Tottenham coach Cristian Stellini aims veiled dig at his front three after woeful Sheff Utd defeat
Cristian Stellini, who is an assistant at Tottenham , criticized the club’s attacking trio following their 1-0 loss to Sheffield United in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The hosts caused an upset by defeating Tottenham, with Iliman Ndiaye scoring the only goal of the match. As a result, they have progressed to the quarter-finals and will face Blackburn, leaving Tottenham, including Harry Kane, behind.
Stellini stayed on the sidelines as Antonio Conte is still recuperating from surgery to remove his gallbladder.
However, before the match, the coach announced that the Italian manager is on the verge of returning. Stellini chose Richarlison, Son Heung-min, and Lucas Moura over Kane, who was left on the bench.
Nevertheless, the temporary head coach indirectly criticized his attacking trio after the game and suggested that they should have been sufficient to beat a team from the Championship.
“No it’s not a regret [dropping Kane],” Stellini said.
“We also have to look at the medium period and we have many games. Harry Kane played a lot, one time with fever and another with a problem. It’s not about Harry. We played with Lucas, Richarlison and Sonny. I think that should be good enough.”
Kane was brought on as a substitute after the hour mark but failed to make a significant impact that could have helped Tottenham advance to the quarter-finals. Stellini acknowledged that he didn’t regret benching Kane, even though it didn’t work out in their favor.
“I think the team we picked today was fine,” Conte’s assistant added.
“The energy was the problem. If it’s not the same as the opponent you are going to struggle. I’m disappointed for that. Our players fit in well. We used different players but these players have to show. We have to apologise to the fans. Today there were 5,000 here to watch our performance and we apologise because it was a big missed opportunity.
“If you don’t win a game like this its because something was not perfect and today our energy was not enough to put the opponent in a great difficulty. We had opportunities to score, but now we have to analyse the goal we conceded. In the moment if you concede a goal you need time to recover.
“There was more energy from the changes, but we have to improve a lot. I can only apologise to the fans for our performance and they deserve much more than this.”
Stellini and Tottenham will be aiming to recover from their loss to Sheffield United when they face Wolves in an away game on Saturday.
Although they are out of the FA Cup, they still have control over their destiny in their quest to secure a top-four spot in the Premier League. Additionally, they will try to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against AC Milan next week.
Tottenham coach Cristian Stellini aims veiled dig at his front three after woeful Sheff Utd defeat
