Richarlison snapped after playing just 20 minutes of Tottenham's goalless draw with AC Milan on Wednesday, which culminated in their Champions League exit.
Richarlison has started sporadically for Spurs since completing a £60m move from Everton last summer.
The 25-year-old has failed to score in 17 Premier League appearances so far, with his only goals coming via a brace against Olympique Marseille in the Champions League group stages.
Richarlison is up against Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-Min for a starting berth in the Spurs attack but he feels he should have had a better involvement in games thus far.
But Conte says Richarlison could be right in his assessment of events but feels his choice of personal pronoun shows a selfish nature.
"He didn't criticise me. He said his season was s***and he's right. His season has been not good," Conte told a press conference.
"He had injuries, played and scored in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury. He's scored no goals for us.
"I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play, I'll give him the opportunity.
"For the rest of the interview, I think he made a mistake. When you speak of 'I' and not 'us' you are being selfish. I say to my players if we want to build something important and win a trophy we have to speak with 'we' not with 'I', because otherwise you're thinking of yourself.
"He made a mistake and he apologised and it was good for me to clarify with the team again about this. In this aspect we have to improve. We have to be more of a team and show more spirit positive, especially in negative moments."
