Antonio Conte Rips 'Selfish' Tottenham Players, Slams Ownership's Lack Of Ambition

Antonio Conte unleashed a savage verbal assault on his Tottenham flops after watching them surrender a two-goal lead to draw at Southampton.

Conte branded them selfish, accused them of lacking 'fire in the eyes', admitted the collective spirit had gone backwards since last season and waded into the problems of the blame culture inside Spurs.

In a blistering 10-minute rant, the Italian claimed this was the reason they have not won a trophy for 15 years, insisting it was not the fault of chairman Daniel Levy or the string of managers.

Antonio Conte went IN after Spurs’ draw 😡

(via @HaytersTV)pic.twitter.com/gMWJvVi4K5

— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 18, 2023

 'They are used to it here,' fumed Conte after a 3-3 draw at St Mary's. 'They don't play for something important. 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.

'I said I wanted to see the fire and I have not seen it. I said that I want to see the fire in their eyes, in their hearts. I want to see the right spirit. Not only in the training session, but on the pitch because it is here you make the difference.

'Until now, I try to hide the situation but there are 10 games to go and some people think we can fight. Fight for what? With this spirit, this attitude, this commitment? What? For seventh, eighth, 10th place?

'I am not used to being in this position. I am 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.'

For 20 years, Conte claimed, the owners and various managers - including serial winners like himself and Jose Mourinho - had taken the blame but that the players had always been excused.

'You are finding an alibi, another alibi,' Conte shot back when asked if uncertainty around his own future was part of the problem. '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!

'Excuses for the players. 'Maybe, it's my future, then we lost confidence, they lost spirit, they lost being a team'. Excuses. Excuses. Excuse. 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. I receive money and not to find excuses and not show spirit or a sense of responsibility. 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 it and compared to last season the situation has become worse.'

Tottenham led 3-1 with 16 minutes remaining at Southampton. Pedro Porro opened the scoring and Harry Kane put them 2-1 up after an equaliser by Che Adams. But Theo Walcott reduced the deficit and James Ward-Prowse scored a disputed penalty in the last minute.

The manager did not address his players in the dressing room but strode directly into his media duties.

'For me, it's not a penalty and then we stop,' said Conte. 'The worst is what happened on the pitch, and what's happening in the last few months, this my second season.

'It is the right moment to speak because this performance for me it's unacceptable. It's better now to go into the problem.