Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Scot-Spur]

I think it gets to the point where we mostly agree Conte is doing a rubbish job and should be doing better with what he has ( I do feel sorry for the guy he has had a straining year and we have had some key injuries )

I frankly don’t care if we change manager and would probably like a more attacking project manager. They’ll only reason I want Conte to stay is to break this trend of firing managers to save My Levy’s skin. I want him gone and cleanse the club from the top down.
Fresh approaches are needed.

 

[Scot-Spur]

The fact that 7 of that starting 11 are still on the books and some play significant roles is terrifying.

 

[bat-chain]

I still back him, yesterday was on the players, but I wonder if he ever does want to change the formation just out of curiosity?

I guess it shows how little trust he has in them to be able to do anything well.

 

[anydange]

I look at half the league and I'm sure they're doing more with less. Frank, Lopetegui, Emery, Silva, de Zerbi - all of these don't have the players we do.

This is it for me. Conte isn’t the world class coach we’ve been led to believe. He’s actually pretty shit. His style of play is archaic, his team choices are at times utterly baffling and don’t get me started on the lack of sub.

Levy needs to go too but Conte is definitely not pulling his weight. I fucking hate the idiots in charge at this club.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

I still back him, yesterday was on the players, but I wonder if he ever does want to change the formation just out of curiosity?

I guess it shows how little trust he has in them to be able to do anything well.

How was yesterday just on the players? That was just as much on Conte as it was on the players.

No substitutions until the 72nd minute when we went in 3-1 down at HT is criminal. The subs he did make were like for like and in no way indicative of any urge or desire to turn the result around.

 

[only1waddle]

Aside from wanting Conte to succeed, and I really did but that now looks shot to bits, both football wise and with the fanbase, and myself disillusioned with it all, I just find It rather odd that we have chosen one of the most awkward formations to buy players for, to move forward with as a club structure knowing our budget and the amount of upheaval needed to implement it, were questions even raised as to how achievable it would be?
I know fans moan about their own clubs but have we ever had a period of such negligence?
I'm almost certain now that the Conte/Paratici connection won't work here ( and that's from a position of acknowledging our signings have been much better than the Hitchin years, which was a low bar anyway)
Conte needs more of the 20% club, the players that can adapt to any system, and we won't be buying any of those soon, and to be honest we're historically not great at buying players with higher values in the ENIC era either.

 

[Albertbarich]

The fact that 7 of that starting 11 are still on the books and some play significant roles is terrifying.

I don't agree.

That was a mix of youth and experienced players who were out of form.

I'll give you Sanchez , Dier , Davies and Lucas although I remain a Ben Davies fan but Parrott is a youngster still in his loan period to see if he is making it, Skipp is a good player who we shouldn't have sold but Injuries are setting him back,. Tanganga should have played more either here or on loan to judge if he is of the required standard but he isn't exactly a big earner clogging up the squad.

We absolutely need to be better at selling players and knowing when to cash in on them and of course we need to invest in our defence but we have seen a lot of change , the issue has been the change hasn't been good enough.

 

[Styopa]

Yeah we’re still playing Dier, Davies etc. but it’s not like we haven’t been buying players. We have probably bought enough players in terms of numbers to make up two new teams since September 2019. We’ve bought eight new players in the last year alone.

 

[only1waddle]

Not to mention the money spent on sacking Poch and Mourinho…

I mean we must have spent tens of millions sacking Poch and Mourinho and terminating the contracts of Aurier and Doherty.

And Nuno..
I'd imagine Doherty might have got the loan fee instead of us, we don't know but it would make sense.

 

[Colonel Dax]

Yeah we’re still playing Dier, Davies etc. but it’s not like we haven’t been buying players. We have probably bought enough players in terms of numbers to make up two new teams since September 2019. We’ve bought eight new players in the last year alone.

but not enough centre backs

 

[feet01]

Trix has been very quiet….need his words of reassurance that all is well behind the scenes

maybe it isn’t?!?

 

[bubble07]

I just can't find myself excepting that performance. It was so bad. Not sure I've seen any team opened up so frequently and easily this season. It was a diabolic performance

 

[bat-chain]

How was yesterday just on the players? That was just as much on Conte as it was on the players.

No substitutions until the 72nd minute when we went in 3-1 down at HT is criminal. The subs he did make were like for like and in no way indicative of any urge or desire to turn the result around.

I just feel the players put absolutely no effort in and it was clear on the pitch (Bentancur apart).

I agree though I don’t understand why Conte isn’t more curious about formation changes. I'm just very aware some of our players get managers sacked, I don’t want to fall into that.

