Peter Crouch has praised Antonio Conte for bringing a ‘winning mentality’ to Spurs after the north London club fought back from 2-1 down to beat Leicester.
Conte was just minutes away from suffering his first Premier League defeat with Spurs when Steven Bergwijn scored two injury-time goals to snatch all three points.
Bergwijn was introduced as a 79th-minute substitute and scored Tottenham’s equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time. The 24-year-old then went on to find the winner in the 97th minute.
Crouch was impressed with Bergwijn’s performance and praised his finish for the third goal. However, he gave credit to Conte for changing the mentality among the players.
The former Liverpool player and TV pundit said Conte had transformed the Tottenham squad into winners – as opposed to the ‘soft’ team that tended to lose games beforehand.
Speaking after the thrilling fixture on Wednesday night, Crouch said: ‘He [Conte] is bringing a winning mentality. There is a long-standing thing with Tottenham that they are soft in areas and that they lose”.
‘But for him to come in and win in that way is great. The manor of the league and the way it’s going at the moment, the top four spot is open. The fans will start believing.’
Crouch went on to speak about the nature of the epic ending to the game – saying it was a pleasure to witness it first-hand.
He said: ‘This is what football is about. What an end to the game. And for Conte to keep his unbeaten record…in that manner. Wow. I’m just glad to be here.’
Robbie Savage reiterated just how pleased Crouch was to be there, saying: ‘Crouch hit his head on the roof celebrating the third goal!’.