Premier League

SOUTHAMPTON 3 (Adams 46, Walcott 77, Ward-Prowse 90+3 Pen)
TOTTENHAM 3 (Porro 45+1, Kane 65, Perisic 74)

HARRY Winks and Moussa Sissoko in the middle. Lucas Moura playing centre forward.

Just three and a half years ago, Mauricio Pochettino took Tottenham to the Champions League final playing fun, expansive stuff with a collection of players who were performing out of their skins.

Fans were thrilled, the club felt together and the future looked rosy.

When Poch’s unlikely superstars ran out of legs, chairman Daniel Levy believed a touchline switch would bring silverware.

It appeared all in place – a shiny new stadium, a well-stocked dressing room. What was needed was a manager who had proved himself to be a serial winner.

What happened next is nothing short of thoroughly miserable, and Saturday’s limp 3-3 draw away at bottom of the table Southampton is surely the end game for three and a half years of torturous disappointment.

After Spurs had surrendered a 3-1 lead, current coach Antonio Conte launched into a vicious tirade against his players. Perhaps fortunately, the squad have two days off, allowing the dust to settle.

What Conte had to say was not pretty.

The Italian, who appears to be looking for the swiftest possible exit with his reputation intact, metaphorically took his jacket off, undid his top button and loosened his tie before giving his version of the truth about the constant drama.

“They don’t play for something important,” Conte announced. “They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress. It is easy this way.

“Tottenham’s story is this. For 20 years there is the owner but they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stays here? I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench.

“Until now I try to hide the situation but not now because, I repeat, I don’t want to see what I have seen today because this is unacceptable and also unacceptable for the fans.

“I’m not used to seeing this type of situation. I see a lot of selfish players and I don’t see a team. We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart in.”

Such strong words could either administer a well-placed kick in the pants, but instead it increasingly feels like a message to Levy not to bother printing off that contract extension.

Does he deserve it, and would showing patience be the right choice?

As Conte has made clear repeatedly, he wants big buck signings. While Spurs have spent a fortune, the players they have bought are in need of a coach who can polish them.

Increasingly, it is questionable whether Conte has the stomach for this type of management challenge.

March has been miserable. Dumped out of the FA Cup – due to a poor team selection rather than players going “Spursy”, and then surrendering a place in the Champions League with a whimper. All the talk of togetherness for the run in has quickly evaporated.

If you ask which players have improved under Conte you’d be forgiven for scratching your head. Instead, it feels like there is a wealth of potential but not the coaching required to realise it.

Instead, there is a sense of a squad of disjointed parts – not 11 selfish players, but a mish-mash of signings the man in charge is not taken with.

What would Poch have created from the likes of Bryan Gil, Joe Rodon, Djed Spence and Richarlison?

It may be too much of a stretch to say he would have finally got a tune from Tanguy Ndombele or Giovani Lo Celso, but of that he was aware – in his final months he repeatedly said they were not at the level he wanted, but rather than throw them under a bus, he spoke of what they needed to do, with his help.

There was a confidence Poch was there to push them to reach the heights required, not harp on about how disappointing they were.

There is no doubt Conte is a winner, and fans were delighted to have him at Spurs. His honesty has to be admired too – but ultimately, the responsibility for the players not performing as a team is laid at one persons door.

Now his home truths have been bared, does Conte have the stomach to fix it? Do the players want him to? Perhaps clearing the air was the best way forward and he can start the next training session with a clean slate.

But it feels too entrenched now – and with this seemingly terminal relationship in free fall, the international break surely should be the time to get the gaffer back at Hotspur way.

Before conte unleashed his dissatisfaction, there had been a game of football – and one that was determined by a last-minute, dubious penalty. Late substitute Pape Sarr swung a boot to clear the ball and caught Ainsley Maitland-Niles as he did so. James Ward-Prowse equalised from the spot, and the penalty feels like a landmark moment.

Tottenham had turned up. Sitting in fourth with Newcastle and Liverpool breathing down their necks, this was a should-win, must-win, tie with just 10 more to come.

And they set about their task well, despite losing Richarlison just three minutes in – he was suffering from illness, and raises questions why he started in the first place – and then Ben Davies also had to be hooked, robbing the tram of a player who is at least reliable.

Spurs took the lead on the strike of half-time when Pedro Porro latched on to Heung-Min Son’s pass and finished well.

But Spurs aren’t here to make things simple. Just 30 seconds into the second period, sleepy defending by Clement Lenglet allowed Che Adams to finish.

Tottenham responded. Harry Kane – who else? – restored the lead on 65 minutes with a header, and then Ivan Perisic appeared to have completed the job on 74.

But then Theo Walcott gave the Saints hope and Spurs began to wobble. Unable to control the game or see it out, some harum-scarum defending meant when the equaliser came late on, no matter how dodgy the penalty may have been, there was a sense of inevitability about it.

“Everyone has to take their responsibility,” Conte ranted afterwards. “Not only the club, the manager and the staff. The players have to be involved in this situation because it is time to change this situation if Tottenham want to change. They can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.”

That may well be the case – but Spurs enjoyed a golden period recently by employing a coach who did just that – coach his collective into a greater sum of their parts.

The question is whether Conte has enough good will in the bank for the players to respond.

Stranger things have happened – Spurs have reached the Champions League final with Winks and Sissoko in the midfield – but with Pochettino in the wings, it feels best for all parties that this reign is brought to a disappointing close as soon as possible and Poch can get back to fix the issues he should’ve have been tasked with doing back in 2019.

Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek (Maitland-Niles, 34), Bella-Kotchap (Salisu, 7), Perraud, Armstrong (Alcaraz, 70), Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Elyounoussi (Sulemana, 70), Walcott, Adams (Mara, 70)
Substitutes not used: McCarthy Onuachu, Diallo, Ibrahima

Tottenham: Forster, Romero, Dier, Lenglet, Porro (Emerson, 86), Skipp, Hojbjerg, Davies (Perisic, 37) Richarlison (Kulusevski 3, Sarr 86), Son, Kane
Substitutes not used: Sanchez, Danjuma, Tanganga, Moura, Austin