Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has made some worrying comments about his future after the 1-0 defeat away at Burnley.
Tottenham looked to be back on track after a stunning 3-2 win over Manchester City on Saturday evening.
Spurs had lost three Premier League games in a row before beating City, and Tottenham fans were looking upwards again.
A trip to Burnley was always going to be tricky though, and Tottenham fell to a 1-0 defeat against the relegation-threatened Clarets.
Ben Mee’s second-half header was enough for the victory, with Burnley claiming two wins in a row to bolster their survival hopes.
Tottenham aren’t exactly looking like a team ready to break into the top four right now, and boss Conte doesn’t seem entirely happy.
Some of the stories recently have been wildly presumptuous; that Conte will end up quitting because of his relationship with Daniel Levy.
That seems mired in a pre-conceived notion about the characters of Conte and Levy being likely to clash rather than anything actually seeming like a problem.
Tonight though, Conte has given real indications that his long-term future may not actually be at Tottenham.
Speaking after the final whistle at Burnley, Conte told Sky Sports that he now thinks there needs to be an assessment about his job after four league defeats in five games.
Conte apologised to Tottenham fans but called on the club to find the ‘best solution’ – possibly hinting at his own departure.
“It’s not only tonight,” said Conte. “In the last five games, we lost four games. It means that there needs to be an assessment about the club, about me because I think that for me it’s very frustrating to lose four games in the last five games. The situation speaks clear and I’m really sorry for the fans. They don’t deserve this but when you lose four games in the last five games, it means the club has to make an assessment, also to speak together and to understand which is the best solution.”
Conte has also told Football London that maybe he isn’t actually as good as advertised and isn’t doing what Tottenham wanted – for him to improve their situation.
These promise to be interesting days for Tottenham, who may suddenly have real fears that Conte will end up moving on.
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