Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte slammed the Premier League’s rescheduling strategy after and amid a wave of matches postponed from covid-19 outbreaks. Tomorrow sees Tottenham Hotspur travel to Leicester City for a match that got called off on Dec. 16, just hours before kickoff.
Their North London Derby on Sunday was postponed because Arsenal, which had only one covid case at the time, was very short-handed due to a multitude of reasons (injuries, suspensions, players away at AFCON. According to Conte, there doesn’t seem to be any real consistency when it comes to the criteria the league has utilized for cancelation, or how it goes about rescheduling.
Leicester v Tottenham FYIs:
Kick-off time: 7:30 PM GMT, 19th January 2022
Tottenham Team News: go here
Starting XI Prediction: go here
Premier League Podcast: go here
Form Guide (All Competitions): Leicester (WLLWW) Tottenham (DWLWL)
He even labeled it as “a mess,” and this isn’t the first time he’s stated his belief that his Tottenham side has been treated unfairly.
“I think that it is a mess now. This is the truth,” Conte said.
“There is maybe two teams that play all their games: City, maybe West Ham, no? The others, we played 18 games, Burnley 17 games and then they postpone again against Watford (today).
“This is a big mess, for sure. It is very strange to put yourself in this situation with these decisions. We have found the Premier League very strict when the outbreak was happening in our training centre, and then they didn’t want to postpone the game against Leicester because before we postponed the game against Burnley (due to weather).”
At this point, one can easily argue, no matter where in the world you live that the so-called leaders and establishment don’t really know what they’re doing when it comes to covid, and they’re just making it up as they go.
Does anybody really know how or what to do anymore? Conte wasn’t done:
“Then all of this [the Arsenal postponement] happened and you have to laugh because they changed totally the vision. We have to accept. We play here and for this reason, we have to accept every decision. But I think in every moment, we have to show respect for all the team, for all the players, the coaches, the people who work in football.
“If the Premier League decides to postpone games for injuries it means maybe they have to try to make a [better] schedule to reduce maybe to play games, if they don’t want injuries and if they don’t want the risk to postpone for injuries.
“This is the first time in my life that there is a league that postponed the game for injuries. This is very strange and I am very surprised for this.”
Antonio Conte wasn’t done. He also brought up the European misadventure that Spurs experienced, a result that was probably met with mixed reactions among the Spurs faithful.
“Tottenham was dropped off the Conference League because the Premier League didn’t want to move the game against Leicester,” Conte continued.
“I think it was a big damage to Tottenham from Premier League. I think that you have to try to protect your team in Europe.
“Instead I think they [could have] penalised us in a better way.”
He makes a lot of salient points, as these are confusing times, and the PL is not doing anything that evokes clarity.
And it’s possible that this situation is going to get worse before it gets better. But at the end of the day, Tottenham are still in a good position to make the top four, once all the matches are completed.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.