Antonio Conte is attempting to get fired from Tottenham

It solely takes a matter of hours after turning into a soccer fan to listen to the time period, “Spursy.” It solely takes a pair extra after that to fully perceive that. It refers to Tottenham Hotspur and that regardless of the scenario, or the seeming unlikeliness, one thing bizarre will occur to the membership, and in a nasty means. Whereas the reality is nearly actually some calculable mixture of unhealthy administration from the highest, an absence of a long-term plan, being only a contact much less wealthy than their rivals, with a splash of some unhealthy luck, the general feeling that one thing hangs over the membership that may all the time lead to a balls-up is inescapable. They’re the Premier League’s Jets, or Maple Leafs, the place one thing ineffable should be overcome, although that nebulous drive has turn out to be so pungent and robust that the duty is not possible.

Yesterday was some of the Spursy days on file in current historical past. Tottenham managed to toss away a two-goal lead within the final 13 minutes away to Southampton, the worst staff within the league. Certain, the equalizer got here from a fairly rattling doubtful penalty, however Spurs followers are so crushed down by…being Spurs followers that that type of factor simply looks like the value of admission.

That outcome alone would have been bizarre sufficient for the North London membership, however that is Tottenham Hotspur, the place they will all the time pour extra confounding mishegas on prime of the bedrock of confounding mishegas the membership is outwardly constructed on. Enter supervisor Antonio Conte, with a press convention that torched his personal gamers, and his bosses, and acted as a big neon signal flashing, “PLEASE FIRE ME!” that was additionally on fireplace.

One of the best a part of this needs to be when Conte exclaims, “I’m very upset!” Oh you don’t say?

It’s additionally necessary to do not forget that Conte is such a level-headed type that he authored my favourite soccer clip of all time through the 2016 Euros:

Does Conte have a degree? In all probability, sure. Spurs are 15 years with none trophy, relying on how a lot inventory you set within the League Cup. They haven’t gained the FA Cup in 32 years, and let’s not even wade into their final league title. Chairman Daniel Levy has been in cost for 22 years, and it’s a fairly barren 22 years for a membership that sees itself on the identical degree with neighbors Arsenal, if not the remainder of the league’s giants. And Levy’s reign has been chaotic at instances, hiring managers at a price that will spin a revolving door off the hinges.

However Spurs have additionally hit their best current heights below Levy, and maybe extra poignantly to each Spurs supporter, supervisor Mauricio Pochettino. They made a Champions League closing, the membership’s first, and contended for a few league titles with out profitable them. Pochettino’s Tottenham ran off third, 2nd, and third place finishes from 2016-2018, the very best run by far that Spurs have ever managed within the Premier League.

Levy’s best mistake was firing Pochettino as an alternative of funding the squad overhaul that Pochettino informed him was mandatory, and one Levy ended up funding anyway to please subsequent managers Jose Mourinho and Conte. However Mourinho and Conte are by no means, ever a part of a long-term imaginative and prescient, given the best way they shortly flameout, or straight up nuke, their environment after a season or two.

The proper symmetry to all that is that the ghost of Pochettino has hung within the background all season, as he has been closely rumored to be the one who’s going to exchange Conte every time the Italian packs up his baggage (although truthfully, it positive has felt like Conte has had his baggage packed for some time now). But it surely’s one other instance of the scattergun planning that Levy’s Tottenham have by no means been capable of get out of.

The Conte M.O.

On the flip facet, that is what Conte does. At Juventus, at Chelsea, at Inter, and now Spurs, he engineers a right away bounce in outcomes, efficiency, and optimism, after which he firebombs his personal work the next season, normally bitching a few lack of assist in transfers or affect or each. The dude simply can’t sit nonetheless.

And Conte would have a tough time arguing he hasn’t been supported by Levy. Spurs introduced in Richarlison, Christian Romero, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perišić, Clément Lenglet in the summertime, and Pedro Porro and Arnaut Danjuma within the January window. Of all of them, solely Romero and Perišić have featured often, although a few of that is because of harm. However a few of it’s not, as Richarlison was solely too blissful to level out when Spurs limply exited the Champions League to a far-from-impressive AC Milan. That’s some $215 million in expenditure on Conte’s behalf, and that’s a contact greater than the change discovered within the sofa cushions.

And it’s onerous to place the blame anyplace apart from Conte for a way usually Spurs look bland and torpid on the sector. He can pillory his gamers within the press all he likes, and he apparently likes it rather a lot, nevertheless it’s type of in his job description to generate ardour and need inside his squad. Seeing as how he’s been making goo-goo eyes on the exit door for many of the season, it’s not all that stunning that his gamers aren’t precisely feeling it week in and week out.

One wonders if Pochettino might save this if he’s certainly to make an excellent return, regardless of how a lot goodwill and leeway the followers will give him. Of Tottenham’s main gamers by minutes this season, solely Romero and Dejan Kulusevski aren’t both over or about to be over 30 years previous. It’s a thriller how far more endurance Harry Kane has for this horseshit (although let’s all pray that Man United resolve to shell out large for him for his declining years as an alternative of Victor Osimhen, who has inhaled and spit again out Serie A for Napoli this 12 months and is six years youthful). The squad may have one other overhaul after the overhaul they engineered after telling Pochettino they wouldn’t let him overhaul the squad.

Spursy.