Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[knowlespurs]

He did an amazing job last season but this season he has been garbage, probably about 4 decent halves in the whole season
Football is poor, he sticks to his system even though it's not working, the guy is on 15m a season and is under performing massively
I know he always plays wing backs but if we don't have the players to do it try something else, a back 4 of Davies lenglet Romero and Emerson is more secure than we have
Lloris has been throwing them in all season, dier has been crap, son awful yet they play every game, sends the wrong message out
Yes we all want better players but he needs to do a lot better than he is at the moment, with the apathy i have about the team, manager and chairman don't care if he stays or not

 

[Cochise]

@Stav He wants wide CBs like Romero that aren't shy at following a man into midfield. They also need to be comfortable passing around an opponents press. Same goes for the goalkeeper.

He also needs wingbacks that play more like orthodox wingers.

 

[Humbolt]

I don't follow Spurs because I expect to win trophies every year (or ever!) I support them because I was always attracted to the style of football. For the last three years the football has been bloody awful to watch. It really has become a chore to watch my team, and I hate that. So... for that reason...

Conte Out.

 

[Flobadob]

Completely ? see where you’re coming from mate but 2 things:

1. Conte could end up waking/not renewing rather than us sacking him

2. Even if we do properly back him this jan and summer (very unlikely!) the football will for quite a while remain fairly unwatchable and our fans have run out of patience watching shit boring football for 3 years in a row so a continued re-build with him won’t be fun and still doesn’t guarantee any success

3. The players he wants are quite niche, so when a new manager comes in it’ll be really hard to tweak the squad that is left over to suit a new manager who wants to play a back 4. In a back 3 you need specialist CB’s who can bring the ball out of defence, you need specialist wing backs, you need industrious all round CM’s, say after conte we do finally get a manager in who wants to play football the way we want to see it High press higher possession creative attacking brave etc mabye a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, these types of players we’d have signed for the 3–4-3 won’t be a good fit and we’ll be back at square bloody1.

I’m just willing to be patient tbh. Sarr and Bentancur will be good going forward and able to play in the CM2 with some competence, unlike Hojbjerg. Udogie is going to be quality as a wingback for Conte. I really think we just need a couple of CB’s and a RWB and we will look a different side next season. I’m not as doom and gloom about our future prospects as many people, 3-4 quality players would transform this squad. We need a new goalkeeper, that’s obvious. Sarr/Bissouma instead of Hojbjerg paired with Bentancur for me, Hojbjerg to backup. Udogie in at LWB, Perisic backup. New CCB, new LCB, new RWB and we’d have a young and talented team suited to Conte’s tactics. Players like Dumfries/Porro, Hincapie/Gvardiol, Bastoni/Skriniar are not niche players in my opinion, 95% of coaches in world football would love to have these players and would be able to work with them. We aren’t only missing players for Conte’s system but we are missing QUALITY players in key positions in Conte’s system. Like I say 3-4 players.. Pickford, Bastoni, Hincapie, Porro for example, would give us a strong starting 11 of Pickford, Porro, Romero, Bastoni, Hincapie, Udogie, Sarr, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Kane, Son/Richarlison and plenty of good options off the bench too. That’s a team capable of getting top 4… the team/squad we have right now constantly has 3-4 players starting every week that are shit, I won’t sugar coat it, they are fucking shit players in comparison to their rivals in other top 4 squads. Lloris, Hojbjerg, Davies, and Doherty would not even get a text back if their agent offered them to any of the top 4 clubs right now

 

[greaves]

He did an amazing job last season but this season he has been garbage, probably about 4 decent halves in the whole season
Football is poor, he sticks to his system even though it's not working, the guy is on 15m a season and is under performing massively
I know he always plays wing backs but if we don't have the players to do it try something else, a back 4 of Davies lenglet Romero and Emerson is more secure than we have
Lloris has been throwing them in all season, dier has been crap, son awful yet they play every game, sends the wrong message out
Yes we all want better players but he needs to do a lot better than he is at the moment, with the apathy i have about the team, manager and chairman don't care if he stays or not

So, some room for improvement...

 

[king_yid]

If the entertainment is more important, why only support Tottenham? Why not just watch the teams who play the best football and probably save yourself some money?

Are you serious?

Lets turn this around then shall we, if you're only in it to win what the hell are you doing supporting Tottenham?

 

[Chimbo!]

There is zero excuse for Conte to not have us playing better. I could name 20 managers around Europe who do much more with less.

He had an entire world cup break FFS and he's been absolutely done to bits by Emery and Arteta. Like laughably outcoached.

His system is so fucking easy to solve and he foolishly persists with Royal, Sessegnon, Doherty, and Perisic as our most important players. I hate playing with our shitty wingbacks more than I have ever hated any part of football in my entire life.

