Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte was furious after the 3-3 draw against Southampton at the Saint Mary’s on Saturday as he branded his players “selfish” and bashed the management of the club.
Conte said on Saturday that his players are “selfish” and Tottenham Hotspur “can change the manager but the situation of the club can’t change” in a scathing criticism of the club’s future.
The manager of Tottenham Hotspur stated that his team “don’t want to help each other” following the pulsating 3-3 draw against Southampton at the Saint Mary’s.
Spurs relinquished their lead in the game and allowed the Saints draw level in the dying embers of the Premier League encounter.
Tottenham Hotspur took the lead via Pedro Porro in the first half but Southampton responded early in the second half from Che Adams.
Harry Kane and Ivan Perisic scored the 2nd and 3rd goal for Tottenham Hotspur on the evening but they lost their guard as they allowed Southampton come back to equalize in the game.
With just 15 minutes left to play of normal time, Southampton clawed their way back through goals from Theo Walcott and a well dispatched penalty by James Ward-Prowse.
Antonio Conte speaking angrily after the game said: “Tottenham’s story is this, 20 years there is this owner and they never won something. Why?”
“The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here?, I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment.
“Until now I try to hide the situation but not now because, I repeat, I don’t want to see what I have seen today because this is unacceptable and also unacceptable for the fans.”
The North London side have lifted just one trophy since Daniel Levy took control of the club in 2001 with Spurs winning the English Football League Cup in 2008.
Tottenham Hotspur have hired 11 different coaches since the incoming of Daniel Levy in 2001 alongside the arrival of three managers since Levy sacked Mauricio Pochettino in 2019.
Spurs are out of all the cup competitions they featured in this season, losing out of the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and then the UEFA Champions League to the hands of AC Milan.
Conte says Tottenham Hotspur should begin taking responsibility for what they do
Antonio Conte in his brash remark stated that its time for the club and players to start taking responsibility for their actions.
The Italian said: “Not only the club, the manager and the staff. The players have to be involved in this situation because it is time to change this situation if Tottenham want to change,” he said.
“If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.
“Maybe previously in the other games something can change. But here we’re used to it for a long time. 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?
“In my experience, I can tell you that if you want to be competitive, if you want to fight, you have to improve this aspect. And this aspect, I can tell you, in this moment is really, really low. And I see only 11 players that play for themselves.”
When he was questioned why this was happening at Tottenham Hotspur, the former Chelsea manager said: “Because they are used to it here, they are used to it. They don’t play for something important here. They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress.”
Tottenham Hotspur had the opportunity to leapfrog Manchester United into third position on the Premier League table but they couldn’t muster a victory against Southampton.
Antonio Conte stated that Tottenham Hotspur would be lucky to make the Champions League position for next season
Antonio Conte indicated that if they continued in this manner, they would be extremely lucky to get a Champions League position for next season.
Conte said: “There are 10 games to go and some people think we can fight. Fight for what with this spirit, this attitude, this commitment? What? For seventh, eighth, 10th place?
“We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart.
“I am not used to this position. I’m really upset and everyone has to take their responsibility.”
The 53-year-old established in the post match presser that Tottenham Hotspur are “worse” than last season when they qualified above Arsenal to the UEFA Champions League.
The former Inter Milan manager said: “It’s much better to go into the problem, because the problem is that for another time we showed that we are not a team.
“Before today I prefer to hide this situation and to try to speak, to try to improve the spirit, the situation, with the words, With a lot of situations.
Conte added: “If I have to compare last season and this season, we have to improve, but now we are worse in this aspect. When you are not a team, anything can happen, in any moment. Today is the last situation.
“Being a team, it is the most important thing. To understand that we play for the badge.”
Jamie Carragher’s thought on Antonio Conte’s comment
Meanwhile, former England International Jamie Carragher has called for the dismissal of Antonio Conte as he took to Twitter to air out his thoughts on Conte’s heated presser.
Carragher tweeted: “Conte wants to be sacked in this international break”.
“Spurs should just put him out of his misery and do it tonight”.
It’s left to be seen the next course of action from the hierarchy of Tottenham Hotspur on Antonio Conte over his comments after the Southampton encounter.
