There was surely no one in north London more relieved than Jeremy Simpson that Antonio Conte was not in the Tottenham dugout this weekend.
On days like this, is there any more thankless a task than 90 minutes as fourth official? Simpson spent his afternoon sandwiched between two warring benches. Taking an earful. Trying and failing to keep the peace.
While staff from both sides began shoving and shouting during the second half, Spurs interim boss Cristian Stellini actually kept his distance and kept his eyes on the game. It didn’t help — he was sent off anyway.
And it is hard to imagine Conte would have gone so quietly. He was even happy enough to engage in friendly fire, after all. Conte paid with his job for that rant following last month’s draw at Southampton — when he took aim at ‘selfish’ players, Daniel Levy and Tottenham’s culture of failure after his side had surrendered a 3-1 lead.
But make no mistake, the Italian’s shadow still hangs over this side. Stellini is an unapologetic disciple. This performance was further proof of that. Monday’s collapse at Everton, meanwhile, posed another uncomfortable question: was Conte right?
Tottenham defeated Brighton 2-1 at home to keep their hopes of making the top-four alive
But fans are growing agitated with Cristian Stellini’s side’s lack of ambition and cohesion
It’s clear Antonio Conte’s shadow still hangs over Spurs who have struggled in recent weeks
‘I’m not going to get into that,’ said Harry Kane. ‘It was an emotional moment after we should have won the game and to concede two goals [at Southampton] in the way we did, we were all disappointed.
‘He’s a great man, his emotions come out at times and that’s who he is and he owns that.’
Kane is more measured, of course. But even the Spurs striker hinted that his former manager might have had a point.
‘Obviously I wish Antonio all the best. I had a great relationship with him and it was just unfortunate that for one reason or another it didn’t quite work.
‘I wish him luck in his next adventure and in the meantime we’ll continue to fight with Cristian, Ryan (Mason) and the staff and try and achieve what we set out to,’ he added. ‘We know that Southampton game, we know the Everton game last week, we need to do better in those moments when we’re leading.
‘All we can do is keep trying to fight and that’s what we’ll do.’
They certainly had to scrap for these three points. Brighton were the more inventive, slick side. They dominated the ball and the shot-count.
They hit the post, they had a couple of goals disallowed — one felt particularly harsh — and several penalty shouts turned down. Again, one in particular — when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg trod on Kaoru Mitoma — seemed clear and obvious.
On Saturday, referees chief Howard Webb admitted as much, apologising to Brighton and saying that they should have had a penalty. For Tottenham, familiar issues resurfaced: supporters grew agitated at their lack of ambition and cohesion.
At times, it turned a bit unpleasant. Hugo Lloris was sarcastically cheered whenever he chose to kick long. There were boos. There were chants for Mauricio Pochettino.
Kane barely had a sniff of goal until 11 minutes from time, when he swept home the winner. And that, in many ways, illustrated the difference between these two teams. Brighton are a devastating unit. But Spurs have players who can alter games in an instant. They have Kane. They have Son Heung-min who, despite a dreadful season, hit his 100th Premier League goal with a wonderful curling effort.
That gave Spurs the lead, only for Lewis Dunk to level, before Kane struck his 25th goal of the season.
After one win in six matches in all competitions, these three points ensure, somehow, that Tottenham remain right in the hunt for Champions League football.
‘It’s a really important win for us, for the fans and everyone because we have Bournemouth next week and then we go into a really tough week against teams around us,’ Kane said.
Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool lie in wait. ‘We know we need to improve… we can’t think about the past, about the future, it’s about doing what we can now,’ he added.
‘There has been a lot of noise around us this season and we know especially in all competitions we probably haven’t been as good as we want to be.’
It was Tottenhams fifth league win in a row at home after losing four of five previous games
Son Heung-min scored the opener for Tottenham after ten minutes to get off to a quick start
Lewis Dunk pulled one back for Brighton heading in after a poor piece of defending from Spurs
But Harry Kane found the winner to score his 25th goal of the season to give Spurs three points
Much of the furore before this game centred on Kane, that clash with Abdoulaye Doucoure at Everton, and the state of his eyelashes.
‘I’ve not heard anyone say it was not a red card,’ Kane said.
‘That’s football… people have their opinions. My focus was on trying to help the team in this game and that’s what I did.’
Once more. Conte or no Conte.
