Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[MikeLondon]

Can I just say that there’s a special place in hell for the individual responsible for posting the ‘Stelio Kontos’ video the other day.
I’m not sure it will ever not be going around my head.

 

[wirE]

Right of the bat; "Usually I don't like these types of games. "

Well, then you are in for a treat my friend

 

[dimiSpur]

The most telling thing Conte has said is that he needs to be patient. In other words, he knows he has a lot of work to do with this lot and many of them are a lost cause.

The most important thing is fitness. They are all so unfit which is unacceptable really. After 30 mins we were blowing. And the players that played last night have, for the most part, not had midweek games.

He will also have to work out which defenders to pick. Despite Romero's ridiculous red card, he's one of three. I think Sanchez should be in instead of Dier too. Almost every goal we concede is related to a Dier error. He's a car crash at CB. Davies didn't cover himself in glory either but I think he will try and stick with him as his interim Azpilicueta.

All in all, it was great to see us actually play with a tactical plan for the first 30 minutes. First time I've seen that since the Poch days.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

Had time to reflect, and I actually think it was a decent/steady first outing. Clearly not had time to implement much, but there were signs of a baseline being created, 3ATB, improved tempo (few times we won free kicks and I noticed we just went quick) and greater intensity (press and snapping into tackles until they ran out of steam, to be expected). I think due to the sheer ferocity we tried to play at with little to no preparation, we lost a lot of accuracy, but that will come as the players get used to the demands. Sure I read somewhere that Conte drills patterns, so players know exactly when and how to execute attacks even at high tempo and potentially when exhausted. That will only help improve accuracy, because last night we surrendered too much posession with loose passes and/or heavy touches. Takeaway, I think the players will improve drastically in the coming few weeks as Conte and his team bring them up to speed.
So, the players
Lloris - usual self, no concerns.
Romero - looked too isolated out wide, think he’ll be better in the centre of the three. Wider roles may be better suited to players used to filling in at full back, or perhaps just with more agility and athleticism.
Dier - lost his man for the first goal. Wasn’t awful, but didn’t inspire confidence as I would have hoped.
Davies - I actually think he did ok, didn’t dominate but was ok. He covered well a few times and got upfield on the underlap more than I expected.
Emerson - workrate phenomenal, got into some great attacking positions and carried well onto some loose Vitesse passing. Attacking execution will improve I’m sure as he gets used to the system.
Skipp - looks made for a Conte midfield.
Hojbjerg - worked hard, but was inaccurate at times.
Reguillon - see Emerson comments, same applies. Willing runner, just needs to improve execution in final third.
Moura - started bright but faded, willing worker though.
Kane - thought showed more desire to work off the ball, seemed a yard quicker chasing loose balls sometimes. Didn’t seem an attacking threat as much as I’d expect, but showed his value when he was up top alone.
Son - similar to Moura, worked hard, couple of decent chances but faded, maybe a team thing because after the third goal the whole team seemed to stop attacking with the same intensity.

The last point applies to all. After the third goal, or maybe after Vitesse scored, we went into our defensive shell again, maybe a mental thing, maybe we ran out of steam, but we surrendered territory massively. Something for Conte to work on no doubt. I do think the 343 looked a little too open and chaotic, I think the 352 he employed at Inter would be a better fit right now. Still, positive signs. Wonder if Conte is thinking he probably should have bought his defence coach with him afterall….

 

[aliyid]

Think in a strange way it was a perfect ‘first game’.

First 30 mins see what the potential looks like with higher levels of intensity and movement (we actually looked like a team again).

Middle 30 see our lack of physical presence at the back and mental fragility.

Final 30 dealing with adversity down to 10 men and how subs can change the flow of the game back in our favour.

Certainly not the game he would have wanted but he can see our potential while still having a brutal display of our weaknesses.

 

[strader]

The players that aren’t going away on international duty must be shitting themselves.

I think they’re going to have a pre season.

Ndombele, Lucas, Bergwijn and Dele should be different players after 2 weeks with Conte.

Might sound abit off field but I will also include Winks too. I have a feeling he will elevate his game under Conte with a 352 formation.

 

[yojambo]

Best thing he said for me was that he's "not afraid of work".
He is going to graft so hard with the team on the training pitch that improvement is a certainty.

The club has now provided the players with everything they need to be successful. Elite stadium, elite facilities, elite coach. Time to go to work!

 

[Rosco1984]

I don’t think Hojbjerg or Skipp particularly had a great first impression.

I thought Dier was good, apart from their 2nd goal.

Dier was at fault for both of their goals.... he never gets close enough to the man when blocking shots he is always backing off and he got bullied by someone half his size for the header from the set piece he's not good enough. I can add to that list the myth of hojbjerg maybe a viking but he is immobile and constantly hits his passes into the first defender in front of him.

