Conte: “The Premier League is now like the NBA… The sacking? It was just a joke”

From our correspondent Davide Chinellato

March 16th
– LONDON

It’s Antonio Conte, full of energy again, but he looks like Steve Kerr, the coach of the reigning NBA champions Golden State Warriors. “The Premier League is becoming like the NBA, so you have to be prepared for anything, otherwise you end up without trophies and remain without Europe,” he says in the Tottenham training centre, while explaining how he prepares for the playoff fight… or rather, the race in fourth place, the equivalent of the playoffs of this season finale in the Premier League.

OBJECTIVE

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The last ticket to the next Champions League is the only goal left for Spurs. “Finishing in the top 4 in the Premier League is an excellent result for any club – explains Conte -. The standings show that there are important teams, which in the past have won important things, who are struggling at the moment and are behind. And as Guardiola said, every team here has improved so much that you can lose points to anyone, even bottom of the table Southampton and our next opponents. I think the one for fourth place will be a very difficult sprint, because there are teams like Brighton in there, who have important players and are in great shape. I’m not forgetting Brentford, who are playing fantastic, and then of course Liverpool, Newcastle and for me also Chelsea. It will be an important race for all the teams involved, it would be an excellent result to finish in fourth place”.

EXEMPTION

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Conte also returns to the topic of his possible exemption, which he spoke about after his elimination with Milan. “But it was a joke – he says using the Italian word, while looking for the English concept that best explains what he means -. I had been asked about my future, I replied that in football you never know and who knows, maybe the club was thinking about sacking me. But it was a joke, a sarcastic comment. I don’t think the club ever really thought that, also because they see every day how my staff and I work and how much we work hard. I don’t think there is a club in the world that can assure his coach that he will stay until the end of the season, because football is strange and you never know what happens, but I think the club appreciates how we do it.This is demonstrated by the fact that in the press conference you keep asking me whether or not I signed the renewal: it means that the club appreciates it, doesn’t it? We still have to accept all kinds of situations, including rumors, but the important thing for a coach is to work 100% and beyond every day to try to improve the club that believed in you.”

KANE

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While preparing his next game of this regular season which arrived “in the most important part, the one that determines how you finish in the standings”, Conte also has to deal with the rumors about his franchise man, Harry Kane, whose contract expires in 2024 and for which Manchester United would be one of the many teams ready to go crazy. “When you have a world-class striker like him you want him to stay at your club for life,” Conte said of the centre-forward who has scored 20 Premier League goals this season. “I’m sure that’s what Tottenham want, but that’s a question for the society”. All teams need a phenomenon as a symbol man, especially those aiming for the playoffs in this Premier League with an increasingly NBA flavour.