Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Wheeler Dealer]

World of Hotspur is easily the worst Spurs account on Twitter, but must admit sometimes he's very funny.

Going back to 2011 as he used Iago Falque as an example of failure in signing young players(made a profit on him btw) and then missing a lot of successive transfers made under this policy since 2011.

From mentioned article I will also say that "How three years after Christian Eriksen, their sole creative midfielder, left the club, do Tottenham still have a single attacking midfielder in the squad?" fails to mention that we had 3 permanent managers since then and all 3 of them weren't using attacking midfielders in their tactics.

"or why a derisory offer of £12m was submitted for Leandro Trossard, when both players could, and should have been in the squad to face what is likely to be a defining run of fixtures in the coming days and weeks."


Only 4 days earlier the same guy was moaning about Spurs interested in Trossard and before then I had no idea textbook Levy signing was 28 years old or out of favour at current club(genuinely can't remember the last Spurs transfer that fits this)

Carbon copy of the Hojbjerg deal.. and ticks all the same boxes

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

The article is over the top and goes on a bit, but the sentiment is accurate. To our owners we are an investment, something to make a maximum profit out of. Making us competitive costs too much.

To Dare is too dear.

Indeed, it could have done without some of that, but if you filter out the obvious things, what the AEK chairman said and the Levy quote, I mean, those two things alone.............

 

[soflapaul]

The article is over the top and goes on a bit, but the sentiment is accurate. To our owners we are an investment, something to make a maximum profit out of. Making us competitive costs too much.

To Dare is too dear.

i suspect there is some truth in this but with a twist. Levy is probably a businessman first and wanted to create a sustainable business model that made money and would compete with the big boys. but he realized that if one didn't have the financial backing, your approach had to be asymmetrical in his approach. Hence, Olympic Stadium, upgrading the practice pitches, upgrading the stadium, shopping for the bargains, blah blah blah. He couldn't do it the same way others did if he wanted to achieve both a financial and on the field success. He saw hiring world class managers as a way to get more out of better than average (but not by much) players.

Along comes AC who doesn't develop players but creates highly competitive teams when he gets the players he wants to fit his basic system. It's a huge disconnect between what DL likes to do and what AC's real talent is. Hence, we have reached an impasse.

So does he back AC now? The confusing part for me is whether or not both parties were and are willing to commit their long term futures to each other. If they are, it isn't clear what assurances each sides need from the outside. Levy may struggle when it comes to judging the intrinsic on the field value of these players when compared to the cost of acquiring and keeping the player especially within a rigid framework. Given that he is a control freak, it did sound like he was willing to give up that control when AC and FP came on board but something changed between now and then. My gut says that he thought he could give up control and can't. Why, who knows and i'd bet it is more about his personality than any other reason but we don't know what we don't know.

Ultimately, AC is our guy and the board and DL need to get behind the guy and give him the time and players he needs. Otherwise, it's another rerun of DL in "The Apprentice".

 

[Dakes]

Why? It's the best money-earner in football right now (along with Chelsea). They come in knowing Levy isn't going to back them and will sack them in 18 months, giving them a nice fat payoff for the rest of their contract. And because of our shit reputation, theirs stays squeaky clean, and they move on to bigger and better things with tens of millions in the bank. And if they are the lucky ones to win something, they'll enhance their rep to help with their next job.

I wonder if managers have a Whatsapp group where they take bets on who the next Tottenham lottery winner will be.

 

[Trent Crimm]

It’s a beautiful life ?

 

[Harrier]

Can’t see how Sarr can be included as a failure from what we’ve seen of him the last couple of games. Let’s not forget the guy is only 20.

 

[newbie]

World of Hotspur is easily the worst Spurs account on Twitter, but must admit sometimes he's very funny.

Going back to 2011 as he used Iago Falque as an example of failure in signing young players(made a profit on him btw) and then missing a lot of successive transfers made under this policy since 2011.

From mentioned article I will also say that "How three years after Christian Eriksen, their sole creative midfielder, left the club, do Tottenham still have a single attacking midfielder in the squad?" fails to mention that we had 3 permanent managers since then and all 3 of them weren't using attacking midfielders in their tactics.

"or why a derisory offer of £12m was submitted for Leandro Trossard, when both players could, and should have been in the squad to face what is likely to be a defining run of fixtures in the coming days and weeks."


Only 4 days earlier the same guy was moaning about Spurs interested in Trossard and before then I had no idea textbook Levy signing was 28 years old or out of favour at current club(genuinely can't remember the last Spurs transfer that fits this)

I actually took the post as sarcasm to begin with, “text book levy” now I realise he was being genuine!

Text book levy is not a good thing to attach to a potential signing!

 

[Adam456]

That feeds back into Conte's point the other day about how other officials within football clubs should be facing the media as well as the coach. The owners would never let themselves be coerced into facing the media but I do dislike that lack of accountability.

The whole point here is that the press conferenced that Conté gives are supposed to be about onfield activities and who will / is available to play on field.

I would accept his point perhaps if he were manager of Brighton or Leicester who sold their best players every summer. But he's not. He's manager of one of the big six with a much better squad and who don't sell his players from under him. He should be able to comment on why his side lost 2-0 at home to Villa a d Arse without help from the chairman or DOF !

 

[chas vs dave]

The whole point here is that the press conferenced that Conté gives are supposed to be about onfield activities and who will / is available to play on field.

