Tottenham Hotspur forward Steven Bergwijn reveals what Antonio Conte said ahad of West Ham United win
Steven Bergwijn has revealed what Antonio Conte said to him as Tottenham Hotspur beat West Ham United by a 2-1 scoreline in the Carabao Cup quarter-final. The former was the performer of the night as he scored and assisted to ensure Spurs made it to the last four of the competition.
The Dutchman broke the deadlock early in the first half after some intricate play with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the Hammers box. The opponents levelled the scoreline instantly through Jarrod Bowen but Bergwijn had the last laugh as he skipped past several defenders before assisting Lucas Moura for their second goal of the night.
Speaking in the post-match interview on Spurs TV (h/t Football.London), the 24-year-old has revealed that Conte advised him to stick to his strengths and utilise them to the fullest whenever possible. He added how the boss also challenged the starters to do their best and give him “answers”.
An astute coach, it would appear that Conte recognized Bergwijn’s ability to excel in one vs one situations. The message was sent loud and clear to the winger and he made no mistake when the opportunity presented itself on the night.
“It’s my quality to go in the one-v-one. The coach has always said to me when you have the opportunity, do it. I saw some space and I did it. It’s always so nice to get a goal, get an assist. It has been a while since I played so I’m happy. The coach said before that the players who start need to give him answers. In the beginning I lost a couple of easy balls but after that I think I did a better job. I’m happy with the win.”
A way back?
We were struggling with the lack of quality options to back our starters, and the Spurs attacker’s performance could not have come at a perfect time. We are going to enter the festive period where the matches come one after the other in quick succession.
As such, we would need the entire squad to do their part so that the 52-year-old boss can rotate at will and yet keep his players fresh. He had previously mentioned that the Dutch star would be a suitable option to provide backup to Harry Kane. Bergwijn certainly advertised his prolific side against West Ham.
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We will face Crystal Palace and Southampton on 26 and 28 December respectively, which shows how tight the schedule is. It may not provide enough recovery time for everyone to be fully fit to feature in both matches. Therefore, the squad players would get their chances and would need to impress just like they did in the past two games.
