Tottenham Hotspur defender Emerson Royal has revealed that his compatriot and club teammate Richarlison told Antonio Conte that his formation is rubbish during a team meeting in the past.
Richarlison had a difficult time under the former manager and he failed to adapt to his system. The 26-year-old Brazilian has done quite well in recent weeks, and it seems that Ange Postecoglou is managing to get the best out of him once again.
In an interview with Fred Bruno, Emerson Royal revealed that Richarlison arrived late for a team meeting once, and he was asked to apologise to his teammates. Instead, the Brazilian striker aired his frustrations and referred to Conte’s tactics as ‘rubbish’.
Richarlison, who was present during the interview, confirmed that he did not understand what Conte had asked of him, and he simply said everything that came to his mind at the time.
“He arrived late for the meeting on the day of the game, and the guy [Conte] said, ‘Well, do you want to say something? Do you want to apologise to the team?’
“He asked the other lads who were late too, the lads said sorry, then he got to him, he was supposed to apologise, right? Then he said ‘ah, I think I need more minutes’. I think he understood that the guy asked him if he had anything to say, so he started saying that the formation we played was rubbish, he said a couple of things,” said Emerson Royal (h/t Tottenham Brasil).
Richarlison added: “I came out saying everything that came into my head: ‘I need more minutes’, ‘this formation is no good’, I didn’t adapt, ‘this formation is rubbish’, I came out saying it, then the guys behind me started laughing. I didn’t understand what he’d asked, I just said what I’d already rehearsed.”
The striker will be glad to have seen the back of the Italian manager and he seems to be enjoying his football under the Australian now. There is no doubt that Conte is a world class manager who has proven himself at clubs like Juventus and Chelsea in the past. However, his time at Tottenham simply did not work out, and he fell out with players and the club hierarchy as well.
Meanwhile, Tottenham are pushing for a top four finish and it remains to be seen whether they can return to the Champions League at the end of the season.
