Antonio Conte’s attack on his Tottenham players and the culture of the club after Saturday's 3-3 draw at Southampton felt like an act of self-preservation.
Conte has an easy exit strategy from Spurs if he wants — "I've been unwell, it's been an horrendous year personally, I want to be with my family in Italy" — but the head coach is not the type to go down quietly, particularly when there is so much blame to go around for an underwhelming season.
His outburst, in which he tore into his players’ attitude and professionalism, and suggested their failings were a symptom of the club’s culture, appeared to be the Italian’s latest attempt to shift focus away from his decisions and absolve himself of the failure to win silverware at a major club for the first time as a coach.
He has already suggested that fans' impatience is partly to blame for Spurs crashing out of two cup competitions in seven days and continuing to be inconsistent in the League, but what of his own tired tactics, stubborn inflexibility and downbeat rhetoric?
That is not to say there is not some truth in Conte's outburst. It has long been obvious that Spurs have too many middling players, particularly at the back, and have failed to commit to the foundational rebuild called for by Mauricio Pochettino, leaving Conte with a squad full of quality but still imbalanced and a little stale.
Even at St Mary's on Saturday, where Ivan Perisic and January signing Pedro Porro scored their first Spurs goals, it was possible to wonder how different Conte's tenure might have been if the club had given him two first-class wing-backs at the earliest opportunity.
Despite his reassurances to the club over the weekend that he was not attacking Daniel Levy, Conte also appeared to take aim at the chairman, quoting Giorgio Chiellini's infamous line about Spurs's history.
"Tottenham's story is this: 20 years there is the owner and they never won something, but why?" Conte said.
Again, there is clearly truth in this line of attack. For all the club's insistence otherwise, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that Levy has often prioritised business over football. As Conte pointed out, too many managers have fallen short at Spurs in similar ways and ended up with similar grievances to be considered a coincidence.
But Conte's 10-minute rant was also full of hypocrisy. He accused his players of not showing enough "heart and desire... for the badge", when he has consistency refused to commit to Spurs beyond the end of the season and given every appearance of finding the club beneath him.
How can he expect the squad to give everything for a manager they know is almost certain not to be in charge next season?
If the players really are "selfish" and lacking commitment to "the badge", they are only mirroring Conte's own attitude.
Conte insisted his issue is not with their "tactical or technical aspect" (ie the players' quality as footballers or ability to carry out his instructions), but rather their mentality. As head coach, however, he is responsible for creating and maintaining a dressing-room culture.
Are the players really taking their cues from Levy, who has taken a back seat in the football side of the club, over Conte?
And if the players are really so unprofessional, why has Conte gone to great lengths in the past to make it clear that, while the squad may not be of the highest quality, they are all "great men". He even said last season they are the best group he has ever worked with.
The bottom line is, if Conte really has such a fundamental problem with their attitudes, he should not still be picking the same players every week, barely resting or rotating over the course of a gruelling season.
He has even gone to great lengths to ignore intriguing options such as Djed Spence and Arnaut Danjuma for seemingly political reasons.
Even his comments about the club's history and culture feel like an easy excuse for his own shortcomings.
Did Spurs really fail to lay a glove on a middling AC Milan side because, as Conte suggested, of their history in the Champions League (which is far better than his, incidentally) or because of his tactics?
Did they crash out of the FA Cup to Sheffield United because of the players' "spirit" or the message sent by Conte's team selection?
Many Spurs fans will celebrate Conte's comments, believing he is finally holding Levy's feet in the fire and calling out the institution for years of failure to win silverware, but his attack on the players and club was, above all, self-serving.
Perhaps his outburst will give Spurs the jolt needed to get them over the line to fourth place, but more likely it was a last roll of the dice from a coach who knows the end is near and does not want to be held responsible for a disappointing campaign which is in large part of his own making.