It's so fucking obvious... to everyone. Except the wig wearing ponce from Italy. And then he has the temerity to turn around and act like he's just here on a laugh and that we owe him something. No, you owe US something. Better fucking management!!!!

Conte’s stubbornness over formation and strategy is a problem; but this problem is exacerbated by Levy’s stubbornness over selling players.

Both men understandably believe in their methods because it has brought them success. But they both fail to realise that they need others to compromise for their success to work. Conte needs a club that will do anything to meet his transfer demands; Levy needs a manager who will work with what players financially make sense for the club.

Either one of these men compromise or this is not going to work. Either Conte plays Spence to build him into a first team player, or Levy compromises and sells players like Spence at a loss so that we can buy players Conte wants for his system.

We look disconnected on the pitch because we are disconnected off it.

 

[Spurzinho]

He did an amazing job last season but this season he has been garbage, probably about 4 decent halves in the whole season
Football is poor, he sticks to his system even though it's not working, the guy is on 15m a season and is under performing massively
I know he always plays wing backs but if we don't have the players to do it try something else, a back 4 of Davies lenglet Romero and Emerson is more secure than we have
Lloris has been throwing them in all season, dier has been crap, son awful yet they play every game, sends the wrong message out
Yes we all want better players but he needs to do a lot better than he is at the moment, with the apathy i have about the team, manager and chairman don't care if he stays or not

Did he? That's not the way I remember it. There was a slight bounce when he took over but not significant. Then a really difficult patch where he threw his toys out of the pram. Then we added Kulu & Bennie and slowly things picked up with a very strong finish to the season. It was most definitely not amazing. Strong finish but meh start and turgid middle.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I’m just willing to be patient tbh. Sarr and Bentancur will be good going forward and able to play in the CM2 with some competence, unlike Hojbjerg. Udogie is going to be quality as a wingback for Conte. I really think we just need a couple of CB’s and a RWB and we will look a different side next season. I’m not as doom and gloom about our future prospects as many people, 3-4 quality players would transform this squad. We need a new goalkeeper, that’s obvious. Sarr/Bissouma instead of Hojbjerg paired with Bentancur for me, Hojbjerg to backup. Udogie in at LWB, Perisic backup. New CCB, new LCB, new RWB and we’d have a young and talented team suited to Conte’s tactics. Players like Dumfries/Porro, Hincapie/Gvardiol, Bastoni/Skriniar are not niche players in my opinion, 95% of coaches in world football would love to have these players and would be able to work with them. We aren’t only missing players for Conte’s system but we are missing QUALITY players in key positions in Conte’s system. Like I say 3-4 players.. Pickford, Bastoni, Hincapie, Porro for example, would give us both a strong starting 11 of Pickford, Porro, Romero, Bastoni, Hincapie, Udogie, Sarr, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Kane, Son/Richarlison. That’s a team capable of getting top 4… the team/squad we have right now constantly has 3-4 players starting every week that are shit, I won’t sugar coat it, they are fucking shit players in comparison to their rivals in other top 4 squads. Lloris, Hojbjerg, Davies, and Doherty would not even get a text back if their agent offered them to any of the top 4 clubs right now

Love the optimism mate and you could well be right I do think those 3-4 players could make a huge difference just like when Klopp got VVD and Allison for example, Porro, a top CCB, LCB a new GK and one more AM option as well as Udogie back and we could look like a much different side hopefully.

Question is will we go out and continue to sign the required quality than Conte needs and will the football until then return more towards the performances at the end of last season and even with all these potential upgrade signings are his tactics still going to be dominated by teams who play this more high pressing, high possession style like city,arsenal and man.u are playing as we’ve not laid a glove on arsenal or man.u this season for example and can’t say I’m overly confident about city on Thu eve.

Will be interesting to see how we end up at the end of this transfer window and if conte does finally sign a long term deal or not.

Either way completely agree on the areas which if we improved could make a big difference to our performances, just hope you’re right and hope if we do continue on the Conte ? and he wants to continue with us that we do really go all out to give him what he needs and the players we do sign are hopefully technically good enough so if/when conte does go the squad is useable for the next guy.

 

[olithfc]

I think it's irrelevant now whether you are pro conte or want him out.
He isn't staying long term. He never does.
He has one eye away from Tottenham (maybe Juve) and the club are reluctant to go all in on someone they don't think will stick around. There is now discontent about the style of play and less adulation from the fans. It's turned.
It's a case of he came and did what he needed to do last season but isn't the chap for the rebuild and thank you very much either now or in the summer.

 

[alfie103]

Are you serious?

Lets turn this around then shall we, if you're only in it to win what the hell are you doing supporting Tottenham?

Yes I am serious, I would thought as a fan of the specific club, the main focus is wanting that club to win than the style of play they use?

