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Antonio Conte & the zugzwang of Tottenham Hotspur

“You are finding an alibi, another alibi,” Antonio Conte said when asked about his future, his voice slowly going up a few decibels in his press conference after Tottenham’s 3-3 draw with Southampton.
Spurs had inexplicably – well, perhaps not inexplicably, which is the crux of the problem – thrown away a two-goal lead away at the Premier League’s worst team with 15 minutes of the game remaining.
“You try to find an excuse for the players. OK, continue to do this, to find an excuse for the players. You do only this! You do only this. Excuses for the players,” Conte exclaimed to the several journalists in his presence at St Mary’s, insisting this collapse was not his fault.
“‘But the players, maybe, my future, then we lost confidence, they lost spirit, they lost being a team’. Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. Try to protect them every time.
“Bah. Come on, come on, come on. We are professional. The club pay us a lot of money. The players receive money, me receive money, you understand? Not to find excuse or not show spirit or show a sense of belonging or don’t show a sense of responsibility because we are showing this. For me this is unacceptable because for me this is the first time in my career to see a situation like this. Until now I wasn’t able to change, not to change but compare to last season the situation went to become worse.”
The head coach throwing his players under the bus is just one telltale sign that someone wants out of their job. But heading after the club’s owners is a rarer sight, a hidden gem among meltdowns.
“Why [is this happening]? Because they are used to it here, they are used to it,” Conte continued. “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 easy in this way. Tottenham’s story is this. 20 years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here? I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment.”
At the end of a headline-making and legacy-breaking monologue, Conte retorted: “I’m really upset and everyone has to take their responsibility.
“Not only the club, the manager and the staff. The players have to be involved in this situation because it is time to change this situation if Tottenham want 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.”
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It was football’s worst kept secret before that Conte was on his way out of Tottenham at the end of the season. Now it’s a mystery that he’s even still in the job.
After a strong end to the 2021/22 season – one in which Spurs displayed an entertaining ruthlessness that led to suggestions of a title push this year – Conte has undone a lot of his good work. Tottenham’s results have regressed in tandem with their newly prehistoric style of play, dumped out of three cup competitions by three sides they really should have beaten.
Conte’s criticisms of the playing squad and ownership are valid. It’d be foolish to try and battle back against them. The problem is the position from which he is speaking and running away from, as much a problem and detriment to the club as any of the other factors he blamed, named and shamed.
While Tottenham somehow sit fourth in the Premier League table, they are stuck in reverse and it is a false position. They have a non-committal head coach, a roster underperforming and sapped of confidence, a director of football who could soon be banned from the game, a chairman – rightly or wrongly – growing more unpopular by the day.
Where Jose Mourinho’s tenure simply fizzled out with apathy two years ago, Conte seems determined to go out in a blaze of anti-glory and is hell-bent on taking everyone down with him.
Therein perhaps lies the only positive of this mess. After four years of failure in the post-Mauricio Pochettino era, it’s now undeniable that Spurs have failed in their attempts to replace him. They must recognise they were a top-four club in need of rebuilding to reach the next level and that’s still the case.
Tottenham must take some steps back if they’re to move forward again and accept that these flirtations to fast-track to silverware were egregious. They’re a few months away from the transfer window – step one must be about identifying a suitable head coach to lead and reunite the club.
Conte and Mourinho were not suited to the needs of Spurs, but their failures are not ones of ambition. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Daniel Levy is on record saying that he thought the enigmatic Portuguese was still ‘one of the two best managers in the world’ at the time of his appointment, a serious indiscretion for someone at that point in charge of footballing operations.
His decision to bring in Conte was more understandable considering his more recent success and ability to raise the floor of teams without star quality in every position. But they shouldn’t have banked on him to stick around for the long-term, for them to be the club where he finally moves on from his short-term preferences.
The good news for Tottenham is that there are still a number of top-level coaches who would be interested in succeeding Conte – Luis Enrique sounds like he’s keen, Pochettino’s desire to return is fairly obvious, and this shouldn’t be a situation like in 2021 when the job fell to Nuno Espirito Santo.
Ralf Rangnick famously insisted last year Manchester United needed ‘open heart surgery’ after their worst ever Premier League season, and the right managerial appointment was followed by swift and uncharacteristic action in the transfer market. Spurs are in crisis and trending downwards but it won’t last that way forever, and doesn’t even have to for much longer.
Updates
Supercomputer predicts WSL title race after Man City’s victory over Chelsea

