Conte set for fresh conflict in any language

INTERVIEW LIGHTS FUSE

TOTTENHAM went to great lengths to give Antonio Conte’s damaging words about the club’s ambitions their full context.

But even so, his interview with Sky Italia suggests the relationship between the Italian and the north London club looks set to be an explosive but short-term one.

Chairman Daniel Levy, right, is a media control freak. If an interview does not work for the club, it does not work.

So when one dares to go offmessage, all hell breaks loose.

In an interview filmed with Conte in his native language, the Spurs head coach was reported to have said: “What happened in January is not easy. Four players left in January. Four important players for Tottenham, two have arrived.

“So even numerically, instead of ‘reinforcing yourself’ in quotes, you may have, on paper, weakened.

“Then precise choices were made for many reasons.

But I certainly never expected that in January, four players who I still considered important would change their shirts for a thousand reasons.

“This shows the difficulty. “Tottenham in the last session of the summer transfer market and in January changed eight players. Because Tottenham is looking for young players, players to be developed, not ready players. This is the speech.”

Overnight the military arm of the revisional Spurs press office was thrust into action.

Erroneous stories from the continent are often stamped out – quite legitimately – as misquotation, misunderstanding or manipulation of older quotes.

The best defence being put up this time was that the words needed to be seen in their full and proper context.

An “important” player meant one with a high salary or fee, for instance. But it was hard to see the interpretation changed much. When that full transcript emerged it was clear that Conte had found himself in a different situation to the one he thought he was signing up to in November.

He said: “When you are outside you can never make certain assessments.

“Then there is the desire, always to question oneself even in very difficult situations such as this one, because Tottenham has been in the middle of the table for years.

“The confidence is down and many times at the first obstacle you throw yourself down and the negativity increases. Sometimes you grant goals that you struggle to accept.”

Conte was appointed as a winner. In the past, he has expected rather more support in the transfer market.

But he added: “I am certainly happy with the way we are working.We are doing a lot but I am realising being inside the situation that it will take time and patience.” Given Conte’s reputation for not staying anywhere long – three years at Juventus being his longest stretch – anybody grasping at this one strand of positivity from the interview is clutching at a straw.