Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte admitted on Friday that he agrees with former Everton forward's Richarlison's assessment that his season has been "s***".
Spurs' campaign appears in danger of coming off the rails after they were eliminated from both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in the space of a week. After their 0-0 draw - 1-0 loss on aggregate - against AC Milan on Wednesday, Richarlison spoke candidly about his and the team's situation.
“This season, excuse the word, it’s been s***, because I don’t have minutes, I suffered a little with the injury," Richarlison told TNT Sports (via ESPN Brasil). "But, when I enter the field, I give my life. I came from two games well, I think that’s it, I think I should have played and I don’t have to cry about it.
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“Yesterday (Tuesday), they asked me to take a test at the gym, that if I was good I would go to the game and, at the time of the game, they left me on the bench. These are things that it is not possible to understand."
Conte, who has received criticism from Tottenhan's fans due to the team's recent lull, was asked about what the £60m signing had to say and offered a typically frank assessment of his own.
"First of all, I watched the interview of Richarlison," said the Italian, who is expected to leave Spurs when his contract runs out in the summer. "He didn't criticise me.
"He said his season was s***, and he's right. His season has been not good. He had injuries, played and scored in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury. He's scored no goals for us.
"I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play, I'll give him the opportunity."
While Conte was in agreement with the Brazil international about his form, the Tottenham manager did take issue with Richarlison focusing on his own fortunes.
"When you speak of 'I' and not 'us', you are being selfish. I say to my players, 'if we want to build something important and win a trophy, we have to speak with 'we' not with 'I'', because otherwise you're thinking of yourself.
"He made a mistake and he apologised and it was good for me to clarify with the team again about this."
Richarlison was a huge favourite at Goodison Park and his 10 Premier League goals last season were crucial to Everton preserving their top-flight status in the penultimate game of the campaign.
However, his move to Spurs is yet to work out. Richarlison has not yet found the net in the Premier League and frequently finds himself on the bench behind Spurs' established attacking trio of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski.
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