 

[djhotspur]

This. The squad’s fitness levels look shockingly bad. We basically ran out of steam after 30 minutes.

Yup it was clearly part of nuno a regime. Our players covered the least distance in the prem. horrendous

 

[Coyboy]

Does anyone know what staff have come with him? I spotted Mason on the bench with a few other newbies.

Sorry if posted elsewhere.

 

[topper]

Dier was at fault for both of their goals.... he never gets close enough to the man when blocking shots he is always backing off and he got bullied by someone half his size for the header from the set piece he's not good enough. I can add to that list the myth of hojbjerg maybe a viking but he is immobile and constantly hits his passes into the first defender in front of him.

How can you blame Dier for the second goal when Moura passed straight to a Vitesse player 20 yards from our goal?

 

[worcestersauce]

Might sound abit off field but I will also include Winks too. I have a feeling he will elevate his game under Conte with a 352 formation.

He may well do but he'll never be the standard Conte is going to want. I'm not knocking him I never have but to go where Conte is going to want to go we need higher grade players and the measure of the club will be whether or not we get them.

 

[Marty]

Does anyone know what staff have come with him? I spotted Mason on the bench with a few other newbies.

Sorry if posted elsewhere.

First team coaching staff update | Tottenham Hotspur

We are pleased to confirm the appointments of Cristian Stellini, Ryan Mason, Gianluca Conte, Costantino Coratti, Gian Piero Ventrone and Stefano Bruno to Antonio Conte's coaching staff.

www.tottenhamhotspur.com

Goalkeeper coach still TBA.

 

[jonnyp]

How can you blame Dier for the second goal when Moura passed straight to a Vitesse player 20 yards from our goal?

Yeah as much as I dislike Dier, that goal was all down to a typical Moura brainfart pass. Usually he only does them in the final third but that's what happens when he does them in our third.

 

[jazz15c]

A perfect encapsulation of everything Tottenham Hotspur in 90 minutes for our new gaffer; almost like we planned it!

I don't know whether he's had anytime to implement much at all, or whether we've absorbed some of his mentality by osmosis, but no fucking way do we hang on and win that game at any point in the last 12 months. Not a chance.

 

[Timberwolf]

Christ, it was so good to see some one touch passing, daring runs and wing backs pushed high. Also the first time we've tried to play it out from the back properly in a looooong time (3 passes between the defenders then a hoof up field doesn't count).

In the past 2 years all of our players were so obviously drilled within an inch of their life to play cautiously. "Always a take a touch before you pass", "never take unnecessary risks", "don't overcommit". Yesterday we tore all of that up and you could instantly see the difference - we were actually getting the ball to our forwards before the opposition's defence was set, something I don't recall us ever really doing under Nuno, baring the occasional through ball to a runner.

Things fell apart after half an hour and we gave the ball away cheaply a lot, but it was so much more enjoyable than the defensive slop we've been served up for the past 2 years. Once we get some of the passing shapes properly drilled in - you could see the wing backs trying to engineer one touch moves that weren't well practised enough to come off - we'll be so much better.

Long way to go and a lot of work for Conte, but finally we have our Tottenham back.

 

[Rosco1984]

How can you blame Dier for the second goal when Moura passed straight to a Vitesse player 20 yards from our goal?

I said he was at fault not just him obviously as lucas gave it away and skipp didnt react but if you watch Dier he is too passive he doesn't go to the ball and that gives the striker time to pick the gap between his legs. If you watch a full 90 minutes this happens so many times with him because he doesn't trust his agility to turn if the attacker takes him on.

 

[PCozzie]

You would have though individual players would keep their fitness levels high, for no other reason than they're professional athletes.

If my coach wasn't fussed about my physically conditioning, I certainly would be; my career is 20 odd years, so I'm going to need it when the current coach is gone.

At this level it's that final 5% that a lack of training and conditioning is about. We talk about Kane, or Ndombele, or Dele being unfit, but that's 'unfit' by elite sportman level. They'd still absolutely destroy the vast majority of this forum over 5K, or a bleep test.

I'd imagine they have kept themselves fit, up to that 95%. The rest comes from targeted conditioning on the training ground and club gym. That's the bit that's been clearly lacking, but that is also really difficult for a player to do off their own back as it will be linked to specific data and tests, and tailored to them.

 

[dirtyh]

lol, welcome to our world antonio. poor fucker

 

[Ribble]

The most important thing is fitness. They are all so unfit which is unacceptable really. After 30 mins we were blowing. And the players that played last night have, for the most part, not had midweek games.

Bear in mind that it took Solskjaer months to get Man United properly fit post-Mourinho, and that was without one of the years he was there being Covid-ravaged. I'm sure Nuno had started the work to improve that but it's going to take more time.