Want To Change Tottenham's Mentality After Being Matched By Soton, Conte: Why Do You Have To Be Slapped First To React?

Antonio Conte (Twitter @premierleague)

JAKARTA - Antonio Conte says his biggest task right now is to change aspects of the mentality of Tottenham Hotspur, which he believes influenced the 1-1 draw against Southampton in the Premier League at St. Mary's, last Tuesday night.

The Italian tactician admitted that their opponents were better in the first half and his players only reacted after falling behind.

"We have to improve this aspect of the mentality, why do we have to be slapped first to react?" Conte said after the match quoted by Antara from Tottenham's official website.

"We have to be a bit frustrated at the final result."Conte reflects on a tough afternoon. ️ pic.twitter.com/SbG3DUGc0W

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 28, 2021

"It's a big task that awaits, changing the mentality and continuing to improve in many other aspects, because after conceding we can only play well. Again I repeat, why do you have to be slapped to react?" he added.

Tottenham fell behind to Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse's goal and only managed to retaliate through Harry Kane's penalty.

The penalty coincided with a second yellow card for Mohammed Salisu, who gave Tottenham the advantage against only ten Southampton players with the remainder of the game.

Unfortunately, that advantage failed to be utilized optimally and two goals that were scored by Tottenham also ended up being disallowed due to VAR.

Conte admits the fatigue aspect of playing three games in a row in less than a week has affected his team's game, but remains disappointed that he failed to capitalize on the gap in the number of players.

"We are quite frustrated with the final result. It's a shame because we got a situation against only ten players," he said.

"When that happened, it should have been exploited 100 per cent to get the full three points. Today, we were tired and because of other situations we made a lot of mistakes," concluded Conte.

The only consolation from the draw against Southampton was Conte setting a new record as the first Tottenham coach to go his first seven league games without defeat.

Tottenham are now sixth in the standings with a collection of 30 points and will next open 2022 when they travel to Watford on Saturday, January 1.