Tottenham news: Pundit salutes ‘brilliant’ Ryan Sessegnon after seeing something Conte ‘will love’
Noel Whelan has hailed Tottenham defender Ryan Sessegnon for his “positive reaction” to his premature substitution against Wolves last week.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed the 21-year-old has shown “brilliant character and mental strength”.
Sessegnon played 90 minutes at left wing-back as Tottenham beat Man City 3-2 on Saturday (19 February) – in a performance manager Antonio Conte branded “fantastic” (via club media).
The youngster was hauled off by Conte after just 28 minutes last Sunday (13 February) as Spurs fell to a 2-0 home defeat against Wolves.
Whelan insisted Sessegnon’s display against the Premier League leaders was “much better”.
“That’s the reaction you want to see,” he told Football Insider‘s Ewan Kingsbury.
“Whether it was a tactical or a performance-related sub last week, he’s put it behind him.
“We know he’s a good player, but we needed to see that positive reaction – and we did.
“He was much better than against Wolves, on and off the ball. He had that energy up and down the field, aggressive, covering round – Conte will have loved to watch it.
“You can sometimes have players who can feel sorry for themselves after that sort of thing, but he didn’t.
“He showed brilliant character and mental strength to come back and play as well as he did.”
Sessegnon has three years left to run on his Tottenham contract after signing in 2019.
Conte’s side are seven points adrift of fourth-placed Man United with three games in hand on the Red Devils.
Spurs face struggling Burnley next up on Wednesday (23 February).
In other news, ex-referee claims Harry Kane winner v Man City should have been disallowed as new Tottenham controversy emerges.