as videos Antonio Contepress conference began to spread and more Tottenham Hotspur Players privately expressed their displeasure, a scuffle broke out in the upper echelons of the club. This was to decipher if the manager had said anything that could be interpreted as directly criticizing the hierarchy and whether this made his job untenable.
The view was that he didn’t, but that doesn’t make Conte worth insisting on. The mood in the locker room is now described as “close to intoxication”.
This Trouble with Conte’s press conference, even if some insist that it is “up to interpretation” whether or not he criticizes the board. He really criticized the whole club. As many are mocking now, it was essentially the real Tottenham manager’s phrase “This is Tottenham, guys” and for 10 minutes.
Conte even repeated Giorgio Chiellini.
“Tottenham’s story is this: they’ve owned it for 20 years and they haven’t won anything. Why?”
That’s not the full story of Conte’s tenure though, as it looks like it could well end before the season is over at the moment. It must be admitted that there is of course some truth in what the Italian said, but it is not entirely true, and it is almost as if the strength of his argument was diminished when the feeling that aroused it was directly reversed. In a move reminiscent of his former fierce rival, Jose Mourinho, he seemed to have simply turned to self-defense.
Consider the self-defeating flaw in the main driving force of Conte’s argument. He was going for a cast that didn’t meet his standards in the first place, and there are fair criticisms to be made of how this group came together. It looks like the Spurs have never left the Mauricio Pochettino era and are still signing off to that core rather than the complete overhaul and investment they really need. This turned into a long-term recession.
At the same time, uncertainty about Conte’s own future is a direct contributing factor. If the players know – even subconsciously – that he won’t be there next season, how can they respond to him in the way he demands? The situation completely undermines any sense of focus. This probably had the knock-on effect of feeding Conte’s frustration and causing this explosion.
Conte has similarly argued that he has never been in a situation where he has only competed for the top four, but what did he think he was getting into? This is a club that hasn’t been in the top four in 40 consecutive years, except for four good seasons under Mauricio Pochettino.
Of course there are bigger controversies about the ENIC investment but according to the current financial policy this is the reality of the club. Spurs are like that. They are one of the richest clubs in the world but still outside of this top group. This was what Conte had to pay attention to before accepting.
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Herein lies the main flaw of all this. Conte was never the right choice for the Spurs.
He is naturally an outstanding manager with an immediate impact as he brought the club back to the Champions League from a season that seemed to go nowhere.
The problem is – as with Juventus, Chelsea and to a lesser extent Internazionale – Conte would always make outstanding demands when he felt he had done his part. The Spurs of all clubs would never face these.
This is probably why we saw the magnitude of the explosion we had on Saturday. It also points to why the club’s best performance in the last four decades has been with a promising manager rather than a top manager. Better suited for what they are now.
raises questions about certain decision-making processes in the club.
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The biggest irony of all this is that the Spurs are still in the top four and can still make it to the Champions League. All things considered, this would be another success.
Only Conte, of all men, might have done more than anyone else to undermine him.
The Spurs may not yet feel that their business is indefensible, but the situation seems increasingly irreparable. Most of the players would have preferred him gone now. That would be for sure at the end of the season anyway.
Now it feels like it could have been a sure thing before then.