Tottenham, Paratici on Conte: “The best decision for everyone”

From our correspondent Davide Chinellato

March 28th
– London

“We made the best decision for everyone.” It is Fabio Paratici who makes Tottenham’s voice heard on the divorce from Antonio Conte. He does so two days after the formalization of the consensual separation that ended Conte’s reign 3 months early, with a video message released on the club’s social channels in which Paratici asks for compactness to face the season finale. If the sporting director’s message on the divorce from Conte is as aseptic as the club’s press release was, the mea culpa coming from South Korea from Son, one of the players closest to Conte: “I feel responsible for how it’s over,” the forward said.

COUNT AND STELLINI

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“We all know how difficult this season has been for Antonio on a personal level, with the deaths of Gian Piero Ventrone and then Vialli and Mihajlovic and then the operation he underwent – says Paratici -. The club has always supported him, showing unity and compactness, but then we came to this agreement to separate: I think it was the best decision for everyone”. The sporting director of Tottenham also explains the choice of Stellini as ferryman until the end of the season with Ryan Mason acting as his number two, the same couple who replaced Conte in the three weeks between February and March in which Antonio was convalescing: “We have a lot, a lot of faith that this couple can do a great job from now to the end – says Paratici in English – Cristian managed the team when Antonio was ill and did well. He has a lot of experience as a second and in the past he was also boss coach (at Alessandria for 4 months in 2017-18, ed.) Nearby he will have Mason who can help him a lot, because he’s been at the club for a long time and knows everything about how things are done here and about this group of players.” Paratici explains that the internal solution for the bench was also taken so as not to change the players’ training habits and styles: “With 10 games to go it would have been too difficult to change everything”.

FLY

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Paratici dedicates the first minute of the video to the passage from Conte and Stellini and the following three to take stock of the last two seasons and to look ahead, asking for unity around the new technical staff and the players, forgetting about the speculation about who could sit on the Tottenham bench in the next season. “We all have to be focused on this season finale, on how to help Cristian, the staff and the players – says Paratici -. The Premier League is always tough and we have many prepared teams that are in the running with us for fourth place, but we want to play it and We are ready to fight to the end to achieve our goals.” Qualification in the Champions League, that “great result” obtained last season, is what Tottenham are asking Stellini in this 2022-23 final. Also to continue on the growth path that the Spurs have begun: “We are on the right path – assures Paratici -, but obviously we are focused on improving in view of the end of the season and on continuing to grow also in the next one”.

“RESPONSIBLE”

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In the meantime, Son’s much more heartfelt message arrives from South Korea. It is a greeting to Conte, a coach with whom he had a bond sharing the same work ethic, and a mea culpa for not being able to make things go differently with his performance on the pitch, given that the attacker’s crisis (only 6 goals in Premier so far against 23 last season) is among the causes of Tottenham’s problems. “I feel responsible for Antonio Conte’s divorce from Tottenham,” the striker said after leading his national team in a match against Uruguay. and I thank him very much. I don’t know how the other players feel, but I am sorry that he left. I know I should have done more, but I failed. I failed to help the team and I feel responsible that “He is gone. He has great skill and experience as a coach and I am sure he will have enormous success in the rest of his career. In returning to Tottenham, my aim is to finish the season on a high with my team-mates, for our club.”