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Players feeling shackled by rigid and defensive tactics, baffling 2km runs BEFORE matches, negative talk and a superiority complex: How Antonio Conte's Tottenham reign turned sour
Tottenham are without a manager after parting ways with Antonio Conte
The Italian boss left by mutual consent after an extraordinary rant last weekend
His relationship with players was affected by a demanding training schedule
Towards the end of January, Antonio Conte gathered his Tottenham players at the club's Enfield HQ for a heart-to-heart.
The Italian wanted to get to the bottom of the team's run of one Premier League win in five, including three damaging defeats.
As the final player arrived, Conte walked out - telling his players he wanted them to find the solution to their wretched form.
Among the squad, there was a sense that performances and results had been hampered by Conte's rigid and defensive tactics. When senior players reported back to Conte after the crisis talks, they pleaded with him to release the shackles and be more expansive in their attacking play.
Spurs won five of their next six domestic fixtures before the FA Cup loss at Sheffield United that not only signalled the beginning of the end for Conte's reign, but also for the team's new-found openness.
Meanwhile, the Italian's intense training regime had players on their knees. Conte often had them run 2km before matches. Players wouldn't dare moan in his earshot, but privately they were baffled.
Surely, they should be reserving energy for the heat of the battle? There were plenty more gripes about regimented training sessions. 'Training the same every day, tactics the same every day,' said one source.
Conte was scheduled to return to Spurs after spending the international break in Italy. There are a number of players returning in the next 24 hours relieved that they've been spared an awkward reunion.
But sometimes it's not the manager's fault. Sometimes it's the players - as Conte pointed out in the infamous tirade against his squad that cost him his job.
This is the same group of players that turned on Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo. The same group that complained about the morose atmosphere leading up to Mauricio Pochettino's departure.
Ironically, a number of those players are now pining for Pochettino's return, though there is major doubt they will get their wish. There's a common denominator: and it's not the managers.
Maybe Conte could have exuded more positivity rather than the pangs of negativity that wore his squad and members of staff down. Maybe chairman Daniel Levy should have done more to sign Conte's targets, in particular Alessandro Bastoni or Josko Gvardiol. Or maybe the players simply aren't good enough. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
If Conte had his time again would he have done things differently? Probably not. But when he returns to management, most likely in Serie A, there are lessons to be learnt. His unpredictability irked many. His habit of changing the training schedule at short notice a particular bugbear.
So furious with the team's defeat away to Sporting Lisbon in September, the Italian brought forward the 2pm training session to 11am. Given the team didn't arrive back in London until the early hours of the morning, it was not well received.
Whenever the schedule permitted, Conte would dash back to Italy to spend time with wife Elisabetta and daughter Vittoria, who have stayed in Turin.
The fact Conte would book his own flights, and use budget airline Ryanair, was something members of staff found endearing. It's the low-maintenance side of Conte that we don't get to see.
Indeed, not everyone will be glad to see the back of Conte. Away from football, he is warm and caring. Even funny. But by the time of his departure, there was little will from the club's powerbrokers, apart from director of football Fabio Paratici, to continue with Conte.
Indeed, sources have indicated that Conte's relationship with Levy was so strained that Paratici was effectively acting as a conduit between the two during the final months of the head coach's tenure.
Even talks between Conte and the club over the terms of his exit were difficult. But in a boardroom battle, there was only ever going to be one winner. It is understood Levy will insist on staying at Tottenham in the event of any future sale. He is in it for the long haul; many at Tottenham knew Conte wasn't.
The hierarchy grew tired of his public jabs at the club's ambition and exasperated by the narrative that it was Conte who would decide if he would leave in the summer.
By January, there had been a boardroom shift. Tottenham were no longer pining for Conte to extend his contract. By February, it was a case of when, not if, he would leave.
The team finished in the top four last season but even then there were trust issues due to concerns Conte wanted the Paris Saint-Germain head coaching job and, through his intermediaries, was making no secret of it.
There has always been this sense that Tottenham was beneath Conte that he was doing them a favour. That never sat well with those in positions of power at the club.
How Antonio Conte's Tottenham reign turned sour(ZZ)
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