Antonio Conte will never be a manager to hide his frustrations.
But after Conte’s latest sounding off, it is clear that a pattern is beginning to emerge.
The Tottenham boss spoke out earlier this month about having to pay the price for the club’s previous “mistakes” in the transfer market.
This time, Conte is making it clear that he feels the squad has been “weakened” after their dealings in the January transfer window. They had more departures than arrivals, four went out and Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski came in from Juventus but are not world beaters.
Tottenham go to Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday and Conte is effectively saying his team cannot compete with the top clubs - and the fans need to show some patience.
The message is crystal clear: Conte does not believe Tottenham can beat the likes of Manchester City and lowering expectation levels might just absolve him of blame and lay it firmly at the door of the club for their recruitment.
Conte has always been a political animal but one thing he has never been is a manager who is willing to stick around, build a long term project and a lasting dynasty.
The Italian is a genius but a temperamental one and the longest he has spent at any of his eight clubs is three years at Juventus when he won the Serie A title three times in a row.
This is a manager used to winning, used to getting his own way and, despite only being in charge at Tottenham for 107 days, it is clear that he does not think his current club is capable of lifting the biggest trophies.
In fairness, Conte did talk about trying to improve players, to work with the club’s vision and not being “scared” by the size of the task in front of him despite Tottenham being in the “middle of the table for many years.”
Conte was bold enough to give his latest interview to Sky Italia while wearing a Spurs tracksuit, the full transcript does offer some context and will give Tottenham fans a glimmer of hope that the 52-year-old manager may be willing to change the habit of a lifetime and stay around.
But the fact Conte was only given an 18-month contract - with the option of a further year - when he took over in November 2021 should have sounded the alarm bells. This is a manager who does not do long term and probably did not want to tie himself down.
Conte said: “Tottenham is looking for young players, players to be developed, not ready players. This is the speech. The vision, the philosophy of the club is this.
“It is inevitable that if you want to grow faster and if you want to be competitive more quickly you need players with a lot of experience because they also lead to an increase in experience in your team.
“But then again, the vision of the club I realised is this and will continue to be this. For this reason it will take a lot of patience, and I continue to explain it to the whole environment and to the fans.”
Conte wants to be regarded as the best coach and manager in the Premier League, having excelled at Juventus and been such a success at Chelsea before all of that imploded amid rows, recriminations and bitterness.
Conte wants to win major trophies but Pep Guardiola’s City side are on a different level, Jurgen Klopp has made Liverpool serial winners and Chelsea beat Tottenham as a matter of course. Three times in the space of 18 days last month, Spurs were beaten by their London rivals.
Conte wants to have his say, wants to get his message across and, while Tottenham always knew what they were getting into with a manager known for his combative style, it still must be something of a surprise that he has become such high maintenance so quickly.
It does beg the question why a serial winner, one of the best managers in world football, sought after by so many top clubs, would take over at Tottenham if he thought they had no chance of winning.
Maybe he is ready for a new phase in his managerial career. Maybe he has done this interview to lay the groundwork and set out clearly his vision. That would be an exciting new chapter for Tottenham fans.
After Mauricio Pochettino’s departure in 2019 just months after the high point of reaching the Champions League final, they have gone through managers in quick succession. Jose Mourinho’s tempestuous reign, Nuno Espirito Santo was a disaster and they need one to work.
Now it is a question of whether Tottenham back Conte, whether Conte is ready to stick around or whether it will be a familiar story of another fall-out and swift exit. Judged on recent history, the latter would still seem the most likely.
