A tirade reminiscent of Giovanni Trapattoni!
Tottenham Hotspur led 3-2 on Saturday afternoon – until the 93rd minute when Southampton’s James Edward-Prowse leveled the score at 3-3 with a penalty.
With the renewed double loss of points, the capital city let feathers and now have to worry about the international places. Her coach Antonio Conte was so upset that he launched into a fulminant rant at the press conference: “Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. bah!”
“Up until now I’ve tried to hide the situation but there are ten games left and some people think we can fight. Fight for what? With that spirit, that attitude, that commitment? For what? For seventh, eighth or tenth place?”
Conte continued to complain that he was not used to not being able to intervene in the title fight: “I’m really upset and everyone has to take responsibility. Not just the club, the coach and the staff.”
The players are also the problem: “We are eleven players who go onto the field and I see selfish players, players who don’t want to help each other, who don’t show a heart,” Conte rumbled.
He even addressed his players directly: The problem is “that we have shown again and again that we are not a team”, in terms of cohesion, things have even deteriorated in the pre-season.
“Excuses for the Players”
For 20 years Tottenham’s owners, various managers – including serial winners like himself and José Mourinho – have taken the blame, but the players have always been excused.
So he shot at a journalist who mentioned Conte’s uncertain future as a problem: “You’re doing it! Excuses for the players.”
“Maybe it’s my future, then we lost confidence, they lost fighting spirit, they’re not a team anymore. Come on, come on, come on. We are professionals,” the Italian found, unable to get out of his anger.
And further: “The club pays us a lot of money. Players receive money. I’m receiving money and I don’t want to make excuses or show spirit or responsibility. For me this is unacceptable because for me it is the first time in my career that I experience such a situation.
20 years “and never won anything”
He also particularly lamented the fighting spirit of his team: he misses “the fire in your eyes to win” and pitied fans who would afford the expensive tickets to see a game like this: “Being a team is that most important. We have to understand that we play for our logo so that our fans can be proud of us.”
Meanwhile, Conte didn’t leave out those responsible for the club either: “You don’t play for anything important. You don’t want to play under pressure. You don’t want to play under stress. It’s easy this way. The history of Tottenham is like that. The owner has been there for 20 years and they have never won anything. Why?”
Conte’s contract expires at the end of the season. He is not expected to renew his contract – at least since the rage on Saturday.