The Premier League recently held a meeting where they spoke with managers and coaches regarding the concerns over player welfare and fixture list congestion, among other topics.
Sky Sports relayed the comments made by Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte, who stated that the meeting was a “waste of time.” The Italian tactician said that various coaches and managers shared their concerns with the league.
However, Conte says that he believes that everything was already decided prefer even speaking with the Premier League representatives.
“I have to be honest. I think that it was a meeting where we tried to speak, and some coaches tried to speak and ask about solutions. But I think that everything was decided,” Conte said.
“And I think yesterday was a wall, and for this reason also, I don’t want to go into the discussion.”
Spurs are recently coming out of a COVID-19 outbreak that saw them postpone two Premier League matches and forfeit their UEFA Conference League match against Stade Rennais, ending their European season in 2021-22. As a result, they’ll have to make up the matches.
Furthermore, there’s no telling if they might see other matches postponed in the future due to another outbreak within their squad or an opponent. Spurs will have three games in seven days this upcoming week as part of the festive fixtures.
Nonetheless, Conte is concerned about losing players to injury, especially those coming off COVID and trying to get into match shape.
“It is not easy for us; it is not easy for all the teams to play after only one day. It’s not simple. You have to manage the situation very well because of the risk of losing players to injuries,” Conte said. “We have to pay great attention, especially my team. Don’t forget we had half our squad (out) with Covid.”
“When you get Covid, then you have to live with this situation for two to three weeks after you are finished with Covid. If there is someone that has a bit of fatigue, it will be very important to have a good chat with the players because we have to manage this period.”
