Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

Hercules said:

Look on our bench for fak sake

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Our bench is worse because he doesn't use it.

I thought Sarr and Spence looked bright when they came on.

soup said:

I'd get the blame on players or individual mistakes here and there if those mistakes were being made against the run of play, or in tight matches. For instance.

'We were 2-1 up and bossing it and Dier goes and does that'.

'We were caning Arsenal 2-0 with 80% possession and 18 shots on target and then Sanchez gives away 2 penalties in the last 2 minutes'.

'We played some great stuff today but one silly mistake cost us'.

'Shame Lloris couldn't save that shot for the equaliser but proud of the team today'.

But it's none of those, we play terrible defensive football - badly, are 'happy' to give the other team 70% of the ball and then surprised when the other team manage to score first. So, we go out the next week and do the same again. It doesn't matter who we play, or which players play for us, it's always the same.

When we take the shackles off the players start to look better, and it's no surprise that when we attack more in the last 20 minutes the defence also looks better and gets further up the pitch, because they're not under constant pressure anymore.

Conte must change his approach as this style does not work, if he can't see it and can't think of any other way to set this team up then he has to take some blame. If he can't and we continue to play like this then he won't last much longer.

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Whilst I think you are right in that defensive football can lead to more mistakes/lapses in concentration, Lloris' mistakes have come directly after an attacking move broke down.

Today, Villa countered, had a shot, Lloris spilled it.

Newcastle played a long ball, Lloris fucked up.

Arsenal, we had an attack where Romero was close to getting in behind, Arsenal built from the back and got into our penalty area, Lloris spilt it again.

It doesnt matter whether we are offensive or defensive, these players keep making dumb mistakes in all scenarios.

Dier last week was alone at the back, we played it back to him and he was under no immediate pressure and he slices it out for a corner.

Rob said:

We're at the stage where everyone's assuming Conte's going. Just like with Poch, where I assumed we wouldn't be that fucking stupid, the momentum is building...

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You think keeping Conte is the right move? Genuinely?

Bluto Blutarsky said:

It sounds good in theory - but in reality, one name pops up every where - Daniel Levy.

Levy hired the managers.

Levy set the transfer strategy - both buying and selling.


Replace Levy with a competent chairman - and you solve a lot of problems.

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Only that will never happen. Even if Joe Lewis sells his stake , do you think Levy will ?
Fans protest isnt going to do anything. We are at mercy of Levy, no amount of moaning is going to change that unfortunately

Whatever you think of the politics of the club, Conte should be getting better performances out of these players. This has been going on for months and there are no signs of it getting better.

He been dealt a harsh hand with the amount of injuries we have had and there is little rhythm going into the side but the players on the bench should be able to come in and play to the roles given to them. It seems to me he knows how to play one system and when it is going well his sides are unstoppable but when it doesn’t he totally at a loss what to do.

Yet another manager is not a miracle-worker. The thing is, after we sacked Poch, we're trying to get A Proven Winner™ to bring us trophies.

Basically we want a manager to fix things we botched: recruitment and squad-building. This is what wins titles, not one genius that turns an average group of players into world-beaters who go on to win 38 games.

These things don't happen. Liverpool and Arsenal have mounted a title challenge because of their recruitment, not because they got a proven winner as a manager. Instead, they focused on getting someone WHO FITS.

Unless we'll build a proper squad - and yes, this means getting young players who will develop in 1-2 seasons time and start to carry the team then - we could changes coaches every game and it's not going to bring us any good.

Right now we're now seeing a third manager in a row that decides the best way for Tottenham to play football is with a low, passive block. The common denominator is a group of five players: Lloris, Dier, Davies, Kane and Son.

Here's where I think we've got ourselves into a similar situation what United experienced recently with Ronaldo and (to a lesser extent) with De Gea. Both are good players (just like Lloris, Kane and Son are), but they can't play an expansive, progressive brand of football.

Lloris is limited when it comes to his kicking, whereas Son likes to have plenty of space to attack. This means we need to play with a low block and rely on Lloris' shot-stopping skills and Son's pace. Kane, who's one of the best strikers in the history of this sport, is becoming a liability in pressing. If we want him to play all season, he's not going to be a pressing-monster.

As long as we keep playing Lloris, Kane and Son, we're going to play this brand of football, regardless of who comes after Conte.

That's why I think it's time for a rebuild. Even if we got Experienced, Quality Players™ this window, we're not going to win anything this campaign and with Lloris, Kane and Son being a year older next season, we're not going to win anything then.

I think it is becoming very clear Conte is a great at managing when he has a clear singular focus which is the league. His European record with Juventus was mediocre, he failed in the UCL with Inter and his one season with Chelsea in European competition saw them drop out of the Top 4. But he won league titles with all three.

When he joined us we were dumped out of the FA Cup by a Championship club but then went on a great run when we had three months of football of only playing once a week in the league.

southlondonyiddo said:

Almost at full strength other than Kulusevski & Bentancur who revitalised this team last season & Richarlison who might just make our bench a tad stronger - lol unbelievable

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So two players out the 11 then? Pretty much what almost means. Unbelievable lol

Bluto Blutarsky said:

It sounds good in theory - but in reality, one name pops up every where - Daniel Levy.

