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From a personal perspective, Antonio Conte has endured an extremely tough year, having to deal with the passing of friend and former teammate Gianluca Vialli and staff member Gian Piero Ventrone. Furthermore, Conte was required to take a further month away from the dugout to focus on his recovery from gallbladder surgery, and it is entirely understandable if those experiences have taken their toll on the Italian. It is plausible that they contributed to the explosiveness of his outburst to the press regarding Tottenham Hotspur's recent performances, yet it was not a reaction that is uncommon when things do not go Conte's way.
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Conte has accumulated 612 matches across 10 different managerial positions, four of which have lasted 25 matches of fewer. He has also lasted no longer than two years in his last four positions, some of that his own doing, some not so. The only time that Conte has taken charge of over 106 games at a particular club is at Juventus, where he is regarded as a club legend and instigated their dominance of Italian football between 2011 and 2020. For three league titles in Turin, their first since demotion to Serie B, Conte deserves all of the credit in the world, but it is a myth that he should rank alongside the modern-day managerial greats.
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The only legacy that Conte has created was at Juventus, in familiar surroundings and everything to his advantage. League titles were won at Bari, Chelsea and Inter Milan, yet the end of those reigns came through looking elsewhere, under-performance and not getting things his own way. The latter is in reference to Conte walking away from Inter having been told that the club's ambitions could not meet his own on the back of winning Serie A, with club officials needing to sell the likes of Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku to meet FFP regulations. Under replacement Simone Inzaghi, Inter still finished second, accumulating just seven points fewer having sold two key men.
As for his time at Chelsea, a dominant Premier League triumph in his first season should be applauded as much as the fifth-placed finish in 2017-18 should be criticised. Chelsea collected 23 points fewer than they did in the previous season even having added Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Alvaro Morata, Emerson Palmieri and Olivier Giroud across the summer and winter windows. Conte was backed with funds in that job and failed to deliver, just like with Spurs.
Spurs have frequently under-achieved and changing that mentality is far easier said than done, yet Mauricio Pochettino delivered a Premier League title challenge and reached a Champions League final on smaller budgets and without Spurs having a regular home ground for much of his reign. Conte has constantly told the media that he requires more additions to turn Spurs into title challengers, but he has been given licence to strengthen his squad. He just has not improved the talent that he has at his disposal. Aside from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Dejan Kulusevski, none of his signings have enhanced their reputations.
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There's also the over-use of Harry Kane and failure to place faith in alternatives. While Kane's performance level has remained high, Conte has not identified solutions to deputise for the club's greatest-ever player. Aside from loyalty, there's little incentive for Kane to sign a new contract at Spurs, whether that is under Conte or not, because the North Londoners have made little to no progress under Conte. They were gifted Champions League football for this season through Arsenal's capitulation during the run-in last season, not because of Conte.
World-class managers leave clubs in a better position than when they found them, and Conte does not do that often enough. Another stint in his homeland is likely to await Conte at some point in the near future and no-one should begrudge him that. However, it feels that the days of clubs doing everything possible to secure his services could be long gone based on how his stay at Spurs could reach a conclusion.
