Antonio Conte is happy for Tottenham fans to get excited after fast start – but maintains title challenge is unrealistic | The Sun
ANTONIO CONTE is happy for Tottenham fans to get excited after their fast start – but maintains that a title challenge is unrealistic.
Spurs have now taken 14 points from their first six games after Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg and Harry Kane helped them win 2-1 against Fulham, who struck through Aleksandar Mitrovic.
It is the North Londoners’ best beginning to a campaign since the 2016-17 campaign, when they finished second to a Conte-bossed Chelsea.
The Italian, who took over at Spurs last November, said: “It’s important to have great enthusiasm and be excited for the team but at the same time I have to be realistic.
“I am the first to push my players and tell them to play with ambition to be competitive but we finished last season with 20 points less than Manchester City and Liverpool, and there was a lot of trouble last season for the club.
“We are doing good things but it’s wrong to give an unrealistic judgement. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to be ambitious to fight.
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“I have a bit of experience to tell you we need time and patience and not to make big mistakes in the transfer market.”
It was Tottenham’s best performance of the season and a much improved display from Son Heung-min, even if his search for a first goal this term continued after hitting the crossbar.
Conte added: “This is not only (going like this in games) for Sonny but also in training sessions.
“Sometimes our goalkeeper made fantastic saves from him during the training session and he’s struggling to score.
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“But I’m not worried when I see this type of performance from my players, Sonny included. I know they are going to score many goals, these strikers.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva was disappointed with his side’s first-half display, which he felt fell short compared to what they have served up so far this season.
The Portuguese commented: “It definitely wasn’t our best performance at all. We didn’t get most of the time to our standard. The first half was not good enough.”
Yet one positive was another goal for Mitrovic, taking his tally to six in as many league games this campaign.
When you add it to the 43 in the league he managed last term when obliterating the Championship record, he is now one shy of a half century in just over a season.
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Silva added: “He’s in a very good moment. We must keep delivering for him because he has the ability to do it.
“It wasn’t our best performance as a team and even so he scored. If you create more and play at a different level, he would have more chances.”
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