Opinion: Antonio Conte’s post-match outburst: Justified or out of order?

Following Tottenham Hotspur’s capitulation in their 3-3 draw at St Mary’s against Southampton, Antonio Conte went on a rampage during the post-match press conference. It is reasonable to say that the Italian is a rather honest and upfront man; but he was practically a ticking time bomb on this occasion. Ivan Perisic scored his first […]

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Following Tottenham Hotspur’s capitulation in their 3-3 draw at St Mary’s against Southampton, Antonio Conte went on a rampage during the post-match press conference.

It is reasonable to say that the Italian is a rather honest and upfront man; but he was practically a ticking time bomb on this occasion.

(Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Ivan Perisic scored his first goal for the club in the 74′ to make the score 3-1 in favour of Spurs with roughly 16 minutes to go in normal time. But after that, it was all Southampton.

Defensive errors have been the story for Spurs this season and this match was no different. Scoring three goals should wrap up the three points for most teams. But as most know, Tottenham are a different animal.

Fast forward to the end of the match, and the Tottenham squad left the pitch after what felt like a loss. Antonio Conte was late to the press conference, but no one was prepared for what was about to go down.

Conte pointing the finger at everyone

Conte essentially took shots at everyone inside the club – except for himself (Football London).

This has been a common theme for Conte during his tenure at N17, as he tends to deflect any sort of blame or accountability.

While Conte’s rant included many truths, such as the lack of silverware under ENIC and Daniel Levy and the players surviving manager after manager, he himself is not free of blame.

This season, Conte has only rotated the squad when he was forced to, such as Oliver Skipp stepping in for the injured Rodrigo Bentancur. Conte is not really helping himself in this aspect.

The approach to matches and how the team is set up highlights how stubborn Conte can be. It appears that is it more of a sense of Tottenham will do things his way instead of changing things up and possibly playing to his players’ strengths.

Conte will argue that he has won trophies galore with his system, which is correct. But changing things up and tinkering with the formation every now and then would certainly be welcomed by the fanbase.

Many fans will have perceived this press conference through two lenses. One is that a manager has finally stood up to the big, bad villain that is ENIC and Levy, stating the obvious that has been on the fans’ minds for years.

Many know that Levy is rather wary of the public eye, and the board will not have taken Conte’s comments lightly.

Many fans will also think that Conte is simply protecting his own image, and does not really care about the future of the club and wants to keep his reputation intact. But why can it not be both?

There is no getting around the fact that Antonio Conte has an ego. A sizable one at that, in which many fans have taken notice of as there is the feeling that Conte acts as if he is doing Tottenham a favour by being their manager.

This notion, as expected, has not gone over well with the Tottenham faithful.

Antonio Conte was absolutely furious: “I don’t want to hide it anymore — here is always the same”. #THFC

Here the press conference moment via @HaytersTV pic.twitter.com/EupL0qfEdF

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 18, 2023

In that clip from the press conference, Conte appears to deflect blame onto the owners and players, as it appears he has nothing to do with Tottenham’s struggles this season.

This stance by Conte makes sense as the current ownership have failed on the footballing side of things, and the players have on numerous occasions crumbled under pressure.

But Conte clarified his words later on behind closed doors, stating that he was taking aim at the players and not the owners/board (because that makes it better, doesn’t it?).

Conte has a point, though. The same core of players look as though they will survive yet another manager. It appears that only the manager/board is held accountable while the players get off Scot-free.

The Tottenham players were playing with desire and a ‘fire in their eyes’ during the second half of last season. That desire and fight has not been found this season. Why?

One possible reason could be that Conte has not committed to a new long-term contract at Tottenham. Yet, Conte has repeatedly stated that Tottenham would not challenge for silverware in one to two seasons. For that reason alone, players may be fed up with anything to do with Conte.

Recent reports have come out stating that Tottenham are expected to part ways with the Italian this week (Telegraph). If this is end of Conte’s reign at Spurs, he certainly went out with a bang.

The Spurs Web Opinion

I personally believe that Tottenham needed someone blunt like Antonio Conte for several reasons.

First and foremost, you do not win trophies galore if you are not a top-class manager. Especially when you take into account that he has done it in England.

Conte was able to motivate the squad for some time. There was a genuine fight and desire within the squad at the backend of last season. The football was entertaining and probably some of the best we had seen after the Pochettino era.

He is not afraid to speak his mind, which has proven to be good and bad and may ultimately be the reason he gets sacked.

I agree with the comments Conte made in the press conference. Many times Spurs players have lost games that they should’ve won against lesser opposition, choosing to only somewhat turn up against the bigger sides.

The media have hit out at the owners and managers, but over the summer Tottenham spent big and have a world-class manager. So that leaves the players left in the equation.

However, there is no shying away from the fact that Spurs have not put together many strong performances this season. When that is coupled with Conte not signing a new deal and his stubbornness with his selections/tactics and lack of rotation, it is a recipe for a train wreck.

In my opinion, the only way for Conte to succeed at Spurs with silverware would be to have a massive overhaul of the squad. But that will not happen, and the players will not be axed before Conte.

It looks like change is needed and Conte has more than likely burned bridges with the squad and the club.

The Conte era has run its course at Tottenham, and Levy and co. will now be on the search for yet another new manager.

Was Conte’s post-match outburst justified or was it out of order? In my opinion, I think that it was justified given what has happened at Tottenham during ENIC and Levy’s reign.

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