Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Gareth88]

I think we are going through a rebuilding phase and I think we will be in a better position the start of the season as long as we get our signings done early. Still think we need a couple more seasons before we start getting back to our best.

 

[Teegart]

I can see why he’s doing this and I hope it works. There is absolutely no way he didn’t evaluate our squad before he accepted the job, so to think he looked at it and went “aye that squad looks a belter, let’s also keep buying young players with re-sale value that won’t make an instant impact, I’d be happy with that” is absolutely laughable.

This looks, to me anyway, that he’s now been told there’s very little money and the money he does have they want to go with “the strategy”, which is buying young players and crossing your fingers they work out. Looking more for opportunistic signings than actually going all out for specific targets that fill massive holes in the squad. So now he’s being as vocal as he can to tell the fans the script and hoping to pressure those above to change tact if they expect us to move forward as a club.

The biggest laugh of it all, is that the buy young strategy isn’t all that bad, if you had any competent scouting whatsoever, which we clearly don’t have, and have proven that for a good few years now.

All that said, it’s a hard one to judge from the outside until we see what happens in the summer. If Conte isn’t backed with 4-5 key players that he wants in, ie not just youth with potential resale value, then this appointment has been a complete and utter waste of time. All the chat was Levy “now gets it” and knows he has to back Conte properly, but Contes recent comments do seem to suggest this might not be the case. As we’ve all said, summer is huge and I think we’ll see the gist of which way it will fall by start of July.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Conte is known for moaning about the board in the media. He's literally done it at ALL of his jobs. Doesn't necessarily mean he's thinking of leaving. He's just very demanding. I'm not really concerned.

Let’s just ?? this summer goes great then ?

 

[cozzo]

It’s only a matter of time now…

 

[snakehipsspurs]

It's Sky Italia, they're famous for taking quotes out of context and twisting shit for clicks. Bet when the whole interview comes out tomorrow it's clear he's saying all this to temper people's expectations and make people more patient.

He said last week he was happy with the window, he's clearly indicated he's here for a while and wants time to grow things. I'm not letting some clickbait nonsense distract from what he's actually said in context.

 

[H-SF]

I personally would rather he didn't have to do all the whinging in the media. The club are well aware that if they don't back him in the summer he's off, and will have been aware for a while that he wants to overhaul the squad. He doesn't need to come out and cry/complain every presser, nobody is gonna think he's a shit manager/needs to be sacked if we come 5th.

 

[Chimbo!]

His quotes are being misrepresented. It’s ridiculous. He never said Spurs’ philosophy is to weaken squads LOL. He said buying young is.

 

[WiganSpur]

I do think there should be a balance though. I'd love nothing more than to have some experienced 'winners' in and amongst the players with potential.

It needs patience all round.

Conte needs to be patient with the players he has that right now he cannot change.

We have to be patient with Conte, and we need to be patient with the board for now.

But for me that will turn very quickly by the start of pre-season if there's no evidence of an overhaul. There's no excuse this summer whatsoever. With the free/1yr left transfers available we could probably sign 5 top quality players for £100m.

 

[JayB]

Sounds to me like Conte is putting pressure on the board to bring in older players ahead of next season. He’s not a manager for a long-term project, he’s a manager you back to win in the short term.

There are plenty of experienced players he’s worked with (and likely a number of others he’d like to work with) who have favourable contract situations and I’m sure he’d like to bring them in for next season as opposed to signings such as Gil, Pape Sarr, or Royal, but the latter kind of signings are what Levy wants. He’s asking the club to change its transfer methods, IMO.

 

[dagraham]

His quotes are being misrepresented. It’s ridiculous. He never said Spurs’ philosophy is to weaken squads LOL. He said buying young is.

Has anyone actually suggested this?

 

[thebenjamin]

It’s only a matter of time now…

Yup feels like this is already over. He's distancing himself from the results

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

He's all about managing expectations now. Not that different to Jose in that respect.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I think he's taking it way too far now and is being a bit of a dick tbh. Imagine Nuno said this with the exact same squad. We'd all ask what his job is if not to improve things.

We still piss on Mourinho for saying "same coach different players."

Mabye he’s taking it slightly too far sure but he’s not really wrong is he? Under Nuno we couldn’t muster a shot on target with this group, under Conte a world class top 5 coach we have got some good results but we’ve struggled in pretty much every game we’ve not really dominated or blown away any team at all so whilst he might be slightly OTT with his comments he’s not far wrong is he.

 

[cozzo]

I think the board can only take so much. He hasn’t had a nice word to say about us since he has come.

 

[EastUpperDK82]

I agree with you and not sure why some disagree with you. I mentioned that I think he has come one manager too soon and by that will build a team and squad over time... Conte is like the finisher...

So you're saying a world class manager and winner like Conte would be a perfect fit for us when he is 60 years old ? ... to finish the work of a former manager... (hmmmmm... flashback)

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

In the video he doesn’t say we have a 1% chance of fourth at all. He says he only needs to see a 1% of fourth to think he can get it. His words have all been twisted. Yet again. Our fans need to stop falling for this weird narrative every single week.

Sorry mate but he does actually say this.

He says “it is a little bit strange here because mabye I have the 1% ambition and possibility to finish 4th” (as opposed to when he’s in other jobs he always needs at least a 1% chance to win the title)

It’s a headline grabbing statement but it’s not really been twisted tbh and right now the way we are playing and with Man.U, West Ham, Arsenal, Wolves etc all in the way, 1% chance of 4th is probably about right with this group.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

His quotes are being misrepresented. It’s ridiculous. He never said Spurs’ philosophy is to weaken squads LOL. He said buying young is.

Nobody has suggested this was what he meant?

He’s spot on to question our philosophy of buying young players and developing them. To do that, you need a stable base. Look at how Chelsea have integrated Reece James into a winning side, Foden at City and Elliot now at Liverpool.

We don’t have the team to be integrating youngsters because we aren’t winning games on a consistent basis. There would be far too much pressure on the shoulders of these players to perform consistently.

If signing young players is our philosophy, it stinks of a money spinning scheme tbh.

 

[soflapaul]

Not a good look but translations don't always capture the nuances. as an optimist, i'm hoping he is angling to get some pre-contracts over the hump

 

[spursfan77]

Sorry mate but he does actually say this.

He says “it is a little bit strange here because mabye I have the 1% ambition and possibility to finish 4th” (as opposed to when he’s in other jobs he always needs at least a 1% chance to win the title)

It’s a headline grabbing statement but it’s not really been twisted tbh and right now the way we are playing and with Man.U, West Ham, Arsenal, Wolves etc all in the way, 1% chance of 4th is probably about right with this group.

Seems like lots of the interview we’ve been reading this evening has though.

 

[cozzo]

If you think this is bad wait to his interview after the the City game