Antonio Conte agrees Richarlison's season has been 'S**T'

‘Richarlison is RIGHT… his season is S***!’: Antonio Conte tells the outspoken striker he’s ‘SELFISH’ over interview criticising his lack of starts for Tottenham – and hints he doesn’t DESERVE to play

• Tottenham crashed out of the Champions League after their draw with AC Milan
• Richarlison was frustrated that Antonio Conte decided to start him on the bench
• Conte has responded to Richarlison’s outburst, agreeing he has been ‘s**t’ so far 

Antonio Conte agreed with Richarlison’s x-rated assessment of his first season at Tottenham because he has not scored a Premier League goal, and accused the Brazil international of selfishness.

Conte sat down with his £50million striker to go through every word of the explosive interview he gave to broadcasters TNT Sports after Spurs crashed out of the Champions League against Milan on Wednesday.

Richarlison said this season had been ‘sh**’ and that he should have played more games but Conte said: ‘I watched the interview of Richarlison and he didn’t criticise me.

‘He said “my season is s***” and he is right because his season is no good, because he had a lot of injuries. 

‘He started well with us, he then had injury in the Champions League and then he went to World Cup and he had another serious injury. He came back and stayed one month out. Then another injury.

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte (above) agreed that Richarlison’s season has been ‘s***’ due to the fact he’s ‘scored no goals’ and struggled with various injuries

The Brazilian (left) said in the interview with TNT Sports Brazil that it has been a ‘s*** season’ after Spurs crashed out of the Champions League following a goalless draw on Wednesday

Richarlison has struggled for regular starts at Spurs this season under Italian boss Conte

‘He scored zero goals with us, only two goals in Champions League and I think the guy was really honest to tell that his season is not good. 

‘His season and our season has still not finished and he has time to recover. If he deserves to play, I give him opportunity otherwise we will play another player.’

Conte took issue with Richarlison for talking more about himself and his own problems than the team.

‘If you ask me for rest of interview I think that the guy understood very well that he made mistake because when you speak with “I, I and I”, not with us,’ said the Spurs boss.

‘It means you are thinking only about yourself and you are selfish. 

‘For this reason I analysed this situation and to repeat to my players that if we want to build something important, if you want to try to fight for something important, if we want to fight to be competitive and to win a trophy, you have to speak with “we” and not with “I”.

‘If we speak “I, I and I”, it means that you are only thinking only about yourself and not the others and club.’

Richarlison apologised to Conte, who took the opportunity to stress the importance of strength and unity in the dressing room, and confessed his team were too ‘soft’.

‘The pitch is important, tactics are important, but the spirit and desire to fight and the fire in your eyes is much important,’ said Conte. 

‘It was important for me to underline again this situation to my players because for sure in this aspect we have to improve, to improve a lot, to be more team, and to show more spirit positive to help each other especially in negative moments.

‘I have good guys but sometimes it is not enough to be a good guy. 

‘Sometimes you have to show right desire, sacrifice to yourself to fight to win the game, to win the duals, yeah to be nasty and, yeah, I think sometimes we are a bit soft.

‘I am the coach and the first responsible about this situation when it happen because doesn’t happen every time but I have to improve the team and also I have to improve the spirit of my team. 

Richarlison’s outburst came after Conte started him on the bench against the Serie A side

‘It always happen in the past and I hope to happen also here.’

Conte’s comments came after Richarlison blasted the Tottenham manager for not starting him on Wednesday evening after Spurs limped out of the Champions League with a goalless draw against AC Milan.

In an explosive interview after the game, Richarlison questioned Conte for dropping him to the bench after victories over West Ham and Chelsea. 

Richarlison said: ‘I didn’t understand – I was playing well, we won against Chelsea and West Ham and suddenly I was on the bench. I played five minutes against Wolves, asked the reason and no-one told me why.

‘They asked me to take a fitness test in the gym and told me I was going to start if I passed it. And I was on the bench, there are things I can’t understand. 

‘There was no explanation again, let’s see what he (Conte) will tell us but I’m not silly – I’m a professional that works hard every day and I want to play.’ 

Richarlison came on as a substitute with 20 minutes remaining with Spurs needing a goal to force extra time but was unable to make a difference.

Richarlison didn’t understand why the Italian boss decided to leave him out of the starting XI

‘There hasn’t been enough minutes given to me. This season – and forgive my language – has been sh*t,’ Richarlison added. ‘That’s what I didn’t understand, too (being a substitute). It was going well, in a good sequence, two wins against West Ham and Chelsea.

‘Suddenly, he (Cristian Stellini) put me on the bench, against Wolverhampton he put me on for five minutes. I asked why? They didn’t tell me anything.

‘And, yesterday, they asked me to take a test at the gym, that if I was good I would go to the game and, at the time of the game, they left me on the bench. These are things that it is not possible to understand.

‘Let’s see what he (Conte) will say tomorrow, but there are no fools here either, I’m a professional, I work every day and I want to play. There are minutes left, time left.

‘I suffered a little with the injury. But, when I enter the field, I give my life. I came from two games well, I think that’s it, I think I should have played and I don’t have to cry about it.’

Meanwhile, Conte went on to discuss his future at Tottenham, saying: ‘Again my future. In this moment, the most important thing is to be focused on the league. 

Richarlison has only scored two goals in all competitions since joining the club from Everton

Conte went on to speak about his future at the club, claiming he is focused on the league

‘You know what is my opinion, what is my desire. I say to you a lot of times that the situation that I have found, and we are far to aspire to be competitive to fight to win. 

‘I repeat this for a long time. We need time and patience. I see the environment has no patience or the environment does not want to see the reality. 

‘The club knows very well what is my situation and they know what are my thoughts. We can’t do miracles. If I am to take the people as a target. I am not this person. The reality is this.

‘We’ll see what happens in the future. I’m not stupid to kill myself. Until the end though I am ready to die for this club but then we’ll see, I’m not too stupid to keep killing myself.’

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