Tottenham Hotspur right-back Emerson Royal received an ear-bashing from Antonio Conte at one point in his side’s Champions League group stage fixture at Eintracht Frankfurt.
That is according to Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison, who was reporting on the fixture, with the game level at 0-0.
The English side needed to get back on track in the Champions League following their defeat at Sporting Lisbon in their last group stage fixture, leaving the Lilywhites with three points from two games.
The north London side would have hoped for a strong start in Frankfurt but found themselves level at the break in Germany.
And Royal, who has been Conte’s preferred right-back came in for criticism by Conte on the touchline towards the end of the first-half.
“Conte isn’t happy, he’s shouting at Emerson to get forward. He wants his team to get forward on the front foot,” Morrison reported on Soccer Special.
TIF Thoughts on Morrison’s comments
We believe that Conte’s frustrations at Emerson’s performance rather encapsulate the feeling amongst the Spurs fanbase, with the Brazilian full-back coming under criticism as the weak link in the side.
Conte had said earlier in the day that he cannot play right-back alternatives in Republic of Ireland international Matt Doherty and England U21’s Djed Spence as they haven’t done enough to prove to him they deserve to be starting.
Therefore, we believe that the Italian now has a potential issue at right-back, with the manager perhaps feeling like he has to select the best of an underperforming trio at the moment.