Peter Crouch insists fans won’t ‘tolerate’ Spurs’ style if Antonio Conte ‘doesn’t deliver’ trophies

Peter Crouch believes Tottenham fans will not ‘tolerate’ the playing style of the squad under Antonio Conte unless it brings them trophies.

The former Spurs striker claimed his former club were ‘difficult’ to watch at times, insisting that the Italian manager should supply silverware to please the supporters.

Conte celebrated his one-year anniversary as manager of Tottenham on Tuesday evening in their Champions League clash with Marseille, after leaving the then Serie A champions Inter in the summer of 2021.

The former England striker said: “The brand of football – if he doesn’t deliver trophies I don’t think the Tottenham fans will tolerate the football being played at the moment because it’s hard to watch.

“It was hard to watch, and unless there’s a trophy at the end I don’t think they’ll tolerate it.”

Conte’s record at the North London club is largely positive – in 54 games he has won 31 and lost just 14, with a total score of 104–56 in that time.

Spurs are struggling with one win in four after falling two goals behind on Saturday

But his side has been on a bit of a boil lately, losing to both Newcastle and Manchester United, to a 1-1 draw with Sporting and coming from two goals behind to beat Bournemouth at the weekend.

And Tottenham’s lack of cutlery is a well-documented point of interest for all of the club’s rivals, especially the more successful London clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal.

Conte arrived at the club with a wealth of trophy-winning experience, won the Premier League with Chelsea in 2017 and masterminded four Serie A successes with Juventus (3) and Inter (1) during his time in Italy.

Conte has a positive record when it comes to Spurs, winning 31 games and drawing nine out of 54

However, Rio Ferdinand believes the club’s fans will have to decide whether they intend to play more aesthetic football, or end the team’s well-documented trophy drought, which has now reached 14 years.

The former United defender added: ‘What do you want? Do you want success and maybe take a little distance from the playing style, or do you want to play good football again and maybe not win much?

“I think that’s the question to ask the fans. But if you look at it as a player, I think it must be frustrating, the way they play.”

Rio Ferdinand wondered if it was more important for the fans to play aesthetic football or win titles