Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[muppetman]

What a time to be alive:
If you hate ENIC, then our issues are they are clueless and only interested in a return on investment, despite repeatedly not selling up for a huge wedge.
If you hate Levy, then our issues are that he's a businessman and knows nothing about football, despite living and breathing it every day for 20 years.
If you hate Dier/Davies/XYZ player, then our issues are that the player recruitment is shocking and we keep dross and buy, despite having some excellent players.
If you hate Conte and his dour football, then our issues are that he has one negative way of playing, despite somehow being in the top 4 of the toughest league in the world.

There is just so much blame to throw around - let it out, let it all out and then breathe . . .

 

[Hoopspur]

Meanwhile later this week…

“Hello Harry mate, looking forward to joining you lot in the summer”

“Oh hi James (Maddison). Errrrrr”

“Ok Harry, I understand you might not be around but at least you’ve got a world class manager, right?”

“Errrrr”

“Well Harry, to be fair, at least I quite like Beyoncé and F1 I suppose”

 

[H-SF]

How so?

Because we'd be better without him. We have no chance of top 4 on our current trajectory.

 

[JCRD]

Imagine considering yourself a big club and letting a Manager disrespect everyone in public and making your club, the club you support - a laughing stock.

and still considering yourself a big club. Big clubs wouldnt let Managers, the face of the club, piss on people. Would be gone in a heartbeat.

 

[Dazzazzad]

It always strikes me as curious when talk is of a culture at the club, and being weak minded, etc. Who informs a culture? I mean it’s so easy to say it comes from the top down and blame Levy and the board, but on a day to day basis the culture is surely fostered and built by Conte, Stellini, Savorani, Conte mk2, Vio, Coratti, Ancorra and whoever is brought in ultimately to replace Ventrone…. That’s the whole point of hiring an entire backroom, surely, to bring in their ideas, their values, their mentality, etc.

Nailed it. What's so frustrating with the rant was talking about the players being selfish, weak minded, not playing as a team. That is literally what he is being paid to improve.

 

[Metalhead]

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.

I don't think that we will either.

 

[Metalhead]

Imagine considering yourself a big club and letting a Manager disrespect everyone in public and making your club, the club you support - a laughing stock.

and still considering yourself a big club. Big clubs wouldnt let Managers, the face of the club, piss on people. Would be gone in a heartbeat.

I don't think that we are a big club in terms of mentality.

 

[Japhet]

It started to go wrong for Conte when we made the "club signing" Spence. This was a critical position for his system and he clearly wasnt happy we got him a kid from the championship. I felt the negativity started from Conte then. If we had signed Porro instead, i genuinely feel things may have been different. As always with Levy, it is always ifs and buts. However, Conte should have at least given the club signings a chance.

If that's the case, it's an utterly shit reaction from Conte. He didn't have to, and indeed didn't play Spence. He still had Emerson and Doherty. If he's going to throw a strop over the club choosing to invest in a young prospect it's a pretty poor show, made even worse by the fact that we spent big money on Porro in the next window. Conte is such a fucking drama queen.

 

[JCRD]

I don't think that we are a big club in terms of mentality.

Yep, mentality of the club and us fans.

 

[A Bit Much]

It's funny how just a bit of time and the club staying quiet will see things blow over.

I take the view his position is untenable after yesterday but there is a pathway to him hanging around, so it isn't a clear decision if we don't want it to be. What a farce though...

 

[Meercat]

I can only think the only reason we haven't fired him is because he WANTS to be fired, so what kind of punishment is giving him what he wants?
Extrapolate from that - we want top 4, it's always about CL money - so, if you refuse to fire Conte, it comes down to the man's colossal ego and pride. Will he walk away? Nope. Despite wanting out supposedly elite managers do not quit. So then it's a throw of the dice - can he repeat last season's run for 4th and the big prize, will his pride allow him to fail?
Feels a bit like a game of chicken going on.

 

[Dr Know]

Imagine considering yourself a big club and letting a Manager disrespect everyone in public and making your club, the club you support - a laughing stock.

and still considering yourself a big club. Big clubs wouldnt let Managers, the face of the club, piss on people. Would be gone in a heartbeat.

I get your point however, Conte is not the one making the club a laughing stock. Levy, the board and above is responsible for that. Conte might not be a fit for Spurs but he is a very good manager. I think the club has not lived up to his expectations rather than him not living up to the club’s expectations.
You only need to look at the Matt Doherty fiasco to know who’s making us a laughing stock.
Conte was not wrong in what he said, he should have just waited to say it on his way out……..or maybe he is on his way out

 

[Mark_147]

By coming on late with fresh legs whe we are ahead and running into the corner and holding the ball up ? By being an outlet for the defence? By giving them something to think about? By pressing from the front?

do you watch football?

