Conte doesn't hold back on Richarlison rant and his own future | OneFootball

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has not held back on Richarlison or his own future when addressing the media on Friday.

Speaking after Spurs’ Champions League exit on Wednesday, Richarlison said the season “has been shit” and he “didn’t understand” the fact he was on the bench for the 0-0 draw against Milan.

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

Conte has now responded in incredible fashion on Friday.

“First of all I watched the interview of Richarlison. He didn’t criticise me. He said his season was shit and he’s right,” the Italian told reporters.

“His season has been not good. He had injuries, played and scored in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury. He’s scored no goals for us. I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity.

“For the rest of the interview, I think he made a mistake. When you speak of ‘I’ and not ‘us’ you are being selfish. I say to my players if we want to build something important and win a trophy we have to speak with ‘we’ not with ‘I’, because otherwise you’re thinking of yourself.

“He made a mistake and he apologised and it was good for me to clarify with the team again about this. In this aspect we have to improve. We have to be more of a team and show more spirit positive, especially in negative moments.

“Sometimes it’s not enough to be a good guy. You have to to show the right desire and fight to win the game and the duels, to be nasty. I think that sometimes we are a bit soft, but I’m the coach and I’m the first responsible for this to happen and it doesn’t happen every time.

“I have to improve the team and I have to improve the spirit of my team. It always happened in the past and I hope it happens here.”

Conte’s Tottenham future is currently up in the air and he was open when asked about the current situation at the club.

“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.”

A report in the Times on Friday morning claimed Conte’s days in north London are numbered, with Luis Enrique and ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino likely to be considered to replace him.