Tottenham Hotspur return to the scene of Antonio Conte’s infamous mic drop on Sunday night with the Italian’s exit speech still ringing in the ears of frustrated fans.

The trip to Southampton is the first since Conte’s Tottenham team threw away a two-goal lead in March 2023, which must feel eerily familiar to supporters who watched Spurs squander a two-goal winning position against Chelsea last week.

Conte reacted to the 3-3 draw by delivering a passionate nine-minute, 52-second dissection of Spurs and their failings. He boarded a Ryanair flight back to Italy two days later and never returned to the club in what must be one of the most remarkable departures in Premier League history.

Here, Telegraph Sport picks out the highlights of Conte’s jaw-dropping press conference and analyses what has and has not changed since Tottenham’s last trip to Southampton.

‘The problem is we showed that we are not a team. We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart [in]’

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Conte produced a five-minute, uninterrupted response to the first question and dismissed the possibility of using Southampton’s last-minute penalty – that should not have been awarded and was scored by James Ward-Prowse – as an excuse. He spoke relatively calmly to start with and did not raise his voice for almost three minutes of his opening answer. But the message was clear – his players were selfish and of the 20-man match-day squad in 2023, nine – Fraser Forster, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Son Heung-min, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski, Pape Sarr and Brandon Austin – are still at the club. The other 11, including Harry Kane, have all left, so there has certainly been a high turnover of players since Conte departed.

‘Here we’re used to it for a long time. The club has the responsibility for the transfer market, every coach that stayed here has the responsibility. And the players? The players? Where are the players?’

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This was still Conte’s first answer and by this point he had started to become more animated, and his voice had got louder. Conte was aware of the annoyance among fans at chairman Daniel Levy and a perceived lack of ambition in the transfer market, together with the pressure that was on him. But he felt the players were getting an easy ride and it could be argued that had remained the case until this week.

Head coach Ange Postecoglou confronted angry fans, while Levy continues to be targeted by a section of supporters. The players had largely been forgiven for their mistakes before Postecoglou branded Timo Werner’s performance against Rangers on Thursday night as “unnacceptable.” Postecoglou also appeared to have words with Porro on the Ibrox pitch after the full-time whistle and it may be that his patience is now wearing thin.

‘Excuses. Excuses. Excuse. Try to protect them every time. Bah. Come on, come on, come on. We are professional. The club pay us a lot of money. The players receive money, I receive money, you understand?’

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Conte clearly did not like the second question, which asked whether uncertainty over his future at the club was impacting performances and results. He was sick of all the excuses, so he would not have liked Romero’s reaction to last week’s defeat to Chelsea in which the Argentine said: “The last few years, it’s always the same – first the players, then the coaching staff changes, and it’s always the same people responsible. Hopefully, they realise who the true responsible ones are.”

Conte would argue that for the past few years it was the players who were last to take responsibility and Romero’s words certainly suggested that he felt most of the blame for disappointing performances and results should be directed at Levy and the board. The defender has since apologised, but it is still worth considering who or what created a culture at Spurs in which players have reached for excuses. Given the relatively high turnover of coaches, it cannot have been Conte, Postecoglou and co.

‘Tottenham’s story is this. Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stays here’

This was the quote, in answer to the third question and with Conte now becoming even louder, that was initially, incorrectly, viewed as a direct criticism of Levy. Recalling his post-Southampton speech in an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport, Conte stood by every word, saying: “If I tell something, it means there is always something true. No, honestly, I don’t regret anything about this.” Conte was insistent that his mention of “the owner” was not a criticism of Levy, but instead highlighted the fact that Tottenham’s trophy drought could not only be the chairman’s fault.

What did shock Conte and perhaps remains relevant was that most of the reaction to his press conference centred on whether or not he had attacked Levy, rather than using his words as a reference to try to improve Tottenham’s situation. Fans might still argue that Levy’s reputation remains more critical to some members of Spurs staff than the club’s success on the football pitch.

‘There are 10 games to go and some people think we can fight. Fight for what with this spirit, this attitude? What? For seventh, eighth, 10th place? I am not used to this position’

Tottenham were still fourth in the Premier League table after the draw at Southampton, having miraculously qualified for the Champions League the previous season under Conte. They finished the 2022-23 campaign in eighth place after Conte left and climbed to fifth at the end of Postecoglou’s first season in charge, qualifying for the Europa League.

But, as has been the case on so many occasions, Tottenham appear to have regressed during the second season under their coach – which suggests players may, consciously or subconsciously, start to ease off after the initial bounce of a new manager. Conte made it clear that he would not accept Spurs being seventh, eighth or 10th and yet Postecoglou’s team travel to Southampton in 11th place in the Premier League table, albeit only five points behind fifth-placed Nottingham Forest. A Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United next week demonstrates that Spurs do still have prizes to fight for this campaign.

‘If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me’

Tottenham did, of course, change the manager after this press conference, as first Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini was put in temporary charge and then Ryan Mason took over as interim head coach before the end of the season. Postecoglou is the latest Spurs manager under pressure, but what would another change actually achieve?

Spurs, under Levy, have seemingly tried everything and yet the results have broadly been the same. It is also worth considering that Tottenham’s permanent managers since Juande Ramos, the last coach to lift a trophy for the club in 2008, have one thing in common – they have all won trophies before or after managing Spurs. That at least is encouraging for Postecoglou and his career prospects should he eventually fall on his sword.

‘Thank you very much’

These were Conte’s final words before he got up from his seat and left the St Mary’s media room, never to be seen again as Tottenham manager. It was the mic drop to end all mic drops and Conte is now in charge of Napoli, who are second in the Serie A table and travel to Udinese on Saturday. He may be gone, but to Spurs fans, Conte’s words are not forgotten.