Yeah I did watch the game and danjuma wouldn't of made no difference whatsoever

 

[Cochise]

By coming on late with fresh legs whe we are ahead and running into the corner and holding the ball up ? By being an outlet for the defence? By giving them something to think about? By pressing from the front?

do you watch football?

Who you got doing that pressing?

 

[Japhet]

I get your point however, Conte is not the one making the club a laughing stock. Levy, the board and above is responsible for that. Conte might not be a fit for Spurs but he is a very good manager. I think the club has not lived up to his expectations rather than him not living up to the club’s expectations.
You only need to look at the Matt Doherty fiasco to know who’s making us a laughing stock.
Conte was not wrong in what he said, he should have just waited to say it on his way out……..or maybe he is on his way out

Conte has rigidly stuck to the same flawed formula for the whole season. Son was great last season, but this season he's been a car crash and Conte has refused to do anything about it. He's constantly set us up with a numerical disadvantage in midfield and refused to adapt. He's consistently made bizarre substitutions, usually way to late in the game. I think that's the opposite to being a 'very good manager'. A competent manager would have recognised the patterns and done something about it but he's as stubborn as a mule and his ideas are outdated and stale. You only have to look at the 2 Arsenal games where in game 1 they went straight through our midfield pivot for Partey to score. 2nd game was and absolute carbon copy when Odegaard scored. Same formula, same result. Piss poor management.

 

[JCRD]

I get your point however, Conte is not the one making the club a laughing stock. Levy, the board and above is responsible for that. Conte might not be a fit for Spurs but he is a very good manager. I think the club has not lived up to his expectations rather than him not living up to the club’s expectations.
You only need to look at the Matt Doherty fiasco to know who’s making us a laughing stock.
Conte was not wrong in what he said, he should have just waited to say it on his way out……..or maybe he is on his way out

He isnt wrong, I dont think any of us is debating that - its how it was done. It was incendiary and intentional.

Now what he has said and done is said and done, a big club would not tolerate getting bullied by him and get rid.

I wouldnt though say we were a laughing stock, we were criticized because of our boring style of play and of course not winning anything. Who has coached us to play that way? Conte. Who didnt take the FA Cup seriously enough? Who approached the Milan game as if we were 1-0 up?

Players - yes. Manager - yes - except he has borne no responsibility.

 

[Cochise]

FWIW I think this was partially aimed at the ownership. Consistently buying from the bargain bin during the Poch years cemented the idea of "to dare is too dear".

We've spent money recently, but let's be honest, we're playing catch up as we still need a top level goal keeper and 2x top centre backs.

 

[Ossie85]

I get your point however, Conte is not the one making the club a laughing stock. Levy, the board and above is responsible for that. Conte might not be a fit for Spurs but he is a very good manager. I think the club has not lived up to his expectations rather than him not living up to the club’s expectations.
You only need to look at the Matt Doherty fiasco to know who’s making us a laughing stock.
Conte was not wrong in what he said, he should have just waited to say it on his way out……..or maybe he is on his way out

I'm not a fan of Levy, but I have some serious doubt about that statement. He's a stubborn defensive coach, with 0 flexibility. His game plan for elimination games is amateur level. And elimination games are all about motivation. So no wonder he fails to motivate our players.
And I believe he has a good record in leagues, because he found a system that at the time worked well against the most used system (4-3-3). The game has evolved from that now, and his back 3 are less effective, specially if you don't have a plan to score.

 

[CantSmileWithoutYou]

Aint it strange we see the same comments on here about these players and Levy but when the manager says what we've all felt in pubic, its a disgrace.

Unprofessional? Yes
Agree with the comments? Bigger Yes

I feel it in Pubic too...

 

[Clockspur]

Imagine considering yourself a big club and letting a Manager disrespect everyone in public and making your club, the club you support - a laughing stock.

and still considering yourself a big club. Big clubs wouldnt let Managers, the face of the club, piss on people. Would be gone in a heartbeat.

We’ve let Levy do that for years - going all the way back to letting Fergie nick Berbatov and us replace him with Frazier Campbell.

Sacking a manager at Half time

going an entire summer window without signing someone

spending 7 weeks looking for a manager that suits our DNA and then appointing Nuno.

I know time is a great healer but people seem to have a complete mental block with Levy.

I don’t know anyone who has ever shit on this club as much as the bald bastard