Antonio Conte has insisted that his comments after Tottenham’s loss to Burnley were made strategically rather than as a result of him being emotional after the defeat.
Conte seemed to suggest a week ago that he might not be the right man to help Spurs turn their form around and added that his position needed to be evaluated by the club (Football.London).
It has since emerged that the Tottenham head coach had a productive meeting with Daniel Levy and has no intention of quitting his job right now (Fabrizio Romano).
Conte has now insisted that he wanted to send a clear message after the defeat at Turf Moor that four losses in five matches was not acceptable.
He told Football.London: “I think that you have to understand when there is a strategy or not and not only an emotional moment.
“It is not right to stay here and explain why I talk in a way and after three days I spoke in another way. Maybe though I can explain to you, every time we have a press conference there is a strategy behind it, not an emotional moment.
“I understood that was the right moment, after four defeats in five games and won the game against Manchester City three days ago, to send the right message, a clear message to myself, the club and also the players.
“We have to know we are here to enjoy football, at the same time to improve ourselves, to ask to ourselves for 100 per cent commitment and desire and also to underline that a team like Tottenham does not exist to lose four games in five.”
If Conte was looking for a response from his players, he certainly got that Elland Road as Spurs cruised to a 4-0 victory.
The Spurs boss made it clear that he is also someone who is willing to be honest in press conferences rather than always giving generic answers.
He went on to add: “If someone understood that my words were from an emotional moment, no.
“At that moment I sent a specific message to the whole environment and it has happened in the past, when I want to push the situation and the environment in the same direction, because I am seeing we can do better, it is not because it is an emotional moment, it is because there is a strategy behind.
“But next time I don’t [explain]! I think it was good that I explained the strategy during the press conference, I am not only an emotional moment, but sometimes you deserve our right consideration and not a simple or stupid consideration, but going sometimes deeper is sometimes interesting for you [the media].”
Spurs Web Opinion
This sounds quite revisionist from Conte and I am not sure I believe him completely. While there was perhaps an element of wanting to send a message to the players, it was also evident after the loss to Burnley that he got a bit too emotional. I would be surprised if this is the last of the outbursts we see from the 52-year-old during his time at Spurs.