Antonio Conte: Premier League postponements strange and surprising; first time am seeing this in my life
2 min readAntonio Conte has rebuked recent Premier League postponements, saying the decisions are strange and surprising.
The Tottenham boss was speaking on the Premier League’s decision to postpone the North London derby last weekend, after a request from Arsenal.
After prior cancelations owing to inclement weather and a COVID outbreak at the club before Christmas, the decision was taken on Saturday afternoon, leaving Tottenham with four games in hand.
Mikel Arteta’s team was unable to field the required 13 fit and available outfield registered players, hence the game was called off.
The club, in a statement, expressed disappointment with the decision.
“We are extremely surprised that this application has been approved,” the statement read.
And today, Antonio Conte, in his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League game with Leicester, was asked about his thoughts on the postponed game.
“I think the club made a statement and they showed our disappointment at the decision. It was a strange decision.”
“Honestly, it’s my first time in my life – and I’ve had a bit of experience in football – to see this type of decision. It was very strange because in this way anything can happen.”
Spurs, like many other teams, are dealing with injury problems, with Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, and Heung-min Son among those who have been sidelined.
“My feeling is that when there is a situation to play, you have to play,” he said. “Normally, we postpone games due to international duty.
“We have a big problem to solve that is COVID, but only in this situation. For other situations, honestly, this is my first time in my life.
Conte was also questioned about a solution to the postponements, which are affecting a number of clubs at the moment.
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“I think that if the Premier League decides to postpone games for injury it means that maybe they have to try to make a best schedule and to reduce many to play games, and if they don’t want injuries and if they don’t want the risk to postpone for injuries
“I think that we have to continue to try to have a good result in the league. We know that only after the international break the injured players are ready to come back and it will be difficult to come back from this period,” he added.
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