Antonio Conte has instructed Mikel Arteta to quit whining after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expressed his displeasure with referee Paul Tierney following Tottenham’s 3-0 win against the Gunners.
On 22 minutes, Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot after Cedric Soares was deemed to have fouled Son Heung-Min in the box. 15 minutes later, the England captain extended Tottenham’s lead with a close-range header.
In the meantime, Rob Holding was sent off for a second yellow card after two challenges on Son, and while the South Korean international added a third early in the second half, Arteta turned his attention to the officiating after a result that left them just one point above Tottenham in the Premier League’s final Champions League qualification spot.
“I’ll be suspended for six months if I speak what I think,” Arteta stated. “I’m permitted to explain what happened in the game, but I don’t know how to lie, so I’d rather not express what I think.”
“I can’t articulate what I’m thinking. I’ll be put on leave. I’m proud of my team. You can request that the referee appears in front of the camera to explain his judgments. His choices. Unfortunately, such a beautiful game was ruined tonight.”
Conte, on the other hand, launched a scathing attack on Arteta, citing the Spaniard’s previous comments about Arsenal’s fixture scheduling and the original postponement of this game when the Gunners successfully requested the game be moved under the Premier League’s COVID-19 regulations in January despite only having one case at the time.
“Mikel Arteta is an excellent coach.” “He’s only recently begun doing this job, and I guess I hear him moan,” Conte stated.
“I believe he should devote more time to his colleagues and refrain from venting because he has only recently begun this work.” I believe he should remain cool and try to continue working since he is extremely good, but listening to a coach whine all the time is not beneficial. It’s fine. “The red card seemed obvious to me.”
Conte mentioned Fabinho’s strong challenge on Son in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool, for which he was booked.
“Don’t forget, I mentioned nothing about what occurred with Fabinho against Liverpool, no?” If we want to complain, we can do so after every game, whether it’s about the referee, the decision, or a rescheduled game,” he said. “I believe this is my counsel; if he wishes to take it, that is OK.” Otherwise, I’m unconcerned.
“I believe he has the potential to be an important coach in the future, but I have heard him moan a lot in the last six months,” I repeat: it is merely advice, and he is quite excellent at it.
“If you recall, he grumbled about the fixture. It was not good to complain since Arsenal were fantastic to postpone a game extraordinarily for positive COVID, and they only had one player with COVID.” I didn’t forget about it.”
Conte expressed his displeasure at having to play Burnley on Sunday lunchtime, a day before Arsenal travels to Newcastle.
“But if we want to complain, there are many reasons why I have to play on Sunday at 12 p.m., and Arsenal needs to play Monday night,” he remarked. “Then they get one more day off, and we face Leicester, Liverpool, Arsenal, and now we have to play [again] with only two days off.” And we have the first game at 12 p.m..”
