Antonio Conte reveals outburst hid a secret Tottenham message to Harry Kane and Co
Antonio Conte on the FA Cup
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However, it was only at a more considered press conference back at the club’s Enfield training ground to prepare for the FA Cup fifth round clash that Conte felt it was appropriate to explain fully what had been going on.He also made clear his real intention in threatening to quit after he was asked whether his emotions had been getting the better of him more than usual recently.
“It is not right to stand here without explaining why I talked in a certain way and after three days I spoke in another way,” he admitted.
“Maybe I need to explain to you, every time we have a press conference there is a strategy behind it. It is not an emotional moment.
“I understood that was the right moment, after four defeats in five games – and having won the game against Manchester City three days earlier – to send the right message.”A clear message to myself, the club and also the players.”
Instead he wanted his players to know after their poor showing at Turf Moor that they could not afford to relax for a moment – even after a brilliant result like the 3-2 win over Manchester City at the Etihad the previous Saturday.
“We have to know we are here to enjoy football,” Conte explained. But at the same time to improve ourselves, to ask ourselves for 100 per cent commitment and desire and also to underline that a team like Tottenham does not exist to lose four games in five.
“If someone understood that my words were from an emotional moment, no. In that moment I sent a specific message to the whole environment – and it has happened in the past.
“When I want to push the situation and the environment in the same direction, because I am seeing we can do better, it is not because it is an emotional moment, it is because there is a strategy behind it.”
Conte ended his explanation on a brighter note with a broad grin that recognised the tensions his outburst might have caused – not least with Tottenham in a very real and very fierce battle to finish in one of the highly lucrative top-four Champions League places.
“But next time I won’t speak!” he added.
The 52-year-old seemed genuinely grateful to get the matter off the chest and clear up the matter of his Tottenham future for now at least.
“It was good that I have explained the strategy during this press conference,” he said to the journalist concerned.
“I am not only having emotional moments. Sometimes you deserve our proper consideration and not just a simple or stupid consideration, but to go sometimes deeper it is sometimes interesting for you.”
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