‘Basket case’ – Conte ‘does not fear’ Spurs sack, is ‘trying to take down as many people with him’
Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has slammed Antonio Conte for ‘imploding’ after Tottenham’s 3-3 draw at Southampton on Saturday.
Spurs looked like they were on their way to a victory at St Mary’s with 15 minutes left to play, however, former Arsenal man Theo Walcott and James Ward-Prowse got on the scoresheet to earn the Saints a valuable point.
Two points dropped for Spurs led to a beautiful post-match press conference from Conte, who went on a tirade.
The Italian head coach slammed the culture of the club, insisting that no manager can instill a winning mentality and that the players are “selfish” and playing for themselves.
It was absolutely beautiful to see. Some Spurs fans were fuming at the ex-Chelsea boss for openly criticise the club, while others were delighted to see him speak nothing but the truth while exposing chairman Daniel Levy.
There were doubts over Conte’s future before the draw against Southampton, and now fans feel like his departure is a formality.
Cascarino doesn’t think Conte will be too bothered if he is sacked, given the fact his contract expires at the end of the season anyway, meaning he will get a nice compensation package.
READ MORE: Conte has no answers to questions he doesn’t even care about and Spurs latest collapse shows it
The talkSPORT pundit also reckons the Italian’s reputation will not take a hit from his stint at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“I don’t think he cares because he’s in a very privileged position because he’s made a hell of a lot of money as a manager,” he told talkSPORT.
“He’s thinking ‘if I do go down, I’m taking a few with me’.
“He’s definitely going to take a few with him. He’s not a manager who fears the sack. Financially he’s sound and will go and get another job.
“He will get another top job.
“I felt it was a real frustration from him because they conceded two late goals. I think he imploded because of that.
“You are leading 3-1 and been quite comfortable and they’ve had a few injuries, and tried to see out the game and they couldn’t.
“I think they’ve got so angry because they couldn’t see out the game.
“Tottenham are a basket case of a club,” Cascarino added. “You have a guy who has achieved six times getting 20 plus goals.
“It’s a real strange dynamic how this club implodes and does regularly.”
TalkSPORT‘s chief football correspondent Alex Crook thinks Conte should receive more blame than he is getting.
“Let’s look at some of the reasons why they are not competing for trophies, they managed to lose over two legs to a very poor AC Milan side,” Crook added.
“That was a tie they should have won, that was on Conte, then he made a bizarre change. Sacrifices an attacker when they need a goal to stay in the Champions League.
“That’s not on the players, that’s on the manager.
“They lost in the FA Cup against a Sheffield United side who were more interested in their own promotion aspirations than really progressing in the competition.
“He leaves out Harry Kane and loses another route to a trophy. Conte is far from blameless in all of this.”
READ MORE: Conte gives one last f*** you to finally answer the question of who would prevail: him or Spursiness
