Tottenham manager Antonio Conte defended his tactics after Saturday’s defeat at Arsenal.
Stung by criticism of Tottenham’s supine defeat over the garden fence in north London, Conte levelled an indirect dig at Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag shipping six in their own derby with a reminder his teams have never been so porous.
Conte declared at his Champions League presser: “If we were able to exploit the situation, especially last passes, we would have been able to score many goals against Arsenal. Instead we made really bad mistakes for the last passes because we had the opportunity to go one-to-one, but every team has to think and understand the way to play different games.
“Last season we won 3-0 (against Arsenal) and, when you win, the opponent has to explain, but for me it’s important to have a plan, to put my players in the best possible situation to exploit their characteristics.
“Otherwise it can happen that you can concede six, seven or eight goals – in England that happens a lot of times. In my career never, never happened because I don’t like to play open, concede a lot of space and concede six, seven or eight goals. I won in England, I won in my past and I think I can teach football to many people.”
