sport news Tottenham's Antonio Conte conundrum: What the pundits are saying after his ... trends now
Antonio Conte's explosive outburst after Tottenham's 3-3 draw at Southampton became a hotly-disputed topic among Premier League pundits on Saturday, as Jamie Carragher and former Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara claimed that the Italian spoke out in the hope of losing his job in north London.
Furious at his team's capitulation in the second half, which saw Spurs throw away a two-goal lead over the Premier League's bottom-placed side, Conte branded his players 'selfish' and accused them of lacking 'fire in their eyes' in a disparaging rant after the match.
The Italian manager, who watched Spurs crash out of the FA Cup and Champions League earlier this month, is expected to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, although several Premier League pundits feel that his risky tirade was simply an attempt to speed up his inevitable departure.
Following Spurs' disappointing draw at St Mary's, which has left the north London side just two points ahead of Newcastle in the top four race, Carragher tweeted: 'Conte wants to be sacked in this international break. Spurs should just put him out of his misery and do it tonight.'
His divisive social media post was quickly rubbished by Gary Neville, who simply brushed aside the suggestion with a handful of laughing emojis, disagreeing with the notion that Conte was actively looking for the sack.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte slammed his players in an explosive tirade on Saturday
Spurs were leading Southampton 3-1 with 16 minutes remaining - but ended up drawing 3-3
The Manchester United legend also responded to a fan's tweet on Saturday - which reminded him of the slack Carragher and Micah Richards used to give him for not wanting Conte at Old Trafford a few seasons back.
When asked whether he remembered the jibes, Neville replied: 'Oh I do, I do.'
Continuing his social media tit-for-tat with Neville, Carragher responded: 'Yes, you’d rather have kept that serial winner Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer)! Then you wanted Pochettino not Erik ten Hag. I told you Erik ten Hag was the better choice but you wouldn’t listen.'
Elsewhere, ex-Wales captain Ashley Williams and former Premier League forward Dion Dublin had their say on Conte's epic rant.
While carrying out his punditry duties on Match of the Day, Williams said: 'It would be interesting to know the conversation in the dressing room - did he say the same to the players' faces or come out afterwards?
'He's had enough, and a lot of the things he is saying most people would agree with. It's the way he says it. What I didn't like is he sort of said this isn't to do with me, it's everyone else. But he can affect things on the pitch.'
Although Williams agreed with the points Conte was making and understood why the Italian made his public outburst, Dublin urged that he himself would have been furious at the manager's comments, were he still a Premier League star.
'[If I'm a player], I'm going to have to pull him. You'd have to go in and say: "Tell me to my
