Typically, as a coach, when you call your players selfish and say your club’s culture is so rotten that it’s gotten used to not winning trophies, you may not be long for your job.
Antonio Conte must have known that would be the case after his incredible rant 10 days ago. Sunday’s news that he and Tottenham had mutually parted ways was inevitable from the moment he said: “Tottenham’s story is this: 20 years that there is the owner, and they never won something.”
In the statement announcing the move, and Cristian Stellini’s appointment as acting head coach for the rest of the season, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy didn’t waste any time thanking Conte for his contributions. Instead, he just implored his team to turn things around.
“We have 10 Premier League games remaining and we have a fight on our hands for a Champions League place,” Levy said. “We all need to pull together. Everyone has to step up to ensure the highest possible finish for our club and amazing, loyal supporters.”
Conte was seen as a strong appointment in November 2021 when Spurs brought him in to right the ship after sacking Nuno Espírito Santo. And in year one, Conte turned Tottenham’s season around and guided to the team to fourth place and a Champions League berth.
This year, though, things have not gone quite as smooth.
Spurs are in fourth again but their position is precarious as they have two more games played than the teams around them. Their trophy chances have again vanished after crashing out of the two domestic cups and the Champions League last 16 against AC Milan.
Basically, it’s a typical Spurs season.
Conte was supposed to be the one who made these kinds of seasons the floor, not the ceiling, but he’s been unable to change things around.
Tottenham’s most recent trophy remains the 2008 League Cup.
Tottenham’s latest disappointment triggered a furious response from Antonio Conte unlike just about anything we’ve seen in this Premier League season.
A bizarre 3-3 draw at Southampton in which Spurs — for the second time this year — threw away a two-goal lead offered plenty of discussion points.
Four first-half substitutions for injuries (two for each side), Harry Kane’s 204th Premier League goal, and the baffling sequence of events that ended with James Ward-Prowse’s stoppage-time penalty kick delighting home supporters at St. Mary’s…the raw material for a story about a deeply weird game was all there.
But it all paled next to Conte’s disgust with just about everything at the club, which came through in a nearly 10-minute diatribe that functioned as his post-game remarks to reporters at St. Mary’s.
Conte was predictably asked for his thoughts on referee David Coote’s decision to award Southampton a stoppage-time penalty despite a seeming lack of contact between Pape Sarr and Ashley Maitland-Ward.
Conte may not have liked the call, but as he quickly made clear, that wasn’t why he was seething on Saturday.
“If we are going to discuss about the penalty, to me it means that we don’t want to [discuss the] other situation, okay?” said Conte. “The penalty, I repeat, for me was no penalty. And stop, we close the situation. There was a worse situation, it’s what happened, what’s happening [on] the pitch, what’s happening in the last few months.
“I think that there is a moment to speak, because I think after this performance…for me, this is unacceptable. You’re winning 3-1 and you are in control [of] the game, and you are able to concede two goals, and to risk two [more], because also Fraser [Forster] made a fantastic save in one situation.”
Conte then moved away from a single game problem and began tearing into just about everyone at Spurs.
“It’s much better now to go into the problem,” started Conte. “The problem is that for another time we show that we are not a team. We are 11 players that go onto the pitch. And I see selfish players. I see players that don’t want to help each other, don’t put their heart [into it].
“I prefer to hide the situation, and…try to improve the spirit, the situation, with words, with a lot about tactical or technical aspects. This one situation, the most important thing: if you want to become a strong team, if you want to become competitive, you want to fight to win? It’s the desire, the fight that you need to have in your eyes, your heart and you have to show this in every moment.”
Conte said that he’s been thinking about this problem as far back as Tottenham’s FA Cup lost to a rotated Sheffield United, saying that his Spurs side have not been up to the task from a desire perspective for some time.
Conte rejected any other angles as “finding an alibi” for his squad, accusing one reporter of “only [doing] this excuse for the players.”
“Yeah, ‘but the players,’ maybe ‘my future,’ and then okay, ‘they lost confidence, they lost spirit,” ranted Conte, who slapped the podium before continuing. “Excuse. Excuse. Excuse. Try to plot every time and the situation. Come on. Come on. Come on. We are professional. The club paid us a lot of money, the players receive money. Me? Received money. You understand? And not to find excuses, and [not] have spirit, or don’t show the sense of belonging, or don’t show a sense of responsibility.
“This is the first time in my career, to see a situation like this. Until now I wasn’t able to…compare seasons. So the situation went to become worse. Why? Bah, I don’t know. Because they are used to it here. They’re used it here. Don’t play for something important. They don’t play, or they don’t want to play, under pressure. They don’t want to play under stress. Yeah, it’s easy this way, at Tottenham. Tottenham’s story is this. 20 years that there is the owner, and they never won something.”
