Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte tore into his “selfish” gamers, saying they “didn’t want to play under pressure” after they squandered an opportunity to go third within the Premier League with a 3-3 draw Saturday away to bottom-of-the-table Southampton.
Spurs had been on track to safe an necessary win of their quest for Champions League qualification when Ivan Perisic scored within the 74th minute after earlier targets by Pedro Porro and Harry Kane.
The guests led 3-1 at that stage, after Che Adams had cancelled out Porro’s opener.
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But the Saints hit again, with Theo Walcott slicing the deficit within the 77th minute earlier than James Ward-Prowse’s stoppage-time penalty prolonged Spurs’ winless run on the highway to 5 matches.
Tottenham’s current defeats by AC Milan and Sheffield United noticed them exit the Champions League and FA Cup respectively to make sure the membership have now gone 15 years with no main trophy.
Conte was in no temper to spare his squad’s emotions throughout a 10-minute tirade at St Mary’s, with Tottenham now simply two factors forward of Newcastle, who’ve two video games in hand, within the race for the fourth and remaining Champions League 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 (in),” he stated.
“Why? Because they are used to it here, they are used to it. They don’t play for something important yeah. They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress.
“It is simple on this approach. Tottenham’s story is that this. Twenty years there’s the proprietor and so they by no means received one thing however why? The fault is just for the membership, or for each supervisor that stays right here. I’ve seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench.”
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‘Unacceptable’
But the 53-year-old Italian, previously in charge of Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan, as well as the Italy national team, did express sympathy for Spurs’ long-suffering supporters.
“Until now attempt to conceal the scenario however now, no as a result of I repeat, I do not need to see what I’ve seen right this moment as a result of that is unacceptable and likewise unacceptable for the followers,” he added.
“They observe us, pay for his or her ticket and to see the workforce one other time, to have this sort of efficiency is unacceptable.”
Tottenham’s win over Nottingham Forest last week had been something of a morale boost, even if Conte’s future remained uncertain given his contract expires after the end of the season.
But the supervisor insisted hypothesis over his place was merely one other “alibi” for an under-performing workforce.
“I see only 11 players that play for themselves,” he stated.
“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? I am not used to this position.
“I’m actually upset and everybody has to take their duty. Not solely the membership, the supervisor and the employees, the gamers need to be concerned on this scenario as a result of it’s time to change this case if Tottenham need to change.
“If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.”
Watch full Conte post-match press convention:
