Tottenham news: Antonio Conte takes swipe at Mikel Arteta, telling him to 'stop complaining'
- Planet Sport writer
- 13 May 2022
No love lost between Antonio Conte and Mikel Arteta after Tottenham closed gap on Arsenal in race for Champions League.
Antonio Conte told Mikel Arteta to 'stop complaining' after the Arsenal boss was left furious with referee Paul Tierney following their Premier League defeat to Tottenham.
Tierney awarded Spurs a penalty and then sent off Rob Holding for a second bookable offence, both in the first half, as the Gunners sank to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat.
The result leaves Spurs just one point behind Arsenal in the race for Champions League football with just two games remaining.
After the game, Arteta made his feelings known, although he was careful to avoid commenting directly.
"If I say what I think I'm suspended six months," Arteta said.
"I'm allowed to give my interpretation of what happened but I don't know how to lie.
"I have two options I can lie to you, or I can be suspended, and I really want to be on the touchline against Newcastle.
"We wanted to play the game and we were so excited to play a game and you've seen the team, how it started, the way we were playing and this beautiful occasion was destroyed and unfortunately, we could not enjoy the game that we wanted to play."
Conte, though, was having none of it at all, and he had his own snipe at his opposite number after the game.
"He complains a lot," Conte said of Arteta.
"He has to focus more on his team. He has to focus more on his work. He has to continue to work because he's a very good (coach). To hear someone complain all the time is not so good.
"At Liverpool (on Saturday) do you hear me complain about Fabinho and all the fouls? No. He can take my advice if he wants, but if not I don't care.
"I listen and he complains a lot. I think that he has to be more focussed on his team and not to complain because he has just started his work. He has to be calm and try to continue to work. To listen to a coach complain a lot of the time is not good."
There was bad blood from the off with this fixture, with Spurs unhappy that the game was originally postponed.
"He (Arteta) complained about the fixtures and that was after Arsenal had an unbelievable postponement with just one Covid case," Conte added.
"Now we're playing at 12pm on Sunday and they don't play until Monday. We can't always complain."
