Richarlison’s season at Tottenham has not been great. In fact, the Brazilian’s found a way to succinctly describe it in just one word: “s–––.”
After he came off the bench in Tottenham’s 0-0 draw with AC Milan on Wednesday — a match that eliminated Spurs from the Champions League, Richarlison vented his frustration with himself, his club and his coach.
“I was playing well, we won against Chelsea and West Ham and suddenly I was on the bench,” he told TNT Sports.
“I played five minutes against Wolves, asked the reason and no-one told me why. Yesterday, they asked me to take a fitness test in the gym and told me I was going to start today if I passed it.
“And today I was on the bench. There are things I can’t understand. There was no explanation again, let’s see what he [Spurs manager Antonio Conte] will tell us tomorrow – but I’m not silly, I’m a professional who works hard every day and I want to play.”
“There are minutes left, time left. This season, excuse the word, it’s been s–––, because I don’t have minutes, I suffered a little with the injury. But, when I enter the field, I give my life.”
Conte responds
In a press conference on Friday, Conte was given the chance to respond to the Brazilian. The coach agreed with his player’s assessment of his own campaign, insisting that he didn’t take the interview as criticism of his coaching.
“I watched Richarlison’s interview. He didn’t criticize me, he said ‘my season is s–––’ and he’s right, his season is not good,” the Spurs manager said.
“He had a lot of injuries, he went to the World Cup, he had another injury, then back and one month out, then other injuries. He scored zero goals with us, only two in Champions League. I think that the guy was really honest to say that his season is not good. But our season hasn’t finished. He has the time to recover and if he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity.”
Conte did, however, admit he wasn’t happy to see his player complain about his own personal situation right after a difficult result for his team.
“I think [the] guy understood he made a mistake because when you speak with I, I and I, not ‘us’, it means you are thinking only about yourself and you are selfish,” the Italian said.
“I repeat to my players, if we want to build something important, fight for something important, fight to be competitive and win a trophy, we have to speak with ‘we’.
“If we speak I, I and I, we are only thinking about himself. The guy understood very well and apologized, which is good because I had an opportunity to clarify for another time the spirit of the team.”
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