Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Bluto Blutarsky]

That's the problem with talking about "the players". It's like talking about "the Working Class", "The Tories", "The Blacks", "The Muslims", "The Jews", the "Gooners", "The LGBTQ+ community". It's just bigotry: lumping a wholly disparate group together, merely because they have one thing in common and can be classified together in one lazy way.

I hope the Sun is shining wherever you are and that you get a chance to go outside and bask in its light and warmth.

 

[n5yiddo]

wrong manager, wrong club. Levy is a serial offender. He promised us someone true to our 'DNA'. WTF? Levy is mr quick fix, always must have top 4, what about some long term planning?

Bring in a team that likes to coach players, more flexible and forward thinking, encourages the youth, better scouts. Screw top 4 for a couple of years. In other words. Levy keep away from football matters entirely, appoint someone like Paul Barber (Brighton chief exec) to takeover in charge of all football matters.

Levy is a great property developer. Conte is fine with ready made defensively tough players, but hypocritical in his approach and totally inflexible. But Mr Quick Fix knew that, and still appointed him and did not back him in the way that he needed. Please Levy, treat yourself like you would treat others and leave the football to someone who gets it

 

[Colonel_Klinck]

That is strange though as, whilst I'm sure that we're all for the players taking a proportion of responsibility for where we are, that would seem to be an inadvisable stance for the club to take unless they are expecting him to be here for the long haul - which he clearly isn't.

The more I've thought about it the more I think Levy won't be unhappy about this. He didn't go after Levy really, he went after the players. The fans have gone from "fuck Conte sack the **** now" to "well he's not wrong is he?" and even though lots of us still want him sacked its not the toxic pile on it was at the final whistle. It will be interesting to see how the players react.

 

[philll]

"I just told everyone I think you, the players, are all shit and then I doubled down and insisted that I was talking about all of you specifically and not anybody else but hey let's get ready for the next game"

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

"I just told everyone I think you, the players, are all shit and then I doubled down and insisted that I was talking about all of you specifically and not anybody else but hey let's get ready for the next game"

It’s better than the alternative: “I prefer to kill them …”

 

[slartibartfast]

I hope the Sun is shining wherever you are and that you get a chance to go outside and bask in its light and warmth.

Maybe its just me but I took that as sarcasm lol.

 

[Metalhead]

The more I've thought about it the more I think Levy won't be unhappy about this. He didn't go after Levy really, he went after the players. The fans have gone from "fuck Conte sack the **** now" to "well he's not wrong is he?" and even though lots of us still want him sacked its not the toxic pile on it was at the final whistle. It will be interesting to see how the players react.

Perhaps they'll just suck it up until the end of the season.

 

[Trent Crimm]

Was Sergio Ramos elite?

Such a stupid comparison. A
A man surrounded by some of the best players in world football for years. When suspended hardly missed.

Romero. Surrounded by Eric fucking dier, Lenglet and when suspended replaced by Tanganga and Sanchez.

do you see it yet? Ffs.

 

[LeSoupeKitchen]

Possibly but keeping Conte now is likely to do more harm than good IMHO.

More harm to Tottenham. But less harm to Levy as he needs the distraction that Conte brings.

 

[slartibartfast]

Perhaps they'll just suck it up until the end of the season.

Do you thik that is what will happen? When I think of Managers (Jose) throwing players under a bus it never ends well.
Personally I think we blow and drop like a stone if he stays. Certainly wont be getting top 4.

 

[Liamyid28]

Who are the multiple changes he should make

The ones he said are selfish and playing for themselves and not the team would be my guess whoever he meant by that.

 

[Dakes]

I do not understand how you look at a club strategy that hasn’t produced a trophy in 15 years, and a player culture that sees us drop out of cup competitions against minnows every season like clockwork, and decide the biggest* problem is the manager with a proven track record who has been at the club for less than two years.

AC alludes to this IMO with a comment that doesn’t seem to have caught as much attention: where he talks about the previous managers that have been at the club. Good managers who have failed. Some with their reputations in tatters. Because 9 times out of 10 the manager gets blamed. Conte is too stubborn. Jose is a toxic has-been. Nuno is out of his depth. Poch has no Plan B.

*Yes, he has to shoulder some responsibility but he is very, very far from being a big enough part of the problem that swapping him will solve it.

