Hojbjerg becomes first Tottenham star to break silence on Conte drama

Tottenham manager Antoni Conte reviews Southampton draw

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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is the first Tottenham star to speak out on Antonio Conte’s controversial remarks following his side’s 3-3 draw with Premier League basement dwellers Southampton. The Italian claimed he has “selfish players” at his disposal who don’t like to work “under pressure”. He also took aim at the culture of the club, suggesting it’s why they haven’t won a trophy in 15 years.

Conte is walking on thin ice at Spurs following his outburst, with reports suggesting Daniel Levy could relieve the former Chelsea boss of his services and temporarily replace him with Ryan Mason.

The Spurs squad, who squandered a two-goal lead against the Saints, kept quiet on social media but Hojbjerg has now spoken out to address the criticism aimed at the players.

He said: “I can understand that if you want to be successful as a team, then you need 11 men who are committed to a project and a culture. But I think he has to elaborate on what he feels before you as a player can start measuring and weigh.”

Spurs were 3-1 up against Southampton with just 13 minutes left to play before Theo Walcott reduced the deficit and James Ward Prowse drew the scores level with a stoppage-time penalty.

An infuriated Conte told the press: “I’m not used to seeing this type of situation. I see a lot of selfish players and I don’t see a team. We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart [in].”

He added: “Because they are used to it here, they are used to it. They don’t play for something important, yeah. 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.

“Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here.

“You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment.

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“Until now I try to hide the situation but now, no, because I repeat, I don’t want to see what I have seen today because this is unacceptable and also unacceptable for the fans.

“They follow us, pay for their ticket and to see the team another time, to have this type of performance is unacceptable. We have to think a lot about this.”

Levy is yet to announce his plans for Tottenham following Conte’s outburst, but the club are said to be keeping tabs on Eintracht Frankfurt boss Oliver Glasner.

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