In his first year at the London club, Richarlison has played
just 661 minutes in the Premier League — starting seven of Tottenham’s 26 games
— and has yet to score in the competition.
His only goals have come in the Champions League, which
Tottenham exited on Wednesday after a meek 0-0 home draw with AC Milan that
earned the Italian team a 1-0 win on aggregate in the round of 16.
After that game, Richarlison — Brazil’s starting striker at
the World Cup — gave an interview in which he used an expletive to describe his
season and hit out at Conte’s selection policy, saying “there hasn’t been
enough minutes given to me.”
“He scored zero goals with us — only two in the Champions
League,” Conte said at a news conference ahead of a Premier League match
against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “I think the guy was really honest to
tell his season is not good.
“Our season is still not finished. He has the time to
recover. If he deserves to play, I give him the opportunity. Otherwise we play
another player.”
Conte said he watched the interview involving Richarlison
and was struck by how often the striker spoke about himself and not about the
team.
“When u speak with ‘I,’ ‘I,’ ‘I,’ and not with ‘us,’ it
means you are thinking only for yourself and that you are selfish,” Conte said.
“I repeat to my players, if you want to win something
important, if you want to try to fight for something important, be competitive
and win a trophy, you need to speak with ‘we’ and not ‘I.’”
Conte was in a feisty mood, two days after Tottenham’s
chances of winning a trophy this season effectively came to an end because of
the team’s Champions League elimination.
Tottenham was ousted from the FA Cup last week and is
looking vulnerable in fourth place in the Premier League after a 1-0 loss at
Wolverhampton on Saturday. Fifth-place Liverpool, which has collected 13 points
from a possible 15 in its last five league matches, is three points behind and
has a game in hand.
Conte has yet to commit to staying at Tottenham beyond this
season, with his contract expiring in June, and spoke Friday of supporters
appearing to lose patience with a club whose last trophy was in 2008.
“We are far from aspiring to be competitive and to fight to
win,” he said. “We need time, we need patience. I see here the environment has
no patience. Or maybe the environment doesn’t want to understand the reality.
“No one wants to understand this, and for sure I don’t speak
about my future because the club knows very well what my situation is, what my
thoughts are.”
Conte also criticized his players’ mentality.
“I have good guys but sometimes it is not enough to be a
good guy,” he said. “You have to show the right desire, to sacrifice yourself,
to fight to win the game, to win the duels, to be nasty.
“Sometimes, we are a bit soft.”
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