Mourinho’s Old Comments on Tottenham Resurface After Conte’s Explosion

Mourinho’s Old Comments on Tottenham Resurface After Conte’s Explosion

Elijah Odetokun
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:28 PM
  • Tottenham surrendered a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 at Southampton on Saturday
  • Antonio Conte went on an explosive rant after the game, slamming the club
  • His words recalled similar comments on Spurs by ex-coach Jose Mourinho

Tottenham Hotspur's board and players were served more than they can chew on Saturday, after surrendering a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 away at the Saint Mary's Stadium, the home of relegation-threatened Southampton.

Head coach, Antonio Conte did not hide his feelings as he ripped into everything from the club to the players, who he insinuated were selfish.

The Italian manager, out of contract at Spurs this summer, is likely to leave the club but has highlighted a significant problem there - the mentality - a problem which troubled former managers, including Jose Mourinho.

Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, Tottenham.
Jose Mourinho was more cautious and courteous in his speeches towards Tottenham than Antonio Conte. Photos by Tottenham Hotspur/Clive Brunskill.
Source: Getty Images

Mourinho praises Levy's work

While in a similar situation to the one facing Conte presently, Mourinho had instead praised the owners in an interview and promised to give his best to help the club win trophies, as reported by Guardian.

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"I don’t think sometimes it’s fair for an owner, CEO, administrator, a president of a club to be judged on trophies because trophies many times depend on others,” he said at the time.
“The work done in this club independent of the trophies that the club didn’t get is undeniable. The club is a big club in many aspects. That’s incredible work from him as the big boss and the whole structure that works for him,” Mourinho added.

The Special One was approaching a milestone game as manager and said it would be nice to break the club's trophy drought on the special occasion.

“But the trophies are the salt and pepper of football and I would love to help that to happen. I’m not a big guy on stats, but my 1,000th official match is going to arrive this season too for a career where I’ve been lucky enough to win so many things,” he said.
“It would be nice for him to celebrate my 1,000 official matches winning a trophy for Tottenham.”

The club and the manager never achieved that feat together.

Mourinho was sacked six days before a cup final and Spurs went on to lose against Manchester City under Ryan Mason, as reported by Evening Standard.

Carragher: Spurs must sack Conte

Sports Brief also reported on former Liverpool player, Jamie Carragher telling Tottenham to sack Conte after the Italian's explosive post-match rant.

The English pundit believes the manager's outburst appeared to be a man begging to be sacked and urged the club to put Conte out of his immediate misery.

Authors
Elijah Odetokun photo
Elijah Odetokun
Elijah Odetokun is Reuters-trained journalist with three years of experience having previously worked at Daily Times Nigeria, OmaSports and El Futbolero.
Tags
Antonio ConteJose Mourinho