Tottenham expert left baffled by ‘insane’ Antonio Conte move – ‘What was he thinking?’
Antonio Conte’s decision to drop Tottenham star Ivan Perisic for the North London Derby was “insane”.
That is according to Spurs expert John Wenham, who regularly breaks news about the club on his Lilywhite Rose social media channels.
Ryan Sessegnon replaced Perisic in the starting XI as Tottenham suffered a first home loss to Arsenal in nine years on Sunday (15 January).
The Croatian had started Spurs’ previous five Premier League games going into Sunday’s crunch clash.
Wenham couldn’t believe Conte decided to start Sessegnon in such a big game.
“The decision to not starts Perisic can be aligned with the decision to start Sessegnon,” Wenham told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild.
“Absolutely incredible. Perisic was signed for exactly this magnitude of game. He has played in all the big games across Europe. AC vs Inter, Bayern v Dortmund.
“This is a player with a wealth of experience playing in stadiums like these. Conte’s system depends on these full-backs getting high and adding width, you then take out the one full-back we have who is capable of doing that, voluntarily, what can you say?
“You then replace him with someone who isn’t a Premier League level footballer in Sessegnon. The weakening of the team is incredibly dramatic.
“Even a small change like that drained me of all confidence before a ball was kicked. It was an insane decision to not start Perisic.
“It backfired massively, I mean, what was he thinking? Where was the benefit?”
Perisic has racked up eight assists in 25 total appearances for Spurs this season.
Spurs are next in action against Man City on Thursday (19 January).
In other news, an expert has told Tottenham to U-turn on Brentford’s David Raya and sign 22-year-old instead after update.