“3 out of 4 goals.” Perisic, who was involved in losing points…Conte said, “It’s all my responsibility.”
Coach Antonio Conte blamed himself for the loss.
Tottenham Hotspur suffered a 2-4 come-from-behind defeat to Manchester City in the seventh round of the 2022-23 English Premier League (EPL) at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, at 5 a.m. on the 19th. As a result, Tottenham recorded 10 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses (33 points), failing to narrow the gap between “fourth place” Newcastle United.
Both teams lost the previous Derby. Manchester City, the home team, suffered a 1-2 come-from-behind loss to ‘rival’ Manchester United in the previous game. Also, away team Tottenham failed to reach fourth place in the North London Derby, losing 0-2 to Arsenal just before. The two teams faced off in a state full of motivation.
The game was led by home team Manchester City. Manchester City led the game by increasing its share with Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan in the third line. However, he failed to make a decision and left a disappointment. Tottenham, on the other hand, put high forward pressure to hinder Manchester City’s rear build-up.
Tottenham scored a goal in the front pressure scene. At the end of the first half, Tottenham did not miss Ederson’s pass mistake and Dejan Kulusevsky pushed it in. Two minutes later, Emerson Royal scored an additional goal and Tottenham finished the first half with a 2-0 lead.
But the game turned around in the second half. Manchester City returned the game to square one with Julian Alvarez’s goal in the 6th minute of the second half and Elling Holland’s additional goal in the 8th minute of the second half. He then reversed the game with Riyad Mahrez’s come-from-behind goal in the 18th minute of the second half, and Mahrez did not miss Cleman Langley’s mistake again at the end of the second half. The game ended with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory for Manchester City.
Three of Tottenham’s four goals came from Perisic’s mistake. Perisic allowed Riyad Mahrez to break through just before Manchester City’s first goal, and failed to stop Mahrez’s penetration in Holland’s second goal. He also failed to block a lobbing pass in Mahrez’s third come-from-behind goal, providing an excuse for losing a point.
After the game, Antonio Conte did not blame Mahrez only. Coach Conte said, “I don’t want to blame only one player for his fault. It’s all my fault as a coach that I lost four goals. “We had to narrow the gap a little more, and we had to choose a defensive strategy accordingly, which is all the responsibility of the coach,” he said.
Perisic is known as a favorite pupil of Conte. Conte, who brought in Pericicic, who had been a sidekick for Inter Milan last summer, has consistently used him as a left-back this season. In the end, Conte blamed himself for everything, but Pericic’s performance problem is not expected to die down easily.