Antonio Conte says the Premier League has become distorted by the postponement of so many matches, describing the competition as a “big mess”. The Tottenham manager is unhappy at what he sees as inconsistencies over which games are called off and he remains perplexed as to why Sunday’s home derby against Arsenal had to be rearranged.
Arsenal were in the midst of a selection crisis but only a small number of their absentees were because of positive Covid tests. Conte will surely be frustrated to learn that Arsenal appear ready to play on Thursday at home to Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Conte made the point that Burnley had played only 17 league fixtures whereas others had played significantly more; Chelsea completed their 23rd at Brighton on Tuesday night while Manchester City and West Ham have played 22.
What has annoyed Conte in particular is how the league refused Spurs’s request to postpone their match at Leicester on 16 December as they contended with a high number of Covid cases that had led to them losing two games – the Europa Conference League final group phase tie against Rennes and the league match at Brighton. Spurs had already had their game at Burnley snowed off.
But the league were happy to accept Arsenal’s move for a postponement on Sunday, mainly because of the club’s injuries and their having players at the Africa Cup of Nations.
As it turned out, Leicester would suffer a Covid outbreak and successfully apply for a postponement against Spurs and the rearranged fixture will take place on Wednesday night. Spurs had wanted to postpone the original Leicester match so that they could play Rennes that night. When it ended up being postponed at Leicester’s request, it was too late for Spurs to face Rennes. They would forfeit the tie 3-0 and be eliminated from Europe.
“It is a mess now, this is the truth,” Conte said. “There are only one or maybe two teams who have played all their league games. It is a big mess, for sure. We have found the Premier League very strict when the outbreak happened in our training ground and they did not want to postpone the game against Leicester because before the Burnley game was postponed by snow. Then all this happened. You have to laugh because they have totally changed the vision.
“You have to take the decision to postpone only for one reason – if there are Covid cases. Not for injuries, not for international duty.”
Conte said that, if the league were going to postpone matches because of injury crises, then chaos could ensue. Also, it might have to reduce the number of games that each team play in the season. “It [the Arsenal postponement] was very strange because, in this way, anything can happen,” Conte said.
“If the Premier League decides to postpone games for injury, it means that maybe they have to try to make a best schedule and to reduce many to play games. This the first time in my life that there is a league that has postponed the game for injuries. It is very strange and surprising.”
Conte continues to be angry at how Spurs were knocked out of Europe and he blames the Premier League, rather than Uefa. He had insisted that the club would appeal to the court of arbitration for sport but there has been no sign of that happening.
“It was because the Premier League didn’t want to move the game against Leicester; this is the only reason … Leicester then asked to move the game and they did,” Conte said.
“It was a big damage to Tottenham from the Premier League. You have to try to protect your team in Europe. Instead they penalised us in a bad way. They need to show us respect for our job.”
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Conte suggested that the league would not enjoy a long look in the mirror when the season ended. “There is a lot of room for improvement for the teams but also for the Premier League this season,” he said.
There was also incredulity from Conte at the notion that the need to protect the welfare of the players had been a factor in the various postponements. “It is only an excuse or to tell something stupid,” he said. “You protect the players by giving them rest. If you only want to play, you can’t speak about the welfare of players.
“You are talking every time about the welfare of players but what are we doing about it? Nothing. It’s stupid to speak about a topic that you don’t want to solve or you can’t solve. We lose [waste] time.”
Conte is desperate to add to his squad this month – Spurs have not yet made a signing – and he suggested that even lower-quality recruits would do. “If there is the opportunity and also if it’s not the best opportunity … we need to do something,” he said. “We have to supplement the squad because it is not so big.”