Pundit Micah Richards has pinned the blame for Tottenham Hotspurs defeat to Southampton at the doorstep of Emerson Royal.
Southampton ran out 3-2 victors over Spurs on Wednesday evening, despite twice being ahead of the visitors.
Each goal came down the right side of the Spurs defence, the side summer signing Royal operates on. This was something Richards highlighted on Match of the Day.
As quoted by Football London, he said: “For the first goal, it started with Emerson Royal, not engaging the ball, Ben Davies slips, that can happen. They have four players, but no-one is marking [Armando] Broja, they don’t and it is a fantastic finish.
“They were ball watching [for Elyounoussi’s goal] and I’m not picking on him [Royal], but the danger is inside the box and it was mistake after mistake for Spurs, they were miles off of it.
For the third goal and ultimately winning goal, he added: “If he [Royal] adjusts his position by two or three yards, he can head that away.”
Conte had been desperate for a solution to appear for him in the January market, with Adama Traore his main port of call when it came to who he wanted to bring in.
However, Spurs failed to do this and Traore consequently signed for Barcelona on loan for the rest of the season, where he registered an assist in his first game back with the Blaugrana.
Spurs will need to appease Conte’s demands in the summer if they truly want to win a trophy under him, as he is currently the man best equipped in world football who Spurs can realistically expect to achieve such a goal.