Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte was made to explain his extraordinary comments he made in the aftermath of his side’s 3-3 draw with Southampton.
Spurs were 3-1 up at the South Coast on Saturday but ended up claiming just a point after James Ward-Prowse ’s stoppage time penalty. Conte was left furious after the full-time whistle and launched into a vicious rant targeted at his own players and even the club hierarchy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
During a tense press conference, the former Inter Milan and Chelsea boss said: "The club has the responsibility for the transfer market, every coach that stayed here has the responsibility. And the players? The players? Where are the players?
"Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here?
"You are finding an alibi, another alibi. You try to find an excuse for the players. OK, continue to do this, to find an excuse for the players. You do only this! You do only this.
“Excuses for the players. 'But the players, maybe, my future, then we lost confidence, they lost spirit, they lost being a team'. Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. Try to protect them every time."
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Those comments appear to have landed Conte in some hot water with Spurs chairman Levy. According to Sky Sports, the Italian clarified to the Tottenham board that his comments were not intended to be criticism towards the club’s hierarchy.
Instead, they were aimed solely at the players at his disposal as he questioned why only club officials and coaches receive criticism instead of the squad in general. As per the reports, there are currently no plans for Spurs to make a managerial change.
Players and staff are currently in the midst of a pre-scheduled two days off and will report back to the training ground on Tuesday. Despite looking likely to stay with Spurs for the time being, Conte’s long-term future with the club doesn’t look as secure.
The 53-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and there are no immediate suggestions that he will put pen to paper on a new deal any time soon. In the aftermath of Conte’s comments and the draw against Southampton, Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher claimed that he was angling for the sack.
“Conte wants to be sacked in this international break,” he wrote on Twitter. “Spurs should just put him out of his misery and do it tonight.”
Spurs still sit fourth in the Premier League table following their Southampton draw but are now just seven points clear of eighth-placed Brentford having played a game more.
