Conte spots major Tottenham downfall after Frankfurt draw, with pundit making brutal Mourinho comparison

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte admitted that his side didn’t take enough risks and weren’t clinical enough against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Spurs draw 0-0 at the Bundesliga club in their third Champions League group stage game. They were looking to improve their away record this season, but it is still just the one win outside of north London.

What’s more, Tottenham managed just a single shot on target against Frankfurt.

Before the match, Conte faced criticism for playing too defensively and not letting his attackers express themselves.

Speaking after the Frankfurt draw, which moved Tottenham onto four points in a tight Group D, the Italian admitted that his side need to take more risks.

“I think the performance was a good performance tonight,” Conte told his post-match press conference.

“It’s not easy to play in this stadium in this atmosphere with a lot of noise around you but at the same time from the start we put a lot of pressure, we tried to be aggressive in every zone of the pitch.

“Then at the same time I didn’t think we risked a lot, taking big risks. We created chances to score, but if I have to find a situation that we need to improve on after this game for sure we need to be more clinical.”

Conte added that his side’s “big effort” “deserved much, much more”.

But, he also admitted that his side’s “personality” away from home has to be “stronger” to improve their record on the road.

Pundit lambasts Conte in Mourinho comparison

According to talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy, though, Tottenham fans should be careful about praising how Conte got his side playing in Germany.

The pundit warned that the performance would have been enough for ex-Spurs boss Jose Mourinho to face calls for the sack if he was still in charge.

And he picked out Son Heung-min, who remains on only three goals this season, as a weak point.

“If Jose Mourinho had delivered that and at the weekend, there’d be people phoning up saying, ‘Jose out’. I’m just saying,” Cundy said.

“That’s what you forget. Son is a shadow [of himself], isn’t he? He’s one of those lads you’d love to play with because of his energy, he tries, he gives everything he’s got and I know he scored those three goals when he came off the bench the other day, but today he’d still be out there at this time tomorrow and he still won’t score.”

Cundy claimed Harry Kane was “off it”, but that under-fire right-back Emerson Royal “did OK” alongside midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

He added: “But I just feel that Spurs are playing with the handbrake on. He’s [Conte] not quite giving them full rein to go and take advantage of what they’ve got up top.”

Tottenham still have issues

All was rosy for Tottenham at the start of the season. They were grinding out wins despite not putting in convincing performances.

But, the defeat to Sporting in the Champions League looks like it has acted as a catalyst. A catalyst for exposing their problems.

Spurs have now won just one of their past four matches, which is looking like an anomaly in that current run.

Three of the six goals against Leicester came from Son, but they remain his only three contributions all season.

And Kane struggled in last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal. He could not impact the draw with Frankfurt much, either.

As for Tottenham’s away record, their one win on the road this season came at Nottingham Forest.

Given Steve Cooper’s side now sit bottom of the Premier League table, it is not great reading for the north London club.