Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil says “world class” Spurs substitutes changed the game in Tottenham’s favour
Despite the absence of Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison due to injury, Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte still had a number of impressive options to bring off the bench against Bournemouth.
Spurs trailed 2-0 to the Cherries at the Vitality Stadium yesterday courtesy of a brace from Keiffer Moore, with a goal in each half of the game. Ryan Sessegnon started Spurs’ comeback with a goal in the 57th minute.
Then, Conte flexed his muscles and brought on some world-class names from the bench. Ivan Perisic, Byran Gil, Rodrigo Bentancur, Eric Dier, and Lucas Moura all came off the bench.
Two of these players made a direct impact. Perisic assisted our equaliser when Ben Davies scored in the 73rd minute. The Uruguay international then scored the winner in stoppage time.
Speaking after the game, Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neil highlighted the difference between the two sides on paper. He said (h/t official AFC Bournemouth website):
“There’s a big gulf between the two sides, but it didn’t look like that for large parts today. For a large part, we managed to close that gap and managed to be very competitive against a top side.”
He then added that the options at Conte’s disposal were too good.
“When they are bringing on players like Lucas Moura, Ivan Perisic, Bryan Gil and Rodrigo Bentancur, it can be tricky. But we lost a game against Tottenham which is never a disgrace for us.”
The squad depth has been boosted this summer after we added quality names across the pitch. Fans will now eagerly hope for Richy and Deki to be back in the squad sooner rather than later.
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The subs were influential against the Cherries but we cannot keep counting on our bench to bail us out. Instead, Spurs have got to stop conceding first and then kicking into fifth gear. We have to be proactive from the first minute rather than reacting to going behind later on.
