Who will benefit most from Conte’s arrival at Spurs?
By Kieran Lane
As this group of Tottenham players see yet another manager come and go, it is that time of the year at Spurs again when we look at who can benefit the most from new manager’s arrival.
After Conte already admitting Tottenham will be the hardest job he has ever taken on, he’ll also be one of the hardest managers the players have ever taken on. Conte always demands 110% from all his players and will work them tirelessly. This is evident from making Tottenham train after their game against Burnley was postponed. After the postponement the coach went straight from Turf Moor to Hotspur Way. Under Nuno the players may have got a day off, however under Conte you never get a day off.
Conte will be hoping his methods can help change the mentality of his squad. I think the likes of Steven Bergwijn and Dele Alli will be the most beneficial and here’s why:
Steven Bergwijn
Bergwijn will be the biggest benefiter at Tottenham if Conte decides to convert him to a wingback, like he did with Victor Moses. We have seen under Mourinho how disciplined Bergwijn can be. Mourinho’s peak Tottenham featured a front three of Kane, Son and Bergwijn. The idea was to sit deep and catch teams on the counterattack. Bergwijn played a huge role in this system being a defensive right-winger. Bergwijns defensive numbers were outstanding and helped protect the right-back, which at the time was a big vulnerability at Tottenham. The biggest downside to his game is attacking output. I believe Conte will allow Bergwijn to excel in his attacking game. At PSV we saw glimpses of Bergwin’s potential, I think this is something Conte must consider taking advantage of. Bergwijn could be Tottenham’s own Victor Moses.
Dele Alli
I think Dele Alli could be one of the biggest benefiters from Conte’s methods as he’s seen him do it before. Once upon a time in in 2018 Dele Alli carried Spurs to a 3-1 away win against Conte’s Chelsea. Conte would have seen how good Dele can be from his time in the Premier League. I believe Conte will get rid of Dele Alli’s terrible attitude by working him harder than anyone has before. The
Reason I think this will be the case is also that Dele Alli has been getting a few minutes off the bench at the end of the last few games. He came on against Leeds ahead of the likes of Tanguy Ndombele who is Tottenham’s record signing. Dele Alli will rediscover his goalscoring form under Conte’s new methods. Although I don’t think this will be Conte’s biggest benefit to Dele Alli. I think the biggest role Conte will play to Dele Alli is finding his new role. His position as a number ten who arrives in the box late has gone out of fashion, I think we could see Conte transform Dele Alli into a goalscoring box-to-box midfielder, a bit like Frank Lampard. We know Conte has a track record of transforming players as shown by his work with Victor Moses at Chelsea.