Tottenham’s Antonio Conte riddle: what the pundits say after his explosive tirade

Antonio Conte’s explosive outburst after Tottenham’s 3-3 draw at Southampton became a hotly debated topic among Premier League pundits on Saturday, when Jamie Carragher and former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara claimed the Italian had spoken out in hope to lose his job North London.

Furious at his team’s second-half capitulation, which saw Spurs throw away a two-goal advantage over bottom Premier League, Conte branded his players “selfish” and accused them of “putting fire in their eyes” in a derogatory manner “ To miss scold after the game.

The Italian manager, who watched Spurs crash out of the FA Cup and Champions League earlier this month, is expected to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, although several Premier League pundits say his risky The only tirade was an attempt to expedite his inevitable departure.

Following Spurs’ disappointing draw at St Mary’s which left the north London side just two points clear of Newcastle in the top-four race, Carragher tweeted: “Conte would like to be sacked this international break. Spurs should just put him out of his misery and do it tonight.

His divisive social media post was quickly dismissed by Gary Neville, who simply brushed aside the suggestion with a handful of laughing emojis, dismissing the notion that Conte was actively looking for the sack.

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte slammed his players in an explosive tirade on Saturday

Spurs led Southampton 3-1 with 16 minutes to go – but ended in a 3-3 draw

The Manchester United legend also responded to a fan’s tweet on Saturday – which reminded him of the slack Carragher and Micah Richards used to give him for not wanting Conte at Old Trafford a couple of seasons ago.

When asked if he remembered the taunts, Neville replied, ‘Oh I do, I do.’

Continuing his social media hit-for-tat with Neville, Carragher replied: “Yes you would have preferred to keep that series winner Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer)! Then you wanted Pochettino, not Erik ten Hag. I told you Erik ten Hag would be a better choice, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Elsewhere, ex-Wales captain Ashley Williams and former Premier League striker Dion Dublin had their say in Conte’s epic tirade.

While carrying out his pundit duties on the match of the day, Williams said: “It would be interesting to hear the conversation in the dressing room – did he say the same thing to the players or did he come out after that?

“He’s had enough, and a lot of the things he says most people would agree with. That’s how he says it. What I didn’t like was that he kind of said it had nothing to do with me, it had to do with everyone else. But he can influence things on the pitch.”

Although Williams agreed with the points made by Conte and understood why the Italian made his public outburst, Dublin stressed he himself would have been furious at the manager’s comments if he had still been a Premier League star.

‘[If I’m a player], I’ll have to pull him. You would have to walk in and say, “Say it to my face, don’t go and do it in public”.

“I think his points came out of pure anger and passion. Doing it in public is not the right way.’

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy now has a big decision to make on the international break as Spurs are one slip away from losing their lead in the race for the top four.

Gabby Agbonlahor believes sacking the Italy manager is now the best option for Tottenham

Jamie O’Hara took issue with the public way Conte criticized his players

Newcastle, who clinched a last-minute win at Nottingham Forest thanks to Alexander Isak’s added-time penalty on Friday, have reduced the deficit to just two points with two games in hand against the north London outfit.

Meanwhile, Liverpool, Brighton and Brentford will each feel there is an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season, especially with Tottenham showing inconsistent form under Conte.

Gabby Agbonlahor suggested Levy’s best bet would be to fire Conte immediately, even if that means handing the baton to a youth coach rather than bringing in a full-time replacement.

“The best thing Spurs can do now is get rid of Conte. Even if you leave him to the U23 manager until the end of the season. Get the players back on the side and fight for the top 4. There’s no point the manager being her now,” he told talkSPORT on Saturday.

“There will be some friction with some players on Monday morning. We also saw what happened to Richarlison. If I were Spurs now, I would just kick him out. He wants to leave, it’s not working and staying could cost him Spurs Top 4.

Meanwhile, O’Hara, who was at Tottenham in 2008 when the club last won a trophy (the League Cup), doesn’t disagree with Conte’s views on the lack of passion and desire at Spurs but did claim he couldn’t support a manager. to slaughter his own team.

Conte’s criticism of club culture, which is directly linked to Levy at the helm, also did not sit well with the former midfielder when it comes to Spurs’ style of play on the pitch.

Sky Sports pundit pair Jamie Carragher (left) and Gary Neville (right) traded blows on social media on Saturday as the former defenders disagreed with Conte’s intentions following his outburst

He told talkSPORT: “Daniel Levy doesn’t pick the team, Daniel Levy doesn’t instill a mentality in the players, Daniel Levy doesn’t rest Harry Kane much in an FA Cup, Daniel Levy doesn’t play a 3-4-3 formation.

“I don’t agree with the criticism of Levy and I’ve said it before, moving the club forward, he didn’t help, he didn’t bring in the best players, but Conte’s comments aren’t right.

“I don’t agree with the comments about passion, the desire to win, the mentality of the players, but it’s how he said it, where he said it and the timing of it.

“I can’t get behind a manager who is butchering his team when an international break is coming and he’s basically saying to Levy, ‘I’m asking you to sack me’.

Finally, Jamie Redknapp was keen to offer his views on Tottenham’s Conte conundrum.

“That’s the man’s emotion. At the moment he’s pushed into a situation with his contract situation where it looks like he probably won’t be there by the end of the year,” said the former Tottenham midfielder.

Multiple pundits believe Conte’s outburst will cause friction in the Tottenham dressing room

Daniel Levy must now decide whether or not to fire the Italian in the international break

“It feels like his position has become almost a little bit untenable. I don’t really see where this is going. I said it earlier this year, it felt like he was talking his way out of the job. It wouldn’t surprise me Tottenham sacked managers ahead of the cup final.

“If you start singleing out players it’s a surefire way to lose that dressing room, I don’t see that. He mostly talks about the owners, the chairman didn’t win a trophy, a lot of great managers but they didn’t win anything.

“He probably feels like while they’re in charge, they’re ever going to buy the players that they need. I thought he could be the first person to get the keys to the kingdom and he would be able to buy the players he wanted, all of them.

“There were a lot of players who were forced on him. He has a deadline of two or three years. At that time even he feels like he can’t win at Tottenham and it’s quite a sad state of affairs.