MARSEILLE, France : Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte usually patrols his technical area kicking every ball, barking out instructions and gesticulating at his players.
On Tuesday the Italian was forced to endure a tortuous night sitting in the stands at the Stade Velodrome as his team secured a 2-1 win that sent them into the Champions League last 16.
Conte was banished after his red card at the end of his side's 1-1 draw with Sporting last week.
Perhaps it was better he was not close to the pitch in the first 45 minutes in Marseille as his players, who only needed to avoid defeat to go through from Group D, appeared to freeze and looked in danger of capitulation in the face of a siege.
Throughout their Champions League campaign, and also in many Premier League games this season, Tottenham have been desperately slow starters with passive tactics and a lack of energy.
It was the same again on Tuesday, yet as was the case against Sporting last week and in the home clash with Marseille, they were vastly-improved, almost unrecognisable, after the halftime interval.
Conte's assistant Cristian Stellini struggled to explain what had happened in the first half but Clement Lenglet, whose 54th-minute equaliser turned the match, offered a theory.
"We didn't play well in the first half maybe because we didn't know if we had to attack or defend and maybe it was not good to play this type of first half," he said.
Stellini said Marseille had controlled the game in the first half but that "something changed" at halftime.
"In the second half something changed and we spoke a lot in the dressing room about the energy we need in the second half, about how we need to press them," he said.
"In the first half we never did that. In the second this
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