If Antonio Conte does walk back into Hotspur Way later this week then it will make for the most awkward of returns.
The Italian blasted his players during a passionate 10-minute barrage of criticisms, calling them "selfish" and stating that he could "see only 11 players that play for themselves". Conte called out the culture within Tottenham that he believes has allowed the problems to manifest themselves over the past two decades.
"They are used to it here, they are used to it. They don't play for something important," he said. "They don't want to play under pressure, they don't want to play under stress. It is easy in this way. Tottenham's story is this. 20 years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club or for every manager that stay here? I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment."
READ MORE: The truths and flaws in Antonio Conte's explosive Tottenham tirade and Daniel Levy's decision
While Conte neglected any mention of his own involvement in Spurs' backwards steps this season and the decisions he has taken after his impressive first campaign, there was little to disagree with in the passionate tirade that came forth within the bowels of St Mary's Stadium from a man who has won titles galore in the past 15 years.
However, he has in essence picked a fight with his own squad. His words have not just split the Spurs fanbase, they will have split opinion in the Tottenham dressing room, which was near silent after the final whistle.
Conte did not speak to the players after the game - a tactic he frequently employs to let them stew - so the first time they would have heard his criticism of them would have been on their phones or radios on the way home. Some of the players heading straight off on international duty were driven away from Southampton in cars.
Some will have sat there nodding as they heard his words, some might been outraged or pushed the blame on to others, while some may well have just been indifferent to it all - which is part of the problem.
Some of the criticism they will have heard before on the training pitches or from the sidelines during games when Conte yells at them in the heat of the moment. He does not hold back in such moments.
In any normal week, a major debrief and autopsy of the game would have taken place with the squad at Hotspur Way on Monday or Tuesday, but the nature of the international break drastically alters the landscape.
After a couple of days off, only four fit outfield first team players will be around the training ground this week in the shape of Clement Lenglet, Lucas Moura, Japhet Tanganga and Arnaut Danjuma, along with goalkeepers Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman.
Hugo Lloris, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ryan Sessegnon are all continuing their recoveries and are joined by Richarlison and Ben Davies, who came off against Southampton, the Welshman with a hamstring problem.
Conte has flown back home in Italy to be with his family, as he often does on any days off. When it comes to international breaks, the 53-year-old usually returns later in the first week of the fortnight in order to start preparing for the time when there is a fuller squad of players to work with.
If he does return to the Enfield-based training complex, only Lenglet among those present played against Southampton, and the Frenchman struggled. Lucas, Tanganga and the seemingly forgotten Danjuma did not get a minute of action. The injured Richarlison and Davies were not on the pitch when the team collapsed and as two of Conte's biggest battlers he might well have wondered if a different result would have been taken back from the South Coast if they had not needed to be withdrawn.
Three members of Tottenham's leadership group do return from international duty earlier than most. Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg face matches with England and Denmark on Thursday and Sunday so will be back early the following week ahead of Spurs' match at Everton on the Monday night.
If Conte has survived in the job until that point - and there's no guarantee of that at this point - then his first words with those three players, as well as with club captain Lloris who is in the final stages of his knee injury recovery at Hotspur Way, will dictate what happens next with the group.
Lloris in particular has called out the attitude of the Tottenham players in the past, most notably after the Europa League exit at Dinamo Zagreb under Jose Mourinho two years ago, but what impact he can have from the sidelines could be marginal.
Much depends on whether Conte gets to that point next week. Seven days is a long time in football, especially at Tottenham Hotspur, and while he has attempted to clarify to the club's board that his criticism was solely focused on the players rather than the powers-that-be, it is those players who - rightly or wrongly - will decide his fate as they have for a conveyor belt of managers in recent years.
There is no easy contest up next either. Everton are scrapping for every point and have found a new resilience under Sean Dyche and if Spurs cannot find the enthusiasm or desire to match them then the three points will remain at Goodison Park.
In contrast with their business decisions, Tottenham's thinking with on the pitch matters is often short-term rather than long-term, hence their frequent lurches in direction between very different types of managers.
Conte's fate will be decided by whether chairman Daniel Levy believes that Spurs have a better chance to remain in the top four in the final 10 games with or without him.
Newcastle can overhaul a defeated Tottenham team during that weekend when the Premier League returns but they do face a tough game of their own in the visit of Manchester United, while Liverpool - six points behind and with two games in hand like Newcastle - make the trip to Manchester City.
Seventh-placed Brighton, who sit seven points behind Spurs but with three games in hand, host Brentford, who also sit on 42 points in eighth spot.
Conte will say his words were meant to spark a reaction from his Tottenham players ahead of what will be a crucial weekend of football in their battle for a top four finish. Now Levy - who has been here too many times before - and those same criticised players will decide whether there's anything left to ignite.
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