London: Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is not happy to be playing so quickly after the FIFA World Cup 2022 and has hinted he will select those who have remained in England, for his side’s Boxing Day match at Brentford.
The Premier League resumes on Monday, just eight days after the World Cup final between France and Argentina in Qatar.
While Conte has already indicated that World Cup finalists Cristian Romero and Hugo Lloris will not play against the Bees, the Italian has a decision to make over Croatia’s Ivan Perisic as well as England pair Harry Kane and Eric Dier after the trio all made the last eight.
“It is a strange situation and honestly to play so quickly — only one week after the World Cup — I am not really happy. On one hand, you are happy because for my club, Tottenham, to have 12 players at the World Cup it means that we are in the right way to try to be competitive and to try in the future to win something,” Conte was quoted as saying by Skysports.
“But it is normal that when you have so many players play a tournament like this, especially during the season, that now it is not easy because the physical condition is not at the top.
It is impossible to give them a lot of rest and for sure with the players that didn’t play in the World Cup and we work for four weeks, now they are in great physical condition. We work a lot on the tactical aspect and physical aspects. Now they are at a level that is better than the players who finished the World Cup.
For this reason, I think I have to make the best decision for the game against Brentford. On one side I have players who I worked with for four weeks really well and on the other side, I have players who worked at the World Cup and are not at the top at the moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rodrigo Bentancur will miss Monday’s game due to suspension but he has also been nursing a minor hamstring issue. The same injury will sideline Richarlison for a month — he picked it up playing for Brazil in Qatar –and Lucas Moura’s problem with his tendon continues.
“He is struggling a lot to find a solution. It’s a difficult situation because I have a good player in my squad, but he’s never available. It’s like you don’t have him,” Conte said of Moura.
“It’s a pity because we are talking about a good player, a good guy, but he is struggling a lot to solve this problem. I don’t know what in the future happens about him,” he added.
–IANS