Former Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood has blamed new signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur for the club’s home defeat to Southampton.
Two late goals from Mohamed Elyounoussi and Che Adams secured a 3-2 win for the Saints on Wednesday night, as Spurs missed out on a chance to close the gap to West Ham in fourth to just one point.
Both Kulusevski and Bentancur, who arrived in N17 from Juventus on transfer deadline day, were named on the bench for the second game running by Antonio Conte.
The pair were brought on by the Italian during the second half, with Bentancur replacing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on the hour mark before Kulusevski was introduced for Lucas Moura.
As such, they were both on the field in prime view of Southampton’s quick-fire double which completely turned the game on its head with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Ex-Spurs boss Sherwood believes Conte’s introduction of the duo shifted the momentum for all the wrong reasons and ultimately contributed to his first Premier League defeat at home as the club’s manager.
Speaking to Premier League Productions (09/02/22 – 22:00 onwards), he said: “In the end, the best team beat the best players. Southampton were quality. They knew, in possession and out-of-possession.
“They had a game plan. I thought their game plan was a lot better than Tottenham’s. You look at the attempts. 23 attempts to Tottenham’s eight? I thought they deserved the game.
“It’s not about holding on. Antonio [Conte] needs to get better control of the football match. Then you don’t have to hold on. You can’t just rely on holding on and gamesmanship just to preserve your three points.
“I think he has done a brilliant job since he has been in there. He is still learning about the players. He brings on Kulusevski and Bentancur. And they change the game, as soon as they came on, Tottenham lost.”
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This is a slightly lazy statement to make as football isn’t always black and white like this. Bentancur actually had a very good impact on the game and linked up well in midfield, while Kulusevski didn’t necessarily have the time needed to make a solid impact going forward.
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