Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[wspur]

If we play the way things are sounding from him, then we're in for a grim 4 months until season's end.

From Hytner's piece in the Guardian:
Conte was horrified with the performance at Leicester, especially as it had followed the win over City – the best result of his team’s season – and he said that his players were struggling to cope with the relentless pressure.

“We are lacking stability,” Conte said. “It’s very difficult to stay focused all the time. Playing under pressure all the time is good for some players and bad for others. Sometimes players feel motivated and sometimes players feel so under pressure they cannot perform, they collapse under the pressure.

“The pressure is different between Italy and England. In Italy, you speak about football from Monday and you finish on a Sunday. They put a lot of pressure. You’re born in this way and you grow with this pressure. In England, there is an atmosphere that brings you to enjoy football without a lot of pressure because football is a sport. In Italy, it is sometimes a war between the fans and the teams. This is the main difference.”

What is he on about here? Isn't it his job to build the team up? Why aren't we more stable/consistent in our performance level? All fucking season we've played like Jekyll and Hyde. Why would they be feeling so under pressure at a regular weekend game vs Leicester, having just pulled off a smashing result vs City? Has he no agency over how we prepare and perform?

He's lost it. I'm scared of what the next 3-4 months have in store for us, not sure top 10 is guaranteed. All my tickets are going on the exchange.

 

[Wingnut_on_the_go]

I've just watched the press conference, he looks tired and was very flat in his response to the questions. Maybe he's come back to football too soon after his operation? Or has he lost his passion for our club? Something is definitely wrong plus Kulu looked like he couldn't wait to get out of there!

 

[dannyo]

As I said before, I really feel for Conte on a human level but he looks and sounds like a man who is done with football for a while. He seems like he needs some time away. Chuck in his refusal to commit to us long-term, and our already below par squad are basically playing for a sad interim manager. It’s not going to inspire anyone, is it?

 

[Stamford]

4 more months of this…

Poch did this every week and people were swooning at every word. Jose said he loved being here, wore spurs pyjamas and people wanted him out from day one. People see what they want to see.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

Im starting to actually feel sorry for Conte. He is clearly a total imbecile. There is an easy fix for this and that is to simly just stop playing the deep laying defensive non pressing style of play that will let the opposition put pressure on us.

Calling someone a total imbecile says a lot more about you than the person you’re trying to insult.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

"For sure, it was really difficult to stay far from the team," he added. "Because you have a sense of responsibility that you want to stay every moment with your players, to breathe the environment in every situation.

"But this problem happened and now I'm feeling much better than before.

"I'm not still 100 per cent but I think I'm recovering.”

Sounds like a man who doesn’t want to be here, doesn’t he?

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

He's lost it. I'm scared of what the next 3-4 months have in store for us, not sure top 10 is guaranteed. All my tickets are going on the exchange.

Do you really have to moan in every single thread on this forum? If it’s that bad take some time off mate, walk away from that keyboard and get some fresh air.

 

[spurs mental]

How people still defend this guy is absolutely comical. You are simply living in utter defiance of reality if you don’t see how poor of a job he is doing, in all aspects of managing.

If you actually bothered to read the thread you'd get a good idea why people are in support of him, but you'd also know that nobody is outright defending him the way you believe.

The soundbites are good in your post though, well done on the likes.

 

[SaiboT]

Calling someone a total imbecile says a lot more about you than the person you’re trying to insult.

Well, he doesn’t do himself any favour by playing the way he does, does he?
He’s an incompetent coach who can only play in one way. If something doesn’t work you have to change it, simple as that.

 

[spurs mental]

Well, he doesn’t do himself any favour by playing the way he does, does he?
He’s an incompetent coach who can only play in one way. If something doesn’t work you have to change it, simple as that.

And yet we see Klopp, Pep, Arteta, Potter all play the same way even when things aren't working for them.

Conte has won everywhere and his system has worked everywhere he's been. It worked for us last season. It can work again.

He could be doing some things differently, he could be doing things better, but a change in formation isn't going to make the defenders any better than they are either.

 

[DanielJohnCosta]

Poch did this every week and people were swooning at every word. Jose said he loved being here, wore spurs pyjamas and people wanted him out from day one. People see what they want to see.

don't remember Poch speaking like this? think all he did was say he was flattered by interest from other clubs but that he was committed to the club which he had a large contract in. Poch talks more openly about the club now than conte does and he's not even employed by the,

 

[A Bit Much]

And yet we see Klopp, Pep, Arteta, Potter all play the same way even when things aren't working for them.

