‘Really good player’ Harry Winks impressing Antonio Conte at Tottenham

Winks delivered a man-of-the-match performance in his first Premier League start under the Italian

Jonathan Veal
Monday 20 December 2021 09:07 GMT
Comments
(AFP via Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Harry Winks could have taken a big step towards winning over new boss Antonio Conte, who described the midfielder as a “really good player” after his display against Liverpool.

With Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg absent and Oliver Skipp on the bench, Winks was entrusted with his first Premier League start under the Italian and delivered a man-of-the-match performance in the 2-2 draw.

The 25-year-old’s future looked in doubt and was frozen out under Nuno Espirito Santo and even spoke out at his lack of game time and hinted the upcoming transfer window might have seen him move on.

Conte has promised to evaluate all of his players before next month and Winks could have made a point.

“I think a good performance, but I didn’t have doubts about this,” he said. “Harry Winks is working very hard. He impressed me in training sessions for his commitment, his will, his desire. I think he’s a really good player.

“When we play in this way, with this formation, with a number four in front of the three central defenders, I think he’s very, very good. Very good.

“Good performance from him and Dele played a good game.”

It was also Alli’s first Premier League start of the Conte reign and there have been reports this week that the 25-year-old will be allowed to leave on loan in January.

His performance was marred by missing a golden chance in the first half, but it was a decent showing overall.

“Dele, if we play with a 3-5-2, he’s a midfielder that is good physically, strong physically, good technique, good penetration because he has the right ability to attack,” Conte said. “He had chances to score but good performance.

“Also (Ryan) Sessegnon. I know that if we want to improve, if we want to improve our level, I need to improve every single player that we have. This is the only way, the only path that we have to do.

“I know that if we improve every single player, we improve the level of this team. Otherwise it will be very difficult to be competitive.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in