Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte delivers verdict on 0-1 victory against Watford 

Speaking to Spurs TV after the game, as quoted by the club’s official website, Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte claimed that it took a lot of patience to pick up a victory against Watford.

The Italian picked up his 5th league victory in charge of the North London club but it took until the final minutes of the game to secure all three points. Spurs were the dominant side on the night and tried to penetrate the Hornets backline repeatedly. 

Daniel Bachmann was having a great game and could have ended up with a clean sheet, but fortunately, Davinson Sanchez leapt the highest following a 96th-minute free-kick from Son Heung-min. There was a great relief amongst fans and Conte, who might not have appreciated a second consecutive league draw, especially when Arsenal lost earlier in the day.

The gaffer explained after the game that the players did not lose patience in the victory at Vicarage Road.

 “It was a difficult game because we played against a team well-organised defensively, they prepared this type of game, but we controlled the game, we had a lot of possession, and we created chances, but I think that we missed the last pass. 

“We have players that with space are very good but it’s okay. We tried to control the game, we worked very well to keep the balance and not lose patience because in this type of game you risk if you attack, attack, attack, then to give only one chance of a counter-attack to concede a goal and you lose the game.”

Top 4 in sight

It was a hard-fought match, but the result now sees us just two points off the Top 4 with two games in hand. In fact, if we win both our games, we could be within three points of 2nd placed Chelsea–a position which was hard to imagine being in during the days of Nuno Espirito Santo.

Conte has certainly worked his magic wand. Rivals and pundits could argue that this is a ‘new manager bounce’ but there is something exciting brewing at the N17 and it has been a while since the former Inter Milan and Chelsea manager has taken over the managerial helm at Tottenham. Every player is being afforded a chance, and all of them are taking it with open hands.

One could also argue that had the Italian been at the helm since the start of the season, we could have been in the conversation to win the title, if not leading the race to do so. But those days shall also hopefully come in the future. This is a title-winning manager who is going to stop at nothing to help us achieve great heights- as evidenced by his brilliant success in Milan last season where he won them the elusive Scudetto.

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The celebration of the 96th-minute winner yesterday is evidence of what the victory means to the team and the manager. He has got us believing again, and he now needs to be backed in the January transfer window. Although, that is something Fabio Paratici will be looking at currently considering Conte’s primary focus on the trip to Stamford Bridge in mid-week for the 1st leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

This serves as a brilliant chance to win our first major trophy since 2008 and we must use the boost we got against the Hornets in the game against the Blues.