A defiant Antonio Conte admitted that he was “disturbed” by how his comments about Tottenham’s January transfer activity were portrayed and confirmed that the club no longer wants him to speak to Italian media outlets due to the fallout.
Tottenham‘s preparations for Saturday’s meeting with Manchester City have been overshadowed by Conte’s remarks to Sky Sports Italia that his squad had been “weakened” last month with four “important” players – Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil – allowed to leave on deadline day and only Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur signed. Conte clarified that the quartet were “important” due to the money that had been spent on them, roughly £120m in transfer fees.
“I think I was very clear but I don’t understand why someone would want to create a problem,” he said. “Not [just] me also in the past, I read stories of this club and problems between the coach and the chairman and the club – the chairman knows very well my thoughts.
“It is not important for me to go to the media and to speak to the media. If I have to tell him something, he knows very well that I will go and speak with him. I was a bit disturbed by this type of situation especially because I had an interview with Italian media. From now the club doesn’t want me to speak with Italian media because maybe the translation is not so clear with my thoughts.”
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“This is a game between two teams – a team that now is maybe the best in the world and is almost perfect and they are in a fantastic period of form – in the other side there is a team that I think is trying to build something important for the future,” Conte acknowledged. “To get a good result against Manchester City in this moment you have to be perfect without the ball and know that you are going to suffer.”
Conte accepted that Spurs could have as little as “20 per cent” possession given the quality of their opponents and that when his team does get precious possession, they must be “effective” in their use of it. Clearly, if Spurs are to avoid defeat against the runaway leaders, they will need Harry Kane to show the level of sharpness that has gradually started to return to his game.
Had things panned out differently last summer, Kane would have been lining up in sky blue rather than white this weekend and Tottenham’s recent downturn in form, coupled with Conte’s midweek remarks has led to renewed speculation over the England captain’s future. Kane is reportedly prepared to wait to see whether Conte will be suitably backed in the transfer market before deciding whether to re-commit to his boyhood club or else push for a transfer as his contract enters its final two years.
A goal against City would be welcome given he is without one against them in six years. Once labelled the “Harry Kane team” by a mischievous Pep Guardiola, Spurs’ best moments against City recently have tended to come without their talisman. Kane was missing for all but one half of the Champions League quarter-final between the clubs in 2019 and didn’t play in the 2-0 win in February 2020 or the 1-0 victory on the opening day of this season, when Spurs fans taunted him over his desire to leave.
A return of five goals and two assists from 21 league appearances is not the type of form that would ordinarily attract the attention of arguably the world’s best team and it remains to be seen whether City will renew their interest in a player who will turn 29 in June.
Conte will be boosted by the return of Eric Dier this weekend, although Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga are injured and an unnamed player is missing due to Covid.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/QkjyCd4
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