Conte has won everywhere and his system has worked everywhere he's been. It worked for us last season. It can work again.

He could be doing some things differently, he could be doing things better, but a change in formation isn't going to make the defenders any better than they are either.

I agree with all you said other than the bit in bold. You can definitely make players more comfortable and effective by changing up formation.

We can talk about how successful Contes system has been managing better players but he's managing a bunch of numpties (by and large) in defence, so if they struggle currently then it would be pragmatic to try a different formation. Obviously Conte would never do this, so we can't find out for sure...

 

[spurs mental]

don't remember Poch speaking like this? think all he did was say he was flattered by interest from other clubs but that he was committed to the club which he had a large contract in. Poch talks more openly about the club now than conte does and he's not even employed by the,

Bloke literally spoke in riddles every single week and even more so when he was linked with United and other jobs. Said much about nothing a lot of the time and people were falling over themselves with it.

Not to mention saying he was going to leave the night before the biggest game in the club's history and people still couldn't get enough of him. Selective memory is real.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

Bloke literally spoke in riddles every single week and even more so when he was linked with United and other jobs. Said much about nothing a lot of the time and people were falling over themselves with it.

Not to mention saying he was going to leave the night before the biggest game in the club's history and people still couldn't get enough of him. Selective memory is real.

Re the first para, people weren’t falling over themselves with it. Your memory is playing tricks on you. It was very annoying and pretty much everyone on here was annoyed by it.

Re the second para, I agree that was a perplexing blunder. No idea what he was playing at making that comment.

 

[SaiboT]

And yet we see Klopp, Pep, Arteta, Potter all play the same way even when things aren't working for them.

Conte has won everywhere and his system has worked everywhere he's been. It worked for us last season. It can work again.

He could be doing some things differently, he could be doing things better, but a change in formation isn't going to make the defenders any better than they are either.

I think Arteta and pep does perfectly fine in their clubs, they dont need to change anything. Potter is at a new club with tons of new players, not easy. Liverpool is just in a bad form.

And those teams were all winning things before he came to them. And when u get every player u want it will be a lot easier to win things.

 

[DanielJohnCosta]

Bloke literally spoke in riddles every single week and even more so when he was linked with United and other jobs. Said much about nothing a lot of the time and people were falling over themselves with it.

Not to mention saying he was going to leave the night before the biggest game in the club's history and people still couldn't get enough of him. Selective memory is real.

pretty sure he was saying this with humour. as for the riddles how do we know what he truly meant? he never took the united job and was also super respectful to our club and taking teams in England which he still has not. speaking like he was anything close to Mourinho or Conte is a joke

 

[spurs mental]

I think Arteta and pep does perfectly fine in their clubs, they dont need to change anything. Potter is at a new club with tons of new players, not easy. Liverpool is just in a bad form.

And those teams were all winning things before he came to them. And when u get every player u want it will be a lot easier to win things.

Arteta and Pep yes, however Arteta before this season wasn't popular with Arsenal fans they wanted him out for 3 years. He's been backed to the hilt to get where they are today.

Klopp took 18-24 months to get where he needed to be. Potter has been the same at Brighton, they were lovely to watch but couldn't put the ball in the net, and Chelsea have the same issue.

And as you say, if you get players you want you'll do well. We've only seen a small amount of players Conte wants here so far under him.

 

[spurs mental]

pretty sure he was saying this with humour. as for the riddles how do we know what he truly meant? he never took the united job and was also super respectful to our club and taking teams in England which he still has not. speaking like he was anything close to Mourinho or Conte is a joke

Humour or not, it's the wrong thing to say. Guarantee if Conte said it the knives would be out even if caveated it with "This isn't a serious quote" either side of it.

People have made their minds up about him and even if we won every game from now until the end of the season they'd still want him out yesterday

 

[littlewilly]

I find all this amusing. We walk on water after City; we slash our wrists after Leicester. Settle down and find the plateau.

 

[Nebby]

And yet we see Klopp, Pep, Arteta, Potter all play the same way even when things aren't working for them.

Conte has won everywhere and his system has worked everywhere he's been. It worked for us last season. It can work again.

He could be doing some things differently, he could be doing things better, but a change in formation isn't going to make the defenders any better than they are either.

A change in formation won't suddenly make them better passers, stronger or faster; only training can do that. But a change in formation could certainly improve performances on the pitch. An extra body in midfield could make a world of difference defensively, and with the quality we have up top I'm not sure we would suffer all that match in terms of goals scored.