Antonio Conte suggests they will hold professionalism amid challenging decisions from organisers
According to the Irish Independent, Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte revealed that his team would show professionalism as talk of a strike continues.
The last few weeks haven’t been comfortable for many Premier League teams. A sudden surge of Covid-19 cases amongst players and staff has ravaged the club’s regular routines. Furthermore, The teams were pushed to compete in games without some key players due to isolation. On top of that, the festive period’s fixture congestion hasn’t done any favours.
Amid such a situation, the Premier League called a meeting with the club representatives, and it was decided that the regular schedule would be followed. The English top-flight organisers also called team managers to discuss a solution. However, no alteration in the decision was taken.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has heavily criticised the meeting, saying it was like talking to a wall as all the crucial decisions were already taken and the input from the managers didn’t count.
Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola suggested that only a strike from players and managers can halt the schedule. But the Spurs manager provided a different stance in his recent press conference.
Antonio Conte criticised the organiser’s for their strict stance amid a dire situation in the Tottenham squad.
“We faced two weeks ago a really bad situation. Don’t forget, during a really bad situation, we lost the Conference League, and no one tried to do anything. Not UEFA, not the Premier League, and then I have to speak and suggest what?”
The former Inter Milan manager also revealed that despite the poor management from the Premier League, they would continue to show professionalism when it comes to training and taking part in games.
“if we have the possibility to have the training session, we have to do it and to continue to work very hard. If they decide we have to play, we play because we are professionals.”
9 Tottenham first-team players were affected by the Coronavirus and had to be isolated. Amid such a situation, 3 of Spurs’ matches were postponed, including a Conference League group match against Rennes. Even though Spurs tried to provide a solution by agreeing to travel to France to play a home fixture, they couldn’t find an agreeable date. UEFA, however, remained very strict about their rules and eliminated Spurs from the competition.
It’s understandable that to finish the fixtures, UEFA had to take such a decision. But when these rules were being written, it is hard to think that a situation, the likes of which we are witnessing now due to Covid-19, ever came into the minds of the rule-makers.
The Premier League would have been wise to postpone a few gameweeks but decided to take an approach that saw some selected fixtures being played with others being postponed. This has created a feeling of uncertainty and hypocrisy.
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In such a situation, it is wise to ride out the wave in its entirety and let football take a backseat. It would take a toll on the fixture list of several teams but nothing supersedes the health of the players and the staff. Not to mention, fans travelling to the stadiums and gathering in thousands isn’t the desired situation as well if you’re trying to control a pandemic.
But it remains to be seen which direction the PL will take if cases continue to rise. Two Boxing Day games have already been postponed which clearly shows that we are yet to overcome this troublesome situation.
