Last night, Spurs managed to bag there first win of 2023 emphatically defeating Crystal Palace 4-0, to ease some of the pressure surrounding manager Antonio Conte .
The Lilywhites headed to Selhurst Park five points off the top four needing a win to keep them in touching distance of Manchester United in fourth. Conte on the importance of the win (via Football London):
“For sure it was important. It was important to get three points, a good win, to score four goals, don’t concede a goal. It was really, really important. There are moments when you need this type of performance and today we did it. It wasn’t easy. Don’t forget that to play against Crystal Palace away is not easy. If I’m not mistaken they beat us 3-0 last season. This is always a really difficult pitch to play.”
As well as needing to keep hunt for Champions League football, Spurs also needed to bounce back from last weekend’s pitiful display against Aston Villa.
Thankfully, for Antonio Conte his side provided a much better performance last night, with plenty more quality and intensity on display. Conte on his side’s reaction from the Villa loss (via Football London):
“The response today was really good. I think my players showed every time great character, great personality in every situation. Then you can win or lose but the most important thing is that you stay on the pitch with the will and the desire to fight until the end.”
Despite Spurs visibly improving from the Villa game, they did still again struggle in the first half. Thankfully, for Spurs fans though the team did come out of the traps quickly in the second half. With Harry Kane turning the game on its head, with two quick goals in the 48th and 53rd minute to swing the momentum in Tottenham’s way. Kane’s second goal – which was an emphatic right-footed finish into the bottom corner – now puts him on 264 goals for the club, only two goals behind Jimmy Greaves (266) in Tottenham’s all-time record goalscorer list. Conte commented on Kane’s outstanding performance (via Football London):
“Yeah but to speak about Harry we waste time to explain about the type of player he is. I repeat we are talking about a really world class striker and he is going to beat every record with the goals. For us, he’s an important point of reference not only with the goals but on the pitch, with Hugo our captain. Especially in the difficult moments, you know Harry is on the pitch, ready to fight, ready to help his team-mates, ready to sort the situation with goals and assists.”
With Dejan Kulusevski out injured Conte decided to persevere with Bryan Gil in attack and the Spaniard well and truly justified that decision. Gil was one of Tottenham’s standout performers on the night, grabbing his first assist of the season, playing Kane in-behind the Palace defence for Tottenham’s second goal. Conte was asked on what he thought of Gil’s performance (via Football London):
“You know about Bryan Gil we are talking about a player who was born to play football. He understands football quickly. He’s so clever, so intelligent to understand the situation. Then you know this league is difficult, because you have to be good in quality and be fast and to have good endurance and he has this type of quality.
But at the same time you have to be strong physically. I think compared to last season Gil is improving a lot also under this aspect. He has to become stronger physically. I compared him to Bernardo Silva, at Manchester City, because in my opinion they are really, really similar. He has to continue to work really strongly on the physical aspect because I repeat we are talking about a player with great quality.”