I support Tottenham as my dad supported Tottenham but as it is the team I support, my main focus is on that team winning. Otherwise, I would just watch the team who played the best football.

 

[Nerine]

Imagine we were playing great football, but were still getting beat a lot. I can then imagine the below scenarios playing out:

A. The fans would get on the backs of the players that were missing the chances or passes. (Amazing build up play fails to materialise due to Soldado Mk2 up front)
B. The fans would get annoyed that opponent's fans would "banter" (yuck) us for losing all the time regardless of the style of play. Our own fans would say "At least we can win the "Plays football in the right way" Trophy" or variations thereof.
C. People would bemoan our transfer strategy because of A. "We need better recruitment!!11!!11" "Soldado Mk2 is shit! Grrrrr!!"
D. The world has changed and instant gratification is now the norm.
E. Fans in the stadium would be frustrated because of C/A/B/D
F. "We played well", "We didn't deserve to lose", "If only we had taken our chances", "At least the effort was good" etc etc will only wash for so long if results aren't going your way.
G. The bile would eventually still be vomited regardless because of F. "We can't buy a win, we need to get a manager with a winning mentality in"


So, actually I'm not convinced people would accept adequate football if we were getting poor results, no.

A loss is going to make good football appear shit whichever way you slice it. "Created chances but not clinical enough" "We need a goal scorer" "Our players can't pass for shit" "We play too gung ho" "We take too many risks at the back" "Tricky winger runs down blind alleys and disappears up his own arsehole too often".

It's quite predictable, in fact.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

"Not charismatic enough".

That is just mad reasoning isn’t it ?‍ oh Levy ? I mean yea Ten Haag has nothing on the incredible charisma of Nuno ? and Conte isn’t exactly all love and cuddles either.

Says it all that, not hiring a manager who’d have been a far better fit for us and gets his teams playing beautifully sexy football but in Levy’s opinion he ‘lacks charisma’, maybe Levy got Ten Haag to tell his best A level story and it just didn’t live up to the billing ?

 

[TEESSIDE1]

There is zero excuse for Conte to not have us playing better. I could name 20 managers around Europe who do much more with less.

He had an entire world cup break FFS and he's been absolutely done to bits by Emery and Arteta. Like laughably outcoached.

His system is so fucking easy to solve and he foolishly persists with Royal, Sessegnon, Doherty, and Perisic as our most important players. I hate playing with our shitty wingbacks more than I have ever hated any part of football in my entire life.

It's so fucking obvious... to everyone. Except the wig wearing ponce from Italy. And then he has the temerity to turn around and act like he's just here on a laugh and that we owe him something. No, you owe US something. Better fucking management!!!!

Yep, there’s 3 options albeit not guaranteed that should improve our predicament.

1) Serious investment resulting in an ‘overhaul’ of the squad. It’s criminal that dare I say an ‘elite’ football club has so many gaping holes/issues within the squad.

A new RWB isn’t going to fix our issues. Udogie and Porro? are upgrades on what we’ve already got but we’ll still be chasing our tails without signing a new keeper, centre backs and creativity. Even with these players we need to play a 352 and either play an extra central midfielder against the better sides or Kulu/Kane behind Richarlison and Son? for the games we should win

2) A change of tactics/formation. Conte’s refusal to try something different and/or utilise his squad is killing us. Again, an ‘elite’ club with an ‘elite’ manager and a ‘world class’ attack yet we’re piss easy to play against and starve the forwards of service.

We’re not allowed to play 4 at back due to the frailty of the defence yet last summer we signed a defensive midfield destroyer in Bissouma… he’s ideal for protecting the centre backs.

3) A change in manager. Not ideal but an ‘elite’ manager should be working with what he’s got, trying new things to get the best out of his players and not rigidly sticking with a square pegs in rounds holes approach that doesn’t work and will never work. Look at the Palace game in the 2nd half, Conte actually tinkered with our approach and we were lethal. Next game, reverts back to trying to keep it tight with a bunch of players that are incapable of keeping it tight in the current system

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Imagine we were playing great football, but were still getting beat a lot. I can then imagine the below scenarios playing out:

A. The fans would get on the backs of the players that were missing the chances or passes. (Amazing build up play fails to materialise due to Soldado Mk2 up front)
B. The fans would get annoyed that opponent's fans would "banter" (yuck) us for losing all the time regardless of the style of play. Our own fans would say "At least we can win the "Plays football in the right way" Trophy" or variations thereof.
C. People would bemoan our transfer strategy because of A. "We need better recruitment!!11!!11" "Soldado Mk2 is shit! Grrrrr!!"
D. The world has changed and instant gratification is now the norm.
E. Fans in the stadium would be frustrated because of C/A/B/D
F. "We played well", "We didn't deserve to lose", "If only we had taken our chances", "At least the effort was good" etc etc will only wash for so long if results aren't going your way.
G. The bile would eventually still be vomited regardless because of F. "We can't buy a win, we need to get a manager with a winning mentality in"


So, actually I'm not convinced people would accept adequate football if we were getting poor results, no.

