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Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

Trix

Trix

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2004
19,694
332,146
wrd said:
In hindsight I'm guessing that Levy didn't want to put such an outlay on a player for a manager he clearly didn't want to back nor anticipate being here for very long. It's worked out this time but it won't with Conte.
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Well that's certainly how it looks now regarding Traore. My issue wasn't that he wouldn't spend on Traore, it was that he wouldn't try and get the only player the manager wanted irrespective of who it was.
 
Timberwolf

Timberwolf

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2008
10,328
50,217
KingKay said:
Bloody hope so.

If things don’t improve it should be the players that change, not the manager.
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Well if Conte can't sort them out you have to wonder if there's any manager that could.

There are some glaring weaknesses in the squad but I've always felt that we've collectively underperformed since 2019 and that there is a lot more talent in the squad than some people give it credit for. We've just needed the right manager to get the best out of them and the dated, negative football of Jose and the directionless approach of Nuno didn't do some of our players justice, with many of them regressing.

If Conte can't get a tune out of players like Ndombele, Lo Celso and Reguilon then I'll put my hands up and admit I was wrong, because he's literally the best manager we could've possibly brought in. If he doesn't think they're up to it then they're obviously just not up to it.
 
D

djhotspur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2021
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Timberwolf said:
It's a tricky one.

Personally I was dead against us signing Traore as I think he's a very one dimensional player and a terrible finisher, but many made the compelling argument that we needed to 'back the manager' or what was the point? I think some fans saying this just wanted a shiny new player and convinced themselves Traore would be a good signing - the general consensus on here was he'd be a bad signing until he became our main transfer target, then suddenly half of SC was convinced he was the missing piece of the puzzle and a great idea. Not signing the player that most previously deemed to be an awful option suddenly became another stick to beat Levy with. But some fans, quite rightly questioned the point of hiring a manager like Nuno if we weren't even going to back him in the market on his personal number one choice.

While Traore was probably an overpriced disaster of a move, what if Conte decides he wants, say, Vlahovic even though we already have Kane? He feels we need another a more mobile, physical no.9 in order to get the best out of his system, and he pinpoints Vlahovic as the key player to push us on. What if Levy then decides this isn't viable because we still have Kane? Vlahovic is too expensive when we still have a world class number 9 and he vetos a 60 million pound bid for the player Conte has earmarked.

This is my fear. I think Levy got it right last time, doubly so as Nuno barely lasted 3 months, but he needs to have a different approach to transfers with Conte. If Conte wants a player Levy doesn't personally approve of, he has to be willing to trust him in a way that he evidently didn't trust Nuno.

If Levy doesn't back him on a couple of these big moves, Conte won't shrug his shoulders like Nuno - he'll hand in his P45 and give him the finger.
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I agree with your sentiment and I understand you are only using vlahovic as an example.

I think with regards to vlahovic he should at least have decent resale value as he is a young talent and striker with good goal out put.

but yes it a question of whether levy will fully back conte without looking at the long term impact. I think he will 80% back, but if he wants say a Vidal, an ageing player on big wages with zero resale I doubt he’ll buy him. That would be my worry with the likes of brozovic and how levy will perceive them. But surly he got conte in and knows full well he has to back him and give him what he needs to get the job done.
 
Timberwolf

Timberwolf

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Jan 17, 2008
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djhotspur said:
I agree with your sentiment and I understand you are only using vlahovic as an example.

I think with regards to vlahovic he should at least have decent resale value as he is a young talent and striker with good goal out put.

but yes it a question of whether levy will fully back conte without looking at the long term impact. I think he will 80% back, but if he wants say a Vidal, an ageing player on big wages with zero resale I doubt he’ll buy him. That would be my worry with the likes of brozovic and how levy will perceive them. But surly he got conte in and knows full well he has to back him and give him what he needs to get the job done.
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Yeah. It's easy to imagine Conte going back to Inter for players like Brozovic and De Vrij knowing that we need that extra grit, determination and experience. However they're both 28/29, would want quite high wages and have little to no sell on value. In short, they're exactly the types of signings Levy doesn't go anywhere near.

If Conte feels those are the players we need to get back to the top Levy will have to just accept it and eat shit for a while and not play his usual games.

"Well, Antonio, while Brozovic would be great, we could get Romeu from Southampton for half the price..."
 
dontcallme

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
34,467
84,134
Timberwolf said:
Well if Conte can't sort them out you have to wonder if there's any manager that could.

There are some glaring weaknesses in the squad but I've always felt that we've collectively underperformed since 2019 and that there is a lot more talent in the squad than some people give it credit for. We've just needed the right manager to get the best out of them and the dated, negative football of Jose and the directionless approach of Nuno didn't do some of our players justice, with many of them regressing.

If Conte can't get a tune out of players like Ndombele, Lo Celso and Reguilon then I'll put my hands up and admit I was wrong, because he's literally the best manager we could've possibly brought in. If he doesn't think they're up to it then they're obviously just not up to it.
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This is the big thing in the short term for me.

There is no magical fix and we're not going to resolve all our areas of weakness within 2 transfer windows.

I believe there is a way to get better and more consistent performances from at least one of Ndombele, Lo Celso and Alli.

If Conte can get the best out of one of them plus improved performances from Kane and Son then we can compete this season.
 
CousinGreg

CousinGreg

Member
Nov 1, 2021
15
99
Loving what I keep reading about him. By the time the lads away with their countries return next week, Ndombele will have 6% bodyfat and running the bleep test in his spare time.
 
tony0379

tony0379

The bald midget has to go!
May 17, 2004
15,962
41,836
Ramos tried the dietary change only for Redknapp to famously put the ketchup back on the table. I hope things have changed since
 
sparx100

sparx100

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2007
4,664
6,734
www.skysports.com

Antonio Conte's Tottenham impact: Wing-backs, overlapping centre-backs and increased work-rate at Everton

Tottenham drew 0-0 with Everton in Antonio Contes first Premier League game in charge on Sunday; their performance displayed a familiar lack of cutting edge but there were also early signs of the former Chelsea and Inter Milan managers impact
www.skysports.com www.skysports.com

A good read to show some of the changes noticable already. Was particularly good to see the running stats starting to move to the right.
 
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