Antonio Conte: Why Tottenham win at Leeds shows my system is starting to work

Antonio Conte says Tottenham answered his criticisms in the 4-0 thrashing of Leeds United and urged his side to use the win as “a starting point”.

Conte suggested he may not be the right man for the job and criticised his players after the 1-0 defeat at Burnley on Wednesday.

His side responded with a demolition of crisis club Leeds at Elland Road, with Matt Doherty, Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane firing them into a 3-0 lead inside 25 minutes before Kane set up Heung-min Son – with the pair setting a new record for direct contributions to goals in the Premier League era.

Wing-backs Ryan Sessegnon and Doherty combined for the first goal and Conte said the performance showed his system is finally starting to work.

“To create with one wing-back and the other wing-back to score, this is a mark of my system,” Conte said. “This is the first time. It means the work is starting to work.

“Today we played a really good game, good performance, good football but what I wanted to see today was the right spirit, the right character, the right desire to fight, to win the ball, win duels against a team that in this situation are masters.

“They go and press a lot, they have duels in every area, every zone of the pitch.

“Today I asked this of my players. I wanted to see answers – not only about football aspects. I wanted to see improvements in this aspect, which in my opinion are very important.

“Usually my teams are strong, not only on the pitch to play football, they are strong mentally, strong in their desire, their spirit. The opponent who has to play against us has to know this.

“We are working also in this aspect and today I asked for this answer, especially after the Burnley defeat.

“We lost a game because the opponent showed more