Tottenham’s Pedro Porro: ‘Tim Sherwood won’t be the first to have had to shut his mouth’

22-Mar-2023 20:00:36 | The Guardian

Spain wing-back on his tumultuous start to life at Spurs, that Conte outburst and what would happen if he was let loose in a prison

So this is awkward. It’s a beautiful day at Las Rozas, 25km north-west of Madrid, and Pedro Porro is sitting in the sunshine, happy to be back in the Spain squad among old friends, when that rant is raised. “Well, that’s his thing,” the Tottenham wing-back starts saying, not sure what to say about the moment his own manager tore into the team he has just joined, when he says: “The first thing is, what you’re talking about: I hadn’t heard it until now.” Wait, really? You mean you don’t know what Antonio Conte said? “Yes.”

Oh. And so the first time Porro hears about Conte’s attack on Spurs is here, reported back to him second-hand and 1,000km away. He listens to how after Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Southampton, a game in which Porro scored and one he has just brought up as a sign that things are getting better, his coach claimed they couldn’t be much worse. He hears how Conte criticised the club’s culture, accusing his players of being 11 individuals not a team. And he is told that the manager declared failure “the story of Tottenham”. Talk about ruining the moment.