What happens when you mix an emotional and volatile manager with Tottenham’s tendency to infuriate with its inconsistency?
Spursiness is not the easiest quality to define, but you know it when you see it. It’s not just that Tottenham lost to 19th-placed Burnley, which had previously won only two games all season, on Wednesday; it’s that it did so after beating the defending champion and league leader Manchester City on Saturday. That result itself, of course, came just a week after a 2–0 home defeat to Wolves. It’s the inconsistency, the building of hopes, the dashing of promise, the sense of going nowhere in a way that is explicable only by reference to this idiosyncratic characteristic.
Antonio Conte is perhaps coming to understand the true nature of Tottenham, and the clash with his own volatility is bewildering. During the Wolves defeat, he stalked his technical area dejectedly, as though he couldn’t quite believe the shambolic defending that had cost his side. As he said afterward—and Conte in postmatch interviews is far calmer of tone than he is on the touchline—Spurs hadn’t played too badly, at least once he had made a tactical switch to negate the influence of Rúben Neves, but they lacked the necessary “mentality,” the ruthlessness and determination to get in the way when the ball is ricocheting around the box.
After the Man City win, Conte was talking of a “change of mentality” and stressing how much he was enjoying the challenge: “I come to the training ground with a smile because I know I stay two to three hours with people who want to work seriously and follow a path to improve the level and try to go another step.” He spoke of the squad as “fantastic,” and “one of the best group of players I have worked with in my career.”
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But the Burnley defeat means Spurs have lost four of their last five games, and that is clearly playing on Conte’s mind. “I think that we are doing everything to try to improve the situation, but maybe it is not enough. It is very frustrating; this is the first time it has ever happened in my life,” he said. “Maybe I am not so good. I think Tottenham called me to improve the situation, but I am too honest to close my eyes and to continue to tell, 'I want to finish the season in this way, but my salary is good.' I am not this type of person. I have ambition. I hate to lose and we lost four out of five games. For me, I repeat, this is unacceptable."
It’s unclear how seriously that should be taken, or even quite what Conte was saying. The reference to his salary suggested he was possibly considering quitting, but at other times it sounded as though he was battling with potential criticism from the board. It’s hard to imagine that the chairman Daniel Levy would be considering dismissing him, but Conte’s relations with directors at every club he’s worked at have tended to be fraught. It’s only last week he was saying, “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 strengthening yourself, you may have, on paper, weakened.”
Conte is emotional. Outbursts such as Wednesday’s may not be helpful, but they are all part of the package, part of the intensely charismatic personality that has brought him success at three clubs in two leagues.
“The players are always the same, the club has changed the coaches, but the players are always the same,” he said. “And the results don’t change.” Which seems quite different from his attitude Saturday.
And there are issues with the squad. When Eric Dier is absent, there is a lack of leadership at the back. There has been a lack of quality on the ball in midfield ever since Christian Eriksen and Moussa Dembélé left. The wingbacks are nowhere near Champions League–level. Conte has made the team fitter and sharper, although there is a limit to what you can do taking over midway through a season.
Yet at the same time, it’s very hard to put a positive spin on defeats to Southampton, Wolves and Burnley. It’s not often football’s way, but the best thing is probably to wait until the summer and see what Conte can do with a full preseason and support in the transfer market. The club, surely, has the will to do that. Whether Conte does is another matter. Spursiness may be too great a force even for him.
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