Furious Spurs head coach Antonio Conte launched an astonishing rant after his side threw away a two-goal lead at bottom side Southampton; Conte: "I see a lot of selfish players and I don't see a team"; Jamie Carragher tweeted: "Conte wants to be sacked in this international break"
Sunday 19 March 2023 19:59, UK
Jamie Carragher believes Tottenham boss Antonio Conte wants to be sacked, while Jamie Redknapp feels the Italian's position is becoming untenable following his extraordinary rant after their 3-3 draw at Southampton.
A furious Conte called his Spurs players "selfish", criticised their underachievement and attacked the club's ownership in an astonishing outburst after his side threw away a two-goal lead at bottom side Southampton.
"Conte wants to be sacked in this international break," Sky Sports pundit Carragher tweeted. "Spurs should just put him out of his misery and do it tonight."
Tottenham's collapse at St Mary's caps off a miserable March after they were dumped out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League earlier this month to leave them trophyless since 2008.
Carragher added: "His point about Spurs not winning for a long time is right, but you don't speak about your own club like that.
"Especially when you're getting paid fortunes by them! The improvement in Arsenal this season after finishing above them last season kills a lot of his arguments."
Conte's Spurs contract expires this summer, but Redknapp feels the 53-year-old will struggle to make it to the end of the season despite Tottenham sitting fourth with 10 games to go
"It feels like his position is becoming untenable - I don't see where he goes from here," the former Spurs midfielder told Sky Sports.
"I felt he was talking his way out of a job after they lost to Nottingham Forest [in the Carabao Cup].
"Tottenham have a history of sacking managers, even before cup finals. When you start singling out players that's a sure-fire way to lose a dressing room.
"He's talking mainly about the owners having not when a trophy in 15 years since the current chairman has been in charge. They've had 10 or 11 managers. Great managers, but never won anything.
"He feels that whilst the owners are in charge are they ever going to buy the players you need.
"I thought Conte might be the one to get the keys to the kingdom to buy the players he needs but I think lots of players have been forced upon him.
"Normally in his two or three year periods at clubs, he wins. Even he feels like he can't win at Tottenham. That is a sorry state."
Sky Sports News reported earlier this month Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is under huge pressure to reappoint Mauricio Pochettino as Spurs manager, with several players and staff pleading with the Argentine to return and reinvigorate the club.
Redknapp added: "The chairman will be thinking whether this manager can galvanise this team to make top four.
"There are two really good managers out there. Do you go back to Pochettino? Or go for Thomas Tuchel?
"He'll [Daniel Levy] will stay there because he always stays there but maybe someone has to have a look at who is running the club because it's been a failure on the field. Off the field it's spectacular, but on it it's not been good enough."
Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara was also in agreement with Carragher and Redknapp over Conte's position and feels Levy, who was in attendance at St Mary's on Saturday, will be unhappy with the Italian's comments.
O'Hara told Sky Sports: "I can't believe he's come out after a game and said that. I think it's shocking.
"I don't necessarily disagree with him on some of the things that he said in terms of desire and passion and players not playing for each other, but these things are said in the dressing room after the game, or on a Monday morning, or you speak to Daniel Levy.
"To come out publicly and totally criticise the whole football club I think is outrageous.
"The players are obviously going to hear that interview - he's bashed them. If you're digging them out in the media they will turn their back.
"For him to say 'they' and not 'we' that to me says potentially the players are not playing for him, he's looking for a way out.
"I don't think he necessarily wants to be there, and I think the club are going to have to make a huge decision.
"I don't think Daniel Levy is going to like that interview. If Conte makes next weekend I will be surprised. I think he is looking for a way out.
"He's talked about being selfish, but he is the one being selfish when you have talked about and are criticising everyone at the club apart from yourself.
"That to me screams alarm bells, and I think Levy will look at the comments he's made, because he's included Levy in those comments and say, 'Enough is enough, we can't have this from a Tottenham manager'.
"We all wanted it to work out and it hasn't and it's just getting a bit sour now.
"Maybe you look at it and go, 'If we can get a manager in next week like Pochettino, let's do it now, let's cut ties and move on'.
"You haven't got to pay him [Conte] out a four or five-year deal that he's signed. His contract is up at the end of the season, it's not going to cost a lot to let him leave, and by the sounds of it, he doesn't want to be there."
