'It's a mess': Antonio Conte hits out at Premier League over handling of fixture postponements
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Antonio Conte has hit out at the Premier League over their handling of the fixture postponements that he believes have resulted in the season becoming “a mess.”
Conte has accused the league of showing a lack of respect for Spurs for the way they have been treated during the coronavirus fixture crisis and also slammed the justifications for postponements over player welfare as being “stupid.”
Tottenham were furious that the north London derby against Arsenal was postponed last weekend and Conte insisted it is the first time in his playing and managerial career that he has known games called off for injuries.
Conte’s team travel to Leicester City on Wednesday night in a game that was originally postponed at the hosts’ request, even though Spurs had an initial request to move the match turned down that resulted in the club effectively being kicked out of Europe.
Spurs have four games in hand on some clubs and asked if the postponements have damaged the integrity of the League, Conte replied: “I think that it is a mess now, this is the truth. There is maybe only one team or maybe two who have played all their League games. City and maybe West Ham (Chelsea have as well). Us and Leicester have played 18. Burnley 17. Then they postponed the game against Watford. It is a big mess for sure.
“We have found the Premier League very strict when it happened, the outbreak at our training ground and they did not want to postpone the game against Leicester. The Burnley game was postponed by snow. Then all this happened. Yes you have to learn to laugh, you have to laugh because they have totally changed the vision.
“We have to accept every decision and play the game. But I think that in every moment you have to show respect for all the teams and players, coaches, for people who work in football.”
Managers, clubs and the Premier League have often talked about player welfare around the issue of postponing games, but Conte added: “I think this is not the first season in England that you are speaking about the welfare of the players, to try to protect the players.
“My question is – in all these years, what has changed? Nothing. And for this reason I tell you that it is stupid to continue to speak about the welfare of the players because it’s a waste of time. I think that it’s stupid to speak about a topic that you don’t want to solve or you can’t solve and for this reason, we waste time. We have to move on and to try to be serious and to face other topics.”
Arsenal applied for the north London derby to be postponed after players were ruled out through coronavirus, injuries, suspension and international duty at the African Cup of Nations.
“When there is the situation to play, you have to play and not postpone games for injuries, for international duty,” said Conte. “I think that we have a big problem to solve, that is Covid, but only about this situation can you decide to postpone. For other situations, honestly this is the first time in my life and I think I have a bit of experience in football. To see this type of decision, it was very strange.”
Tottenham were eliminated from the Europa Conference League after a Covid outbreak forced them to call off their final group game against Rennes, which could not be rescheduled because the Premier League would not move the Leicester game that was eventually moved to Wednesday night in any case.
“The Premier League didn’t want to move the game against Leicester, this is the only reason (we were eliminated) and then Leicester asked to postpone the game and the Premier League postponed the game,” said Conte.
“It was a big damage to Tottenham from the Premier League. You have to protect your team and they penalised us in a bad way. We are working and we have passion for football, but they have to show respect for our job.”
Asked if the fall-out over postponements threatens to overshadow the season, Conte concluded by saying: “Honestly, I think at the end of the season it will be the time to reflect on this season and the decisions the Premier League have taken. There is a lot of room for improvement for the clubs, but also for the Premier League.”