I would accept his point perhaps if he were manager of Brighton or Leicester who sold their best players every summer. But he's not. He's manager of one of the big six with a much better squad and who don't sell his players from under him. He should be able to comment on why his side lost 2-0 at home to Villa a d Arse without help from the chairman or DOF !

Or why his team have gone 2-0 down in nearly every one of the last 4 or 5 home games.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

The whole point here is that the press conferenced that Conté gives are supposed to be about onfield activities and who will / is available to play on field.

I would accept his point perhaps if he were manager of Brighton or Leicester who sold their best players every summer. But he's not. He's manager of one of the big six with a much better squad and who don't sell his players from under him. He should be able to comment on why his side lost 2-0 at home to Villa a d Arse without help from the chairman or DOF !

If I understand Conte’s comment - it’s not either/or it’s both have to face the press.

It’s kind of surprising the number of people who don’t want to see the front office properly held accountable.

 

[Metalhead]

The whole point here is that the press conferenced that Conté gives are supposed to be about onfield activities and who will / is available to play on field.

I would accept his point perhaps if he were manager of Brighton or Leicester who sold their best players every summer. But he's not. He's manager of one of the big six with a much better squad and who don't sell his players from under him. He should be able to comment on why his side lost 2-0 at home to Villa a d Arse without help from the chairman or DOF !

I think that it's more about other officials at the club or at whichever club it happens to be should perhaps be more available to explain their side of things. It's true that there are questions that he gets asked that he really can't answer with as much authority such as the strategy of the club in terms of transfers or how a player is recovering. He can pass on what he knows but it would perhaps be useful if they could be more available to cover certain questions. In terms of answering questions that directly relate to the 90 minutes - that's of course his job.

Unfortunately things are so toxic at the moment that anything he says is going to get leapt on and a negative angle sought.

 

[Adam456]

Conte is just being Conte, the very same Conte Levy begged to come and manage us, we all knew what Conte was like, what type of football he played, what he would demand and if he didn't get what he wanted we all knew it wouldn't work.
So the way I see it is Levy has to back him if he wants to retain any credibility as Levy knew very well the situation when he hired him, he would have to (fully) back him or he would walk.
So if Conte quits or is sacked the reason for it is totally Levy's fault for being unwilling to make good on the promises made to Conte when he hired him.

While I agree with the point about knowing what Conté was like beforehand, he has been backed somewhat and we were expecting more this January. However, we also expected his brand of dull but effective 'organised football' where it's all about the system rather than the individual.

What we've got is both dull and ineffective and in explanation he complains that he doesn't have the players and needs to be backed

Has everybody defending him to the point where he has done nothing wrong wondered whether the game has just moved on a bit here since he was at Chelsea? For one thing everybody else plays a pressing game. We don't and we don't know how to deal with it

 

[parj]

Honestly mate I've been saying it for the longest time now. When you trust those behind you it allows you to play without fear, because you know they'll mop up. All this sideways passing in midfield and retreating further and further back isn't be design, it's borne out of fear. You can hear Conte(same thing with Jose) screaming at the players to play forward, and push up when we have possession and yet we always end up retreating backwards. yes without the ball they like to sit deep, but when we have it they want the players to be more progressive.

When the back line are scared they'll make mistakes it soon spreads through the entire team. I think Hugo is a major part of this problem as well.

It goes both ways. Defenders have to trust the midfield and attackers to not lose the ball right away, otherwise who is the option to trust. Our attacking side of the game isn't exactly inspiring confidence bar a 15-20 min spell in second halves.

 

[only1waddle]

Bale (17) and Walker (19) were young successes for us on I presume low wages. I'd wager we would need much better recruitment, scouting and analysts to get the equivalent now though.
Kyle Naughton was a not.

 

[Whitey]

Great quote

Good old Dan, sowing the seed for Levy....Levy being the master of manipulation & illusion! The Illusion of being a football chairman ?

 

[Harrier]

This just came up on my YouTube feed.

Agree with a lot of what she says, even if she gives me a headache! ??

 

[g_harry]

I remember us flying and then played West Ham and crumbled suddenly towards the end of the game to snatch a draw from victory. It all went downhill after that game. The players seemed to doubt themselves and what he had witnessed seemed to scare the **** out of Jose as well. He could no longer trust them and they couldn't trust themselves.

View attachment 121320

Jesus remember that game so well I thought we were gonna win the league when we went 3 up. ??

 

[g_harry]

This is a must read......

The Great Con of Tottenham Hotspur - World of Hotspur

Share This: As fans’ restlessness and unease grows, Tottenham’s ownership seems primed to double down on their failed policies of the past 22 years. And while some may perceive Tottenham’s chronic malaise as neglect, or ineptitude, a closer look reveals far worse; everything is going exactly...

worldofhotspur.com

Would love to know what vision Levy sold Conte and previous managers for that matter. It would appear that he sells them the dream but never delivers that.

 

[KirstyG]

Jesus remember that game so well I thought we were gonna win the league when we went 3 up. ??

Lol yep! I actually shouted it to my Chelsea supporting husband…soon shut up tho didn’t I?! Lol

 

[Trent Crimm]

Would love to know what vision Levy sold Conte and previous managers for that matter. It would appear that he sells them the dream but never delivers that.

It’s a virtual reality/oculus type sell. Levy gets the manager to stick them on, when it starts rolling it’s CL finals, unlimited funds, him hands off, fluffy pillows and a team that never ages.

The manager to be then signs on.

2 weeks later levy asks him how long the new signing Dean Windass contract should be.