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Jamie O’Hara slams Antonio Conte for ‘absolutely outrageous’ decision over Tottenham player
Jamie O’Hara has slammed Antonio Conte on for playing Japhet Tanganga in a back-three for Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend.
Spurs put in a dismal display against Leicester City on Saturday after taking the lead inside the opening 15 minutes of the game.
Antonio Conte’s men started positively, but they completely fell apart after Nampalys Mendy levelled up the scoring and went on to lose 4-1.
There were poor displays across the pitch from the Spurs players, particularly in defence. And O’Hara was not impressed with Conte’s decision to put Tanganga in the starting line-up to replace the suspended Cristian Romero.
O’Hara left baffled by Conte decision
Speaking on TalkSPORT, O’Hara says Conte should have switched to a four-man defence due to Romero being suspended after being sent-off against Manchester City last weekend.
“Romero gets sent off, there is no point in us turning up if Romero gets sent off and we want to play three at the back. Tanganga playing right side of a three is unbelievable from Conte,” the former Spurs man said.
“It’s absolutely outrageous, how he doesn’t look at that and go I can’t play this man here. If Romero is not fit or is injured or sent off, you can’t play three at the back. Play four at the back, 4-2-3-1, play [Dejan] Kulusevski as a 10. Play [Arnaut] Danjuma on the right, [Heung-Min] Son on the left, [Harry] Kane up-front.
“You’ve got a top team there. I don’t understand why he perseveres with this 3-4-3 formation constantly having to play it and everyone can see that it doesn’t work.”
Tanganga has certainly struggled during his limited time on the pitch for Spurs this season and doesn’t seem well-suited to playing on the right side of Conte’s back-three.
Conte is yet to show any kind of flexibility with his tactical set-up at Spurs and has only switched to a back-four when chasing games.
The Italian may need to think about switching it up a bit, especially with the attacking talent he has at his disposal.
Spurs looked to be in a positive place last weekend after beating City, but it’s been a nightmare week for them since. With Hugo Lloris and Rodrigo Bentancur sidelined, Conte faces a tough task to get Tottenham’s season back on track.