Antonio Conte urges Tottenham to be more clinical despite beating Fulham

Posted Sunday, September 04, 2022 by PA

Antonio Conte called on Tottenham to be more clinical despite extending their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a 2-1 win over Fulham.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Kane scored in each half as Spurs made it six top-flight matches without defeat this term.

Kane’s strike with quarter of an hour left appeared to put the game to bed but Aleksandar Mitrovic reduced the deficit with seven minutes left to set up a nervy finale.

“For sure the performance, yeah I like the performance,” Spurs boss Conte said. “Also against Southampton we had a good performance.

🎙 “I really enjoyed the performance from my players. We played with personality, with quality. We did a lot of positive things.”
Antonio on today''s victory against Fulham ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/fif9WjuVfD
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 3, 2022

“If I have to find a situation that we need to improve, it is to be more clinical because when you create so many chances, you have to score but we scored two goals disallowed, then the crossbar.

“Yeah, I enjoyed a lot to see my players play the ball with quality and personality.”

Son Heung-min saw his goal drought extend into a sixth match but looked back to his usual best against Fulham with an effort against the crossbar and a cross-cum-shot disallowed for offside.

Conte added: “This is not only for Sonny (in the matches), but also the training sessions. We have Fraser (Forster) that sometimes he made a fantastic save to him in the training session and sometimes he is struggling to score but this is a period.

“I continue to tell you I am not worried because when I see this type of performance from my players, Sonny included, I am not worried. I know they are going to score many goals.”

Antonio Conte urges Tottenham to be more clinical despite beating Fulham — Harry Kane was on the scoresheet against Fulham (Bradley Collyer/PA)

Kane achieved another milestone with his tap-in from Ryan Sessegnon’s cross his 188th strike in the Premier League, moving him beyond Andy Cole into third outright in the all-time list.

It was also his 43rd London derby goal in the Premier League, which puts him level with previous record-holder Thierry Henry.

Richarlison should have celebrated his full debut with a goal but hit the inside of the post with a second-half effort and also saw a stoppage-time effort ruled out for offside.

He was one of five changes made with Clement Lenglet also brought in for his full debut and both received praise from their manager.

“I think they showed they are really good players who can improve us a lot to become stronger and to also make the squad become more deep and give me the possibility to make rotation without a drop in quality,” Conte said.

Your support was incredible once again! 👏#TOTFUL pic.twitter.com/9o0p2MrMT0
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 3, 2022

“Lenglet showed to be a really good player with personality, with quality. When you sign a player from Barcelona for sure he arrives with a big background and for me it’s easier to explain the football to him.

“Richy is another player, strong player, you feel him when stay on pitch and feel his personality on the pitch. He’s a warrior, a fighter and we need this type of player to improve this type of aspect.”

Fulham manager Marco Silva praised the fight of his side despite admitting they were far from their best.

He said: “It was good to see at least we fought until the end. We believed we can equalise not playing even close to our best level so it is good coming here, playing a very good side, even not playing our best level we matched them until the last minute.

“I truly believe with a different performances from ourselves we can do much better and the game will be completely different.

“It is a moment for us to analyse and show the players why we didn’t perform as we should do.”