It’s not just the Premier League that has a tantalising title race on its hands. Over in the Women’s Super League, the current top four are separated by just three points.
Emma Hayes’ Chelsea have long been considered the favourites to win their fourth consecutive title, but they were leapfrogged in the table by Manchester City after they beat the Blues 2-0 in Manchester last weekend. City’s first victory over Hayes’ side since 2017 ignited their title hopes and they currently sit level on points with Man Utd at the top.
Chelsea, however, are just a point adrift having played a game less, while Arsenal aren’t out of the running either. The Gunners, who have also played one less game than the two Manchester clubs, are three points off the summit in fourth.
FiveThirtyEight uses its Forecasts and Soccer Power Index (SPI) ratings to predict every fixture throughout the WSL season. Here’s who they think will end the 2022/23 season as champions.
Position |
Team |
Current points |
Projected points |
---|---|---|---|
1. |
Chelsea |
37 |
53 |
2. |
Man Utd |
38 |
50 |
3. |
Arsenal |
35 |
49 |
4. |
Man City |
38 |
49 |
5. |
Aston Villa |
29 |
36 |
FiveThirtyEight don’t expect the table to expand too much before the end of the season, but they do project Chelsea to win the league by a three-point margin.
The Blues are expected to claim 16 points from their last seven outings with their only remaining fixture against a fellow title rival arriving on the penultimate matchday of the season against Arsenal.
The two London clubs also have the Champions League to consider, but the supercomputer doesn’t believe their European ventures will derail their domestic campaigns. Arsenal are projected to finish level on points with Man City in third.
Despite their huge win over Chelsea, the computer predicts City to claim just nine points from their remaining six games. They do have the disadvantage of playing both Arsenal and Man Utd away from home before the end of the season.
As for the current leaders, the computer projects a bright enough end to the campaign (12 points from six games) but that won’t be enough to stave off Chelsea’s threat.
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The WSL title race will take its next twists and turns at the start of April, with Man Utd the first on the contenders in action when they visit the south coast to face Brighton.
The clash between Arsenal and Manchester City in Sunday’s early kick off is undoubtedly the game of the weekend, while Chelsea will be hoping to make up some lost ground when they travel to Aston Villa.
Updates
Tottenham handed double blow in pursuit of new manager

Julian Nagelsmann and Mauricio Pochettino would both be open to succeeding Antonio Conte at Tottenham, but would prefer to wait until the summer to decide their next respective moves, 90min understands.
Spurs confirmed on Sunday night that they had mutually agreed to part ways with Conte following a dismal run of results, notably capping off his tenure by labelling his players as ‘selfish’ in an explosive press conference after drawing 3-3 with Southampton.
Conte’s former assistant, Cristian Stellini, has been placed in interim charge until the end of the season with the hunt for a new permanent boss underway – this search could be complicated by FIFA’s decision to enforce managing director of football Fabio Paratici’s footballing ban, subject to appeal.
Two of Spurs’ targets are currently out of work, with Nagelsmann recently having departed Bayern Munich and Pochettino unemployed since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last year.
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However, sources have told 90min that both of them would prefer to wait until the summer to decide their futures.
Nagelsmann would like to manage in the Premier League one day but it is by no means a priority for him right now.
An interesting wrinkle in Spurs’ potential pursuits of Nagelsmann and Pochettino is that both are holding out to see whether the Real Madrid job will become available.
Carlo Ancelotti’s future at the Santiago Bernabeu remains uncertain following a limp defence of their La Liga title. 90min understands that even retaining the UEFA Champions League may not be enough to save his job.
Real Madrid have been linked to Nagelsmann and Pochettino in the past, but were concerned about their records in regards to winning titles. However, these doubts have been alleviated after leading their respective sides to Bundesliga and Ligue 1 glory.
Beyond Nagelsmann and Pochettino, another candidate high on Spurs’ shortlist of candidates is Luis Enrique, who has been out of a job since December when he left the Spain job following their 2022 FIFA World Cup exit.
Enrique’s last club job saw him spend three years at Barcelona from 2014 to 2017. He notably won the treble in his first season back at Camp Nou and won at least one trophy every year of his reign.
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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss Julian Nagelsmann’s future and links to the vacant Tottenham head coach role, Barcelona’s ambition to bring Lionel Messi ‘home’, Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson, Florian Wirtz, Kalvin Phillips and more!
If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
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Erik ten Hag hails Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy after Premier League Hall of Fame induction

Erik ten Hag has hailed Sir Alex Ferguson as a ‘guidance for all managers’ following his induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Ferguson and ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger became the first managers to be inducted into the newly-established Premier League Hall of Fame on Wednesday. The induction was just desserts for an astonishing career at the top of the game for Ferguson, who won an astonishing 13 Premier League titles during his 27-year tenure at Old Trafford.
Current Man Utd manager Ten Hag, who has led the club to Carabao Cup success in his maiden season in charge, has been pictured having dinner with Ferguson in recent months, and it’s widely known that he’s looked to the Scot for advice and guidance about United.
Now, speaking to the Premier League’s official website, Ten Hag has said of Ferguson’s induction: “He left a legacy. Manchester United is Alex Ferguson and by setting the highest standards and highest values, bringing a winning attitude, he built that into the new club.
“He’s a guidance for all the managers in top football. How you construct and mould teams, how you coach them and manage them. He won 13 times the Premier League. No-one else can ever do that again, such a huge performance. And then all the other cups he won, he won the Treble… no-one ever did it before or after so that tells you everything.
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“Winning so many trophies, and in an attacking way. He had the right feeling when to rebuild and to reconstruct a new team, to refresh it because he did it over two decades.”
Speaking about meeting up with Ferguson and learning from the Premier League icon, Ten Hag said: “I am really pleased he wants to share his knowledge with me. It is great to talk to him, learn from him, and I hope we can do it more and often. In football, it is about winning, that makes him the number one.
“There are many others who are really successful – Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp but he did it over 26 years and he won the most.”
“I’m truly delighted to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. It’s an honour when you receive recognition like this. However, it’s not just about me as a person. It’s about the job at Manchester United and the bond we had over many years, so I’m also proud for the club, the staff and my players.
“My job was to send the fans home happy. United’s history and my own expectations were the things that drove me, and I then had to try and develop all my players with the same expectations and make sure we could go out and achieve them.
“I feel Arsene is a very worthy inductee as he transformed Arsenal Football Club fantastically. They became a tough team to compete with and we both wanted to win, which motivated us further. Through the years since retirement, we’d go for dinner together in a little restaurant he knows well in Switzerland. He is a really interesting man and I enjoy his company, but it is still my job to pick the wine!”
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