“When You Are Not A Team You Cannot Improve”
Written By Onyeka Daniel
It’s not everyday that a coach blames his players for a bad result or attempts to throw them under the bus, but for Antonio Conte, it looks like a reoccurring theme after his latest outburst.
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Today, Tottenham Hotspur were leading Southampton 3-1 crumbling in the last minutes to draw the game at 3-3 to a Saints side that is battling relegation. In his post match conference, the former Inter Milan coach didn’t hold back in his criticism of his players and basically confirming that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.
“The worst situation is what was happening on the pitch. What was happening in the last few months. What is happening in my second season,” Conte said after the game.
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“I think that it’s the right moment to speak because I think that after this performance, for me this is unacceptable. “I think it’s better to go into the problem, we are not a team. We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart. He told BBC.
“Before today I try to hide the situation and improve the situation with words. About tactical and technical, it’s one situation, about one thing is the desire, the fire that you need to have in your eyes, your heart. You need to have this in every moment.
“This season compared to last, now we are worse in this aspect. When you are not a team you cannot improve. Don’t forget we played against a Sheffield United team with young players and we dropped out.
“To understand we play for the badge. We play to make our fans proud of us. You have to have desire. The fire in your eyes. If you have this you don’t have this you don’t go out in the FA Cup. He further added.
“Here we are used to for a long time. The club has the responsibility for the transfer market, the coach has the responsibility. But the players, where are the players? I see only 11 players that play for themselves.
“Now there are 10 games to go and someone thinks we can fight with this attitude, with this spirit, for what the seventh, eight place? What? I am not used to fighting for this. It’s every one’s responsibility.”
“They are used to it here. They don’t play for something important. They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress. It is easy in this way. Tottenham story is this for 20 years. There is the owner but they never won something. Why?
“It is the very same season, no matter who the manager is. “If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.” He concluded.
This isn’t his first time and it definitely won’t be his last but with this latest tirade, there’s the possibility that Daniel Levy could be forced into a change before the end of the season to salvage the moral of the players as a top four placing continues to slip from their grasp as they also head for another trophy-less season under the Italian.
Already his future as Spurs coach has been in doubt since the turn of the year with reports of a possible return to Italy with AS Roma, Juventus and Inter Milan all listed as his possible destination.
Meanwhile…
Southampton coach, Ruben Selles, in his own post match conference said that Southampton didn’t deserve to be trailing 3-1 against Tottenham but said he was full of pride seeing his players comeback to draw the game late on.
“It feels great,” Selles told the BBC after the match. “I’m very proud. I don’t think we deserved to be 3-1 down but we showed character and the crowd helped us. Once we scored the second one we had all the energy.
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“The foundation has been there, it’s just another step in the process. We saw a team that wants to play with the ball, has a clear idea how to break the lines and score goals. The players want to fight for each other and I’m very proud of it.
“You know the feeling when you go to the international break that you did something big. They showed character. We need to take all that we can. It is a great moment.” He further added.
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