Antonio Conte hits back at Paul Merson’s claims that Tottenham Hotspur is a one-man team

Antonio Conte has lashed out at Paul Merson for his claiming Tottenham Hotspur is a “one-man team” overly dependent on Harry Kane. The Arsenal legend had expressed that Spurs are too dependent on their talisman, and they cannot win games if he does not play to his usual best.

Tottenham have made quite some ground under Conte in the last few weeks, which has seen them firmly in contention for the fourth spot in the Premier League table. Kane has played a huge part in that, as the boss was able to help the striker regain his mojo after being out of sorts for a large section of this campaign. However, Merson conveyed that the team is overly dependent on the striker to get them over the line.

Speaking in an open interview (h/t The Express), The Italian coach is adamant that his side’s recent success is down to the improvements as a whole rather than just because of Kane’s resurgence. He added that they now have more options to impose themselves in games which may not have been the case beforehand.

“It is important for us to have many solutions to get three points and to win. Also because this way you are unpredictable. If you only have one player to score it could be simple for your opponent to stop him with two or three men and then the game has finished. Instead, we have created a good idea of football, with many solutions for different players and to be unpredictable.”

Maybe remove that Arsenal lens?

Merson needs to put aside bias and rivalry if he is looking to give off some opinions regarding football. While his previous ties to the Gunners do give him the licence to have a go at us, being a pundit, he should try to be more reasonable by providing an honest opinion about the game.

There were times in the past when we could not get over the line without the England skipper’s help. That has changed considerably under the former Inter Milan manager. Kane just has more influence on the team rather than the squad depending on him to win matches.

Wing-backs, for example, have become a key component in our attacking phase, which is not down to Kane’s influence. Even the wide centre-backs push forward to help progress the ball, so claiming that the 28-year-old carries the team would be disrespectful to the work done and improvements made by all the other players.

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Kane does have a big influence by creating plays and scoring goals, but without others doing their respective task brilliantly around him, we would not have performed well to this extent. For example, without Son Heung-Min making the run, the academy graduate would not have been able to create chances with his sublime passing abilities.

Different players play a key role in the North London side, while Kane still has a greater role in the attack. However, Conte has found a balance between the two aspects, which is the reason for our success. Merson needs to understand the difference between being dependent and getting the best out of your talisman’s abilities which may have prevented him from making this take.