“You can call it naive, Spurs bottled it.”
Jamie Carragher was blunt in his analysis of Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Manchester City last night as they threw away a two goal lead to lose 4-2.
The London side were on top in the first half, going to goals to the good and dominating the play, seemingly taking advantage of City’s poor recent from.
However, goals from, Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland, and a Riyad Mahrez double meant that Spurs went from holding a strong lead, to crumbling in emphatic fashion.
Carragher reflected on the game in the Sky Sports studio and was very disparaging of Antonio Conte’s men.
“You can call it naive, Spurs bottled it.”
“He [Conte] can never rely on his back three, or back five or goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet. I always feel like they’re going to concede a goal.
“He’s not going to change his tactics, this is what he does, he relies on a good strong base and having great attacking players on the counter-attack.
“He’s got those great attacking players, but his goalkeeper and defenders are nowhere near good enough for a Conte team to be successful, and that’s where they’ve got major problems.
“The goalkeeper at Tottenham right now, he’s been a good goalkeeper, but he has become a liability, they need a new goalkeeper for next season.
"You can call it naive, Spurs bottled it…" 👀@Carra23 has his say on Tottenham's defending…pic.twitter.com/SFKaLxGDvo
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) January 19, 2023
“Antonio Conte is talking about taking them further, getting top four or challenging for big honours.
“They need a new goalkeeper, need two centre-backs and a right wing-back and that’s not to come into the squad, that’s to play.”
This win thrusts Pep Guardiola’s side back into the title race, reapplying the pressure on Arsenal who still sit in top place.
Related links:
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