'It is stupid to continue to speak about player welfare,' says Antonio Conte
- News Feeds
- 19 January 2022
Spurs boss believes history should teach everyone that English football is too resistant to change.
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte believes there is little point in debating player welfare in English soccer if history is anything to go by.
Fixture pileups caused by Covid-19 outbreaks with Premier League clubs this season have seen renewed calls to lesson the load on players.
Unlike most major leagues, English soccer does not have a traditional winter break and actually increases the amount of games over the festive period every year.
Conte, though, says it is essentially a 'waste of time' to discuss it given how old the debate is and how little has ever been done about it.
"I think this is not the first season in England that you are speaking about the welfare of the players, to try to protect the players," he said.
"My question is - in all these years, what has changed? Nothing. And for this reason I tell you that it is stupid to continue to speak about the welfare of the players because you are losing time.
"It's not only this season but for many, many years … you are talking every time about the welfare of the players but what are we doing for the welfare of the players? Nothing.
"We implement the games to play, this is the truth. And then I think that it's stupid to speak about a topic that you don't want to solve or you can't solve and for this reason, we lose time.
"We have to move on and to try to be serious and to face other topics."
Conte also criticised the Premier League for their handling of Covid-19 postponements.
Tottenham saw their North London derby against Arsenal called -off last week essentially because Arsenal had more injuries than they wanted to cope with, and Conte says that needs a serious rethink.
"Yes, you have to learn to laugh, you have to laugh because they have totally changed the vision.
"We accept and we play here and for this reason we have to accept every decision. But I think that in every moment you have to show respect for all the teams and players, coaches, for people who work in football."
