Conte’s latest rants highlight why he may not stay at Tottenham if not adequately backed

Antonio Conte's short spell at Tottenham has been frustrating.
Antonio Conte's short spell at Tottenham has been frustrating.

It’s been three months since Antonio Conte took over from Nuno Espirito Santo as Tottenham Hotspur manager. In truth, there are some similarities between the reigns of both coaches.

Espirito Santo kickstarted the 2021-22 campaign with three successive wins in the Premier League before the world started crumbling before his very eyes.

Similarly, Conte was unbeaten in his first nine Premier League matches as Spurs boss, winning six and drawing the other three. However, the Italian manager is also facing a crisis at the moment.

A disastrous run of four defeats in five league matches has seen Tottenham lose their bearing in the top-four race and drop to eighth place. Their latest defeat was a 1-0 loss to Burnley where Spurs were completely lifeless and listless in attack.

Conte needs to be backed

Conte’s post-match rants point to a man who is already fed up with his current job. The Tottenham managerial hot seat appears to be a toxic place that saps all confidence from every manager.

The club has had some top managers in recent years, including Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino but none of them ever had all the tools to succeed.

The determiner in the failures of the managers that preceded Conte is that they were not backed. Daniel Levy’s reluctance to loosen his purse has hurt Tottenham enough and there’s very little Conte can do with the squad at his disposal.

Aside from Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Hugo Lloris, the squad lacks great players. Spurs need more quality to be able to challenge the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Conte is crying out to be backed, as his predecessors did. Until he’s granted the finances to make his own signings, very little will change at Spurs.

Spurs risk losing Conte

Nobody knows the kind of assurances that Conte had from Levy before taking up the role as manager. What is known, though, is that the Italian manager is never afraid to walk when his demands are not met.

As it stands, Tottenham risk losing him if he’s not backed in the next transfer window. Conte's latest rant suggests he’s already considering leaving. Conte said after Spurs’ loss to Burnley, as quoted by Goal:

"I came in to try to improve the situation but maybe in this moment, I don’t know. I’m not so good to improve it. It is very frustrating. Working hard, working a lot and trying to get out the best of players. Too honest to close my eyes. On Saturday, we play another game, it’s the moment to see the situation and make an assessment, really frustrated, not used to seeing these situations."
"I’m trying to do everything but the situation is not changing. In the last five games, we are playing like we are in relegation this is the reality, maybe there is something wrong, I want to take responsibility, if I have that, I’m open for every decision, I want to help Tottenham from the first day I arrive. Also to take my salary. It is not right at this moment."

It can be argued that Conte could have handled things better, rather than throwing his players under the bus. However, the manager is frustrated and this is what you get when you employ a proven winner. Conte is not used to losing and refuses to change just because he has joined a club that lacks ambition.

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