A loss is going to make good football appear shit whichever way you slice it. "Created chances but not clinical enough" "We need a goal scorer" "Our players can't pass for shit" "We play too gung ho" "We take too many risks at the back" "Tricky winger runs down blind alleys and disappears up his own arsehole too often".

It's quite predictable, in fact.

See where you’re coming and there is a balance to be had and this is all hypothetical anyway but quite simply IF we had hired a manager who played with higher possession, shorter quicker passing, more creativity, more attacking intent and a braver approach then I really do believe that the fans would enjoy it more and have more patience as a result.

They might be frustrated at some aspects sure and you’re right if the results weren’t good then it wouldn’t matter how nice the football was at some point the fans would turn but generally the fans do need and want a certain level of entertainment as a bare minimum after spending good time and money every week to go and see the team play, otherwise there isn’t really much to ‘support’ or cheer on so to speak.

Yesterday we did take the handbrake off a bit when we went 0-2 down but by then it was to late but generally Conte’s approach if losing is tighten up even more as the last thing he wants is for the team to lose badly like 4,5-0, conte teams very rarely get ‘thrashed’ BUT it’s a lot more Spurs DNA or at least it used to be more to dare is to do that if we were 1,2-0 down we’d throw the kitchen sink at it to try and win, sometimes we’d get a hiding , sometimes we’d have an epic 3-3,4-4 and sometimes we’ turn it round because attacking play and goals excite the crowd and build momentum, rigid safe play does the opposite.

 

[king_yid]

Yes I am serious, I would thought as a fan of the specific club, the main focus is wanting that club to win than the style of play they use?

I support Tottenham as my dad supported Tottenham but as it is the team I support, my main focus is on that team winning. Otherwise, I would just watch the team who played the best football.

So because I prefer to be entertained than just winning I should just go and watch another club and not enjoy all the facets and rivalry that add to that entertainment? You do realise thats a little insulting and dismissive towards me having a differing viewpoint to you. By all means have your opinion and if just getting 3 points by hook or by crook is your bag then more power to you.

I don't quite grasp exactly what you're saying here? You would go support another team who are the best if you were not a spurs supporter or if your main focus was not winning?

 

[Trix]

There is zero excuse for Conte to not have us playing better. I could name 20 managers around Europe who do much more with less.

He had an entire world cup break FFS and he's been absolutely done to bits by Emery and Arteta. Like laughably outcoached.

His system is so fucking easy to solve and he foolishly persists with Royal, Sessegnon, Doherty, and Perisic as our most important players. I hate playing with our shitty wingbacks more than I have ever hated any part of football in my entire life.

It's so fucking obvious... to everyone. Except the wig wearing ponce from Italy. And then he has the temerity to turn around and act like he's just here on a laugh and that we owe him something. No, you owe US something. Better fucking management!!!!

That is just mad reasoning isn’t it ?‍ oh Levy ? I mean yea Ten Haag has nothing on the incredible charisma of Nuno ? and Conte isn’t exactly all love and cuddles either.

Nuno was just a disaster because Levy had backed us into a corner. Conte is box office is far as the press are concerned.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Conte is the short-term hit without the short-term improvement. He is the disciplinarian who seems unable to control his players on the pitch. He was the problem-solver who isn’t solving problems. Without that, you spend 15 minutes trying to put your finger on what is working and then give up trying.

 

[Ray Ray]

I don't follow Spurs because I expect to win trophies every year (or ever!) I support them because I was always attracted to the style of football. For the last three years the football has been bloody awful to watch. It really has become a chore to watch my team, and I hate that. So... for that reason...

Conte Out.

So getting rid of Conte is going to fix that? The new manager is going to work miracles with the shower of shite we have as a defence?

Conte has shown he is able to get us playing good football, last year we where one of the top scorers in the league! It's the fact we have to adapt our entire team and set-up to compensate for how shit our defence is (bar Romero).

We don't have the personnel to play 4 at the back either, we where awful under Jose, Nuno and Poch at the end of his reign as well.

If we get rid of Conte now, these same players get another free pass.

Careful what you wish for...

 

[Dakes]

Im on a training day today and the thread has jumped up by about 20+ pages. Has anything happened/any news or is it all doom and gloom comments after the NLD. Ive filtered Trix's posts so Ive seen those but thats it. Can anyone enlighten me please?

Levy's having his own Training Day after hearing the Levy Out chanting