Garth Crooks has claimed that Antonio Conte is someone not to be messed with in Tottenham’s dressing room, as he told Final Score.
The BBC pundit added that Conte is ‘very frank’ with his players and would have been questioning them after their recent win.
On Saturday, Spurs outclassed Leeds United by putting four goals past them at Elland Road – it resulted in Marcelo Bielsa getting the sack.
But that’s just a small part of the story for the north London club because, after beating the Premier League champions last week, they lost to Burnley in midweek.
All in all, ex-striker Crooks feels that Conte would have asked his players, after their win at Leeds, if he is ‘wasting his time’ with them.
“I thought it was very revealing,” said Crooks. “He’s not one of those managers you want to mess with in that dressing room.
“I think he has very frank. The players know where they stand. As he was speaking there, I think he was so disappointed with the result against Burnley that he went into that dressing, after that game, and the manager worth his salt would have said ‘Am I wasting my time? Because If I am, then I am off’.
“Now, good players go ‘we can’t lose him. We need to sort this out’. And they did against Leeds.”
Conte’s outburst in midweek was a word of warning to those at the top of the club, even if fans would have been worried by what he said.
Daniel Levy isn’t a popular figure at the club, but if he wants to change that mood towards him, then he needs to back his £250k-a-week (Daily Mail) manager in the summer.
Given that Conte is an elite coach, then he will have some pulling power in the transfer market.
But it’s not going to be of much use if there is little money on the table to use when the market re-opens.
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