be calmer and to keep possession of the ball, not to be hurried in our decisions. I think in this aspect we have a lot of space for improvement.
“You are seeing a great improvement on the pitch because, I repeat, in the last games we are playing good games, playing very well, but at the same time, I’m here to explain a loss, and you know very well I don’t like to lose.”
We now head into a big week with our rearranged fixture at Brighton on Wednesday night (7.30pm) before what looks like a huge derby in terms of European places in the Premier League against West Ham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday week (4.30pm).
Antonio added: “Now we have two tough games against Brighton, I watched their game against Liverpool and in the first half, they were dangerous, Brighton are a good team, then West Ham, who are also fighting for the top four. Now we have to recover and to be ready to play on Wednesday and then on Sunday.”