 

[bubble07]

And then after saying that I keep seeing that back 3 and keeper and believe it's the worst in the league

Is there a worse keeper and back 3 for any other team in the league??

 

[glacierSpurs]

I don't know, I was very angry last night, but I still kinda hope there's one more season, and then hopefully more, in him with us to have another summer transfer window to really shift out the shit players.

I know that was something very much on Levy's side, but on the contrary, we were just slowly building his squad of players with Kulu, Bentancur, Richy, and have added Porro. It may not seem alot of players and is slow, but if we get a new manager in, there will be another shuffling of players again, repeating another futile cycle.

Let's not kid ourselves that the new manager will 'get a tune out of these players anyway'. He could, for a season, and his 2nd season will likely be the same recurring problem because any sane manager will assume the responsibility of building his own squad after all. Then we will still be stuck with Levy and some players left from the previous manager's recruitment.

I think many of our players are just as sick playing for us as much as we are watching them play. So players like Lloris, Dier, Davies, Sanchez, Sess, and all our loanees should just leave next season, I don't care how. I won't stop Son and Kane leaving too so we can put an end to all the sentiments and really start a new era..

We really have to refrain from changing and chopping the managers - that is merely a short term fix. Levy and the long-serving players have to go first, those are truly the longer term rewards to reap while acknowledging it won't be exciting for at least another season or two.

I really hate to look across our neighbours and compare but years of frustrations and holding out those short term temptations are finally bearing the biggest fruit for them this season.

 

[Albertbarich]

Trying to pinpoint one issue here is crazy. So many things have gone wrong.

• Not backing Poch or listening to Poch.
• Hiring Mourinho.
• Not properly backing Mourinho.
• Taking far too long to find a Mourinho replacement.
• Making speeches in the middle of the search about attacking football.
• Hiring Nuno
• Hiring a DOF who now has a huge huge cloud over him and seems to prefer defensive coaches
• Bringing in Conte who everyone knows is the most demanding coach in the world when you can't give him what he demands.
• Failing to cash in on players at the right time.
• Ignoring ongoing defensive fragilities over numerous coaches.
• Failing to get Conte to commit.
• Tactical stubbornness.
• Constantly delivering defensive football at a club that's always hated it.

All of this has led to this point so yeah we can sack Conte and it will release some aggression for lots of people but then what? The board are responsible for so many of these mistakes, they're still here. The DOF likes defensive coaches and despite common sense he is still here. The ticket prices aren't going down but as we saw the transfer spending isn't going to go up.

I don't know the answer and this is a vent as much as anything but it feels like that whilst Conte is delivering some absolute shit at times the problem runs far deeper than him and even the conversation about him is pointless as he only has three months on his deal left so until we know if he intends to stay this debate is pretty pointless.

 

[only1waddle]

I don't agree.

That was a mix of youth and experienced players who were out of form.

I'll give you Sanchez , Dier , Davies and Lucas although I remain a Ben Davies fan but Parrott is a youngster still in his loan period to see if he is making it, Skipp is a good player who we shouldn't have sold but Injuries are setting him back,. Tanganga should have played more either here or on loan to judge if he is of the required standard but he isn't exactly a big earner clogging up the squad.

We absolutely need to be better at selling players and knowing when to cash in on them and of course we need to invest in our defence but we have seen a lot of change , the issue has been the change hasn't been good enough.

It's because the league has changed, players cost more and nobody is buying DL's bullshit, they've all got DOF's and sporting directors, club structures and bringing in value players, some of those teams will flip flop with recruitment but they don't need our cast offs to move up the table.
The more we buy players that don't fit, the more it highlights our lack of plan or structure.
For a control freak like Levy you'd think a set philosophy/formation would be perfect, buy players that suit etc, but he can't resist a bargain or value player, or having an agents ear regardless of where that player fits, and he can't relinquish control to a sporting department either, it's a vicious circle and won't improve.

 

[Sophos151]

Maybe Daniel should loosen the purse strings as opposed to making us do two loans in January? We had no budget it’s clear as day that was the case.

Sporting wanted the money to hit their balance sheet at a certain time, that's why it it's technically a loan.

 

[Sierragls]

 

[shoggy33]

The writing is on the wall. The guy is miserable here and it reflects in the way we play. Might have been different had we sorted our defence out in the summer. But we didn't, Lloris, Dier, Davies, Tanganga, Sessengon, and Sanchez are inexplicably all still lining up for us week in week out, and here we are. Onto the next one.