Spot on, it's baffling. Tournament after tournament we've seen these players either show a laissez faire attitude (usually against minnows) or look like deer in the headlamps (against the better teams) when the crunch is on.

Our support base gets heavily offended when we're called a small time club, yet it's evident how small time minded we are when one just looks at the behaviour of the club leading up to the UCL final. We hardly came across as a serious club, the leadership of the club were like a fan of a band who got a backstage pass to meet the band members. It was more about being able to say that we were there for the final, like that was the be-all and end-all.

We have to start taking ourselves seriously before we can expect others to take us seriously. We're a joke, whether we like to hear it or not.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Possibly but keeping Conte now is likely to do more harm than good IMHO.

How so?

 

[Clockspur]

We've got a Director of Football , lauded by us all when he joined, been in place for nearly 2 years, why on earth are you blaming Levy and not him ?

Because the rot didn’t set in 2 years ago, it set in circa 2015

Also, and some seem to find this hard to comprehend, ultimately the buck stops with Levy. If a supermarket fails it’s very unlikely to be the shelf stackers fault

 

[Clockspur]

We did have a discernible strategy when Poch left.

It was to get an elite coach in, Jose Mourinho, who was saying that the squad was wonderful, and leave him to prove it. The strategy was wrong because it did not take the ethos of the club into account, but took the fact that he had been a success in terms of trophy winning, even at his previous club, and ignored the fact the football was not going to be enjoyable. It was a fan-type appointment, hoping for a quick fix. The media backed Mourinho up, asking "What do Tottenham fans want? Exciting football or to win things?" As if it were greedy to want both.

This continued after the Mourinho sacking, after a short hiatus of high-level change, changes of mind, and panic with the Nuno appointment, with exactly the same type of appointment as Mourinho had been: an "elite" manager. This one, Antonio Conte, left no one in any doubt that he would only work with players he wanted, and they had to be "the finished article", so no need for player improvement, just players who would immediately fit into his system. This was totally unreasonable, though attempts were made to get in his types of players, and Lo and Behold! it hasn't come to pass, because it was an impossible request in the first place in the real world. The football was, and is, equally as mind-numbing as under Mourinho and we are no nearer to a trophy. In fact looking back on the halcyon days of good watchable football under Harry Redknapp , Martin Jol, particularly Mauricio Pochettino, and even Glenn Hoddle with paltry resources in his case, we are miles further away.

So, to my mind the strategy was discernible, but wrong.

The strategy must change.

I meant in the transfer market - what was the discernible strategy there accept for “all the full backs and all the non creative CM’s”

 

[slartibartfast]

I said it after the arsenal game. A decision needs to be made. He either signs a contract, or leaves.

This vacuum is a part of the problem. That's on the board.

I'd hoped the club had learnt from the Vertonghen, Toby end of contract cock up but here we are again.
The time to demand put up or shut up was at the end of last season. Should have said either sign or go as we're not gonna buy a load of players for you just to have you walk out the door in 12 months. Also dont want to be heading towards the end of a season not knowing if you'll be here next month! Players dont give 100% if they know you're gonna be gone soon.
That last bit is just human nature. And now he's basically called them all cowards and shit lol. Yeah, sure they'll all pull together and we'll see an improvement, not.

 

[chavkev]

We aren't a big club in comparion with the rest of the top six sides. We have just recently managed to inch our way to being able to afford the wage budget of the 5th side Arsenal. The problem for us is so much of ours is used badly.

We are a challenger club rather than a contender. Our management and overall football side needs to reflect this. Conte is a fantastic manager for somebody, but that is not us.

 

[Clockspur]

Memory could be serving me wrong but wasn’t one of the players Poch didn’t want a young lad called Maddison?

I think everyone has to accept that as good a manager as Poch was, Transfer wise he couldn’t pick a winner to save his life.

which is why he might be our best bet this time because given the state of the squad and money wasted he is likely going to have little to spend this summer and have to polish the turd that is our squad

 

[Mark_147]

The ones he said are selfish and playing for themselves and not the team would be my guess whoever he meant by that.

After he drops the selfish ones which players do you think are good enough to start next game.

 

[Clockspur]

To be fair, he has tried to hand it over to a DoF. Shame the fella is corrupt.

I don’t believe that for a second - if that’s true then why did Porro take all window only for us to miss the obligation clause.

We all know who at the club has form for that