Antonio Conte could become an instant hit at Tottenham Hotspur by making a big decision with his starting XI over the coming weeks.
The Italian, who has a Premier League and FA Cup winners medal to his name, was appointed as Spurs’ next manager less than 24 hours after the club handed Nuno Santo his marching orders.
Fresh off the back of Inter Milan’s first Serie A triumph in over a decade, the 52-year-old tactician will be tasked with instilling a winning culture in north London, especially as the club remain in all relevant league and cup competitions.
His first job will be to reverse the Portuguese’s costly decision in the UEFA Europa Conference League as the Lilywhites welcome Dutch side Vitesse to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday, just a couple of weeks after the second string were defeated 1-0 in Holland.
Should Lo Celso start for Spurs under Conte?
YES!
NO!
It will be interesting to see what sort of lineup Conte will opt for, particularly what sort of formation he will run with as a 3-5-2 of sorts will be expected.
One player who should not feature amongst his starting XI is Giovani Lo Celso. His exclusion would certainly go down well with the Spurs fanbase.
The £26m-rated Argentine, who cost around £55m from Real Betis in August 2019, has been such a poor signing that a parody account of his poor performances and inconsistent displays has been set up on social media.
It’s easy to see why so many are frustrated with the attacking midfielder as he just hasn’t been worth that considerable investment – across 77 appearances, he has delivered only eight goals and five assists at a rate of one direct contribution every 336.7 minutes, via Transfermarkt.
That’s pretty much an involvement every three to four games, which for a playmaking figure is quite simply atrocious. Lo Celso was even recently described as putting the team at an instant “huge disadvantage” by simply being involved by club insider Jon Wenham to Football Insider.
He was also dubbed “unacceptable“, whilst in the past ex-manager Jose Mourinho lauded him as “phenomenal” – though we’re yet to truly see that praise evolve onto the pitch when it counts.
Tottenham’s biggest issue has been in the final third, where they are averaging a Premier League low of 10.3 shots per game and the second-lowest average for key chances created per game (7.1) too, as per WhoScored.
Lo Celso clearly isn’t the answer, so he should have no place in Conte’s lineup going forward. A brutal but necessary call.
AND in other news, Spurs close in on first signing of the Antonio Conte era, he’s not costing a penny…