Conte wasn’t done, sarcastically dismissing Tottenham’s chances of climbing the table based on their lack of fight.
“We can fight for what? With this spirit, with this attitude, with this commitment? What? For the seventh, eighth place? Ninth place? I’m not used to this position. I’m really upset.”
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.”
Se espera una sanción para ambos técnicos sin embargo las imágenes serán analizadas para determinar al responsable y el castigo que tengan los estrategas.
Muy caliente terminó el empate a dos entre Chelsea y Tottenham en el comienzo de la Premier League con un encontronazo entre los dos técnicos Thomas Tuchel y Antonio Conte quienes casi terminan a los golpes.
Tuchel tuvo una actitud muy retadora durante el juego con Conte y al finalizar el encuentro al darse la mano el técnico del Chelsea pareció no soltar a su rival y exigió que lo mirara a los ojos lo que comenzó una guerra de empujones.
sipa_usa
Ambos estrategas se fueron expulsados tras el incidente donde hasta las bancas se involucraron pues no es común ver a los técnicos de ambos equipos empujarse de esa manera.
Los ánimos entre ambos técnicos estuvieron muy calientes durante todo el juego e incluso Antonio Conte ya respondió a Thomas Tuchel en su cuenta de Instagram recordando el festejo del segundo gol del Chelsea y una frase muy provocadora.
“Menos mal que no te vi.. hacerte tropezar habría sido bien merecido..”, escribió Conte en una historia.
sipa_usa
Se espera una sanción para ambos técnicos sin embargo las imágenes serán analizadas para determinar al responsable y el castigo que tengan los estrategas.
Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte were both red carded after some handbags at full time
Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte fought all throughout, and then after, Chelsea and Tottenham’s action-packed 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Both coaches were red carded at full time after their post-game handshake inevitably devolved into another headed confrontation.
The action on the pitch was plenty entertaining on its own but on the sidelines, the German and Italian had it out in a three-round affair.
Round One
Tottenham’s 68th-minute equalizer through Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was highly controversial, as it appeared that Rodrigo Bentancur fouled Kai Havertz in the build-up. After the goal stood, Tuchel and Conte had their first clash of the afternoon and were both yellow carded.
To the tape!
Take a look at the goal, the potential foul on Havertz and Conte & Tuchel getting face to face. 👀
Chelsea appeared to have won the match in the 77th minute when Reece James scored, and Tuchel made sure his counterpart knew how elated he was by sprinting past Conte along the touchline.
Reece James with the first time finish and Chelsea are back in the lead! #CFC
After Harry Kane equalized with a dramatic stoppage-time header, Tuchel and Conte decided that, despite their previous issues throughout the match, that the traditional post-game handshake was still in order.
“I thought when we shake hands you look in each other’s eyes, Antonio had a different opinion,” Tuchel told Sky Sports after the game.
The Chelsea manager also pointed out his belief that Richarlison was offside on Tottenham’s first goal and also fumed over what he felt was a missed call on Cristian Romero for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
“There was a clear foul on Kai Havertz and the situation goes on and on. Richarlison was offside and when can you pull hair on a football field?”
Conte, for his part, tried to play down the clash with Tuchel.
“I don’t want to comment on the [Tuchel] situation, this is not the most important thing,” he told Sky Sports. “If there’s a problem, it’s between me and him.”
“I think maybe it’s a bit disrespectful for the other club”
Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte has called Bayern Munich’s public flirtation with a move for Harry Kane “disrespectful.”
Bayern head coach Julian Nagelsmann and CEO Oliver Kahn both hinted at their club’s interest in the Spurs striker last week, which clearly rankled with Conte.
Speaking at a press conference over the weekend, Conte said: “For sure I’m a coach who doesn’t talk about players from other teams.
“I don’t know why [this happened]. The situation at Tottenham is very clear. The plan is very clear with the club. Harry is a part of the project. He is a very important part of the project and yeah, only rumors.
“At the same time, I don’t like to speak about players from another club. If I want to do something I go to speak to the club, not through the media.
“I think maybe it’s a bit disrespectful for the other club. This is my way. This is my way to face the situation with other players.”
What did Bayern say about Kane?
“He’s very expensive that’s the problem – but a brilliant player,” Nagelsmann said at a press conference. “He could score a lot in the Bundesliga, I don’t know the price, but it’s really tough for Bayern Munich. We’ll see what happens in the future.”
Speaking to Bild, Kahn said of Bayern’s reported interest in Kane: “He’s under contract with Tottenham. Sure, an absolute top striker, but that’s all a dream of the future.”
He added: “Now we have to look at getting the squad together for the current season. Let’s see what else happens.”
Kane, who nearly moved to Man City last summer before the transfer fell through at the last minute, has a contract with Spurs through 2024.
