Spurs need bigger squad to compete on two fronts: Conte

Spurs were without injured forwards Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Newcastle United, while Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emerick Hojbjerg were left out of the squad due to fatigue.

Conte reacts during the team’s defeat to Newcastle United.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte said his squad lacks the depth to challenge for both the Premier League and Champions League titles, and that it needs a couple more transfer windows to be able to compete on two fronts.

Spurs were without injured forwards Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Newcastle United, while Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emerick Hojbjerg were left out of the squad due to fatigue.

They host Sporting in the Champions League on Wednesday before taking on Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.

“My only worry in this moment is that we have to try to keep the fingers crossed that we don’t have injuries because we are not a team with a squad depth to face competition like Premier League and Champions League,” Conte told reporters.

“But this is not something against the club, we knew this situation.

“I spoke with the club at the start of the season, I said ‘We have to go step by step, time and patience to have two, three transfer markets to bring this squad (to be) competitive to play two important competitions ...’

“This situation makes me frustrated because I’d like to play these type of games and the Champions League with the best team, then on the bench have three, four, five good substitutions ...”

Despite Sunday’s defeat Spurs remain third in the league, five points behind leader Arsenal.