Levy hired the managers.

Levy set the transfer strategy - both buying and selling.


Replace Levy with a competent chairman - and you solve a lot of problems.

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Until Joe Lewis fucks off, nothing will change. Levy is just a puppet doing his master’s bidding. We are a cash cow and they are milking us dry. As opposed to Todd Boehly who has invested close to £600m in transfers in less than a year.

Rob said:

We're at the stage where everyone's assuming Conte's going. Just like with Poch, where I assumed we wouldn't be that fucking stupid, the momentum is building...

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Will it be via text, email or carrier pigeon

That night when the whole ground knew Jol was finished except BMJ hadn’t read the memo, still haunts me, and after all he’d done for us

Zero class from the north London bully boys, as one manager/owner, famously described our owners

Hercules said:

I hear all that. This is on ENIC! Sorry!
You don’t bring in a manager like him, and don’t really back him. We sll know what kind of manager he was before we took him on.

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Don't really back him? Under Conte in one year we bought 7 first team players and our net spend is nearly 100m(excluding permantent signing of Romero) plus Kulusevski and Perisic. Davies, Skipp and Lloris with new contracts. Most of the players he wanted to sell left. And at the moment, our summer window is looking quite bad.

It's been 9 matches in a row with us conceding first in a match. Since United game we are 13th in a league during that period with 7 points made which is less than Nottingham Forest for example. Also knocked out by their reserve team in Carabao.

Should we back Conte with let's say another 40m to spend on Porro? Yeah, but this should make difference for our top4 fight and Milan game in CL, not to not being outplayed by Brentford or Aston Villa when every month if anything we are regressing as a team

If we’re not going to back Conte then he has to go whether he’s sacked or resigns.

He’s consistently failing to get the best out of what he’s been given to work with, he’s incredibly stubborn and will not change.

The longer this drags on the worse it’s going to be for the club… we’re going backwards at a rate of knots, something needs to change and pronto.

arunspurs said:

Only that will never happen. Even if Joe Lewis sells his stake , do you think Levy will ?
Fans protest isnt going to do anything. We are at mercy of Levy, no amount of moaning is going to change that unfortunately

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Lewis could force him out.

Admittedly Lewis does not care, but Levy only serves because Lewis can't be arsed. Maybe if Lewis' daughter steps up and forces the change to bring in a different chairman who would delegate football decisions to a DOF.

No matter where or not the blame lies the club is divided inside and out, a club like ours can't afford that if we want to compete.

KingSandro said:

Should have been Potter all day long

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Made the most sense.

Although I remember reading somewhere Levy was the reason he wasn't interested.

FinnYid said:

No, you appoint a manager that suits the club and material at hand that he can build upon, taking the opposite route is destined to fail. At least outside sportwashing clubs.



So they've won things on top resources on corresponding leagues? We are not a club that has such. Moreover they have - especially Conte - absolutely no credentials they can manage successfully a club that is a challenger with more limited resources. Well Jose has that CL run with Porto that started his career close to 20 years ago. But Conte?



Yes, we won't have resources to buy them the highest paid squads, so these managers who won't perform without such offer fuck all to Spurs. Nada. Nothing. It has been evident since appointment of Gooner George but yet we persist on those. Now Klopp was whole different thing with Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool beating the odds, we ought to keep eye for such appointment instead of appointing these managers that have proved fuck all in environment comparable to Spurs.

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But there is no other club like us in the world
One of the richest in the world and still win feck all!
I'm so tired and angry after a really long day here- got an early start tmrw too! errrgghhh

SargeantMeatCurtains said:

I genuinely wouldn’t have celebrated winning the Europa Conference league. The winner gets a spot in Europa League qualifiers ffs.

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I would have. We are a pathetic club when it comes to recent achievements. Id take anything

It’s a player issue not the manager. How May serial winners do we need to go through to prove that.

Kane and Son were lazy. Lloris dropped another clanger.

Hercules said:

He has not been backed. But some fans are easy to be duped.

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I am very much a Conte supporter but Did he not know the budget he had when he joined? Has that changed for the worse since he came?

Son’s astonishing decline changes the calculus for me. We all went into this season believing we’d get another few good years out of the Kane/Son combo. Under those circumstances it makes sense to have a manager whose remit is to win now.

But Son’s drop in form has been so rapid, and so incredibly pronounced, that I’m beginning to think he may be finished. If that’s true, then with Lloris also finished and Kane’s contract running down, the current project is beginning to appear unsalvageable.

Under those circumstances it may be sensible to sell Kane to Bayern, sell Son to the highest bidder, and rebuild around Romero, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Richarlison, Bissouma and the talented youngsters we have on our books. That’s never a Conte project.

Problem is, I have absolutely no faith in Daniel Levy to get it right with any manager. If we have to start all over again, Levy should pay the price for the club’s abject failures over the past five years. It would need to be a total clearing of the decks.