Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[SpursForever71]

Mate I don't know. I think a winning team is easier to like and we were far from boring back end of last season.

I genuinely don't know how this ends up. Saturday evening I thought he was gone. Sunday morning he met with Levy and he wasn't going.

I expected the players to pile in on him and some have gotten behind him. I've then(and I know this as fact) heard a prominent figure with Daniels ear has told him to ignore the media and get behind him fully, as this cycle needs to be broken.

correct me if i am wrong mate, but there always seems to be a massive tug of war when a decision of any note needs to be made. Seems like there are no end of people at the top end that bends Levy's ear , all of whom have differing opinions and wants, which is why we cant come to any quick decisions when needed?

 

[DJS]

Another oddity is that when we signed Spence in the summer, the information was that he accepted us bringing in a homegrown player for our quota, although this was said to be on proviso that we would be signing an attacking midfielder from abroad?

So there as failing in that department to bring in another attacking midfielder, although also depends on kind of player he wanted as supposed to have turned down Maddison ().

Unless we accepted Richarlison covering that role as well as centrally if required?

He obviously seemed to have an eye on Zaniola, but that situation turned out a bit weird in the end with where the player ended up and there had been concerns expressed about his goals and assists (and I think possible his number of yellow cards, although not sure if I’m making that bit up?).

 

[Stamford]

They haven't seen off another manager, Conte has failed on his own terms.

We don't buy enough quality and the mentality stems from the ownership down

The explanation for our "failure" is in the first 5 words of your sentence. We don't need all this bullshit about the players' mentality. We have failed to win because we play in a really difficult league, against other clubs who have spent more money and executed their strategy more successfully than ours.

If we'd bought a couple of extra £50m players in that 2 year period we were challenging for the league then 90% chance we win it at least once and we aren't having these sorts of conversations. It's not that deep.

well we will have to agree to disagree as I think the players have failed too alongside conte. I'm just so sick of them at this point that I'm not willing to let them off the hook. The ownership we agree on and nothing will change there sadly. Stuck with these loser property developers for awhile longer.

 

[Trix]

We need to break the cycle and back the RIGHT manager!

Conte is NOT the right manager!

Had it up to the gills with his negative, turgid football!

And as I've said repeatedly if we had a solid plan in place to bring in a new manager that would move us in the right direction and we knew how we were going to back him properly I'd agree, but we don't, and have half arsed our way to getting Conte what he wants. This squad is half set up to play one way and half set up to play another. It's a mess.

 

[$hoguN]

Conte mentions about being backed, yet Perisic was his decision and look how that’s worked out…

Maybe Conte just isn’t suited to English league demands, his successful season with Chelsea was when they weren’t in any European competitions and he spent the following season constantly moaning and being negative.

Its been pointed out on here that we’ve spent money and he’s not been backed, however Porro, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Richarlison and Bissouma are pretty tasty players to me and any decent manager should be able to utilise them well.

Bissouma went from being one of the best midfielders last year to a shadow of himself and that was down to how he was being coached and the tactics, prior to him then getting injured.

Reggy was jettisoned out during Summer and at time I said that didn’t sit right with me - how we could have used him on left over Perisic (yes I know he’s injured but it may or may not have still happened if he had remained with us).

The only major failing has been in not getting a centre back, however even Conte himself said that other teams have taken several windows to recruit to a successful team and you’d hope a major centre back signing is on the agenda now we have recruited to most of the other weaknesses in our squad.

And Udogwie is to come in summer to further address our left back / left wing back issues.

I know the backing could have been better, but it’s also not exactly been poor with incomings Paraciti has overseen since summer before last, a heck of a lot better than before he came in.

Conte also loaned Gil out again just as he was starting to get game time and looking good.

Is Perisic the failure we are making him out to be? Lots of assists. So is the issue that he is the wrong player or is it that he hasn’t had the appropriate rest due to injuries?

 

[Trix]

correct me if i am wrong mate, but there always seems to be a massive tug of war when a decision of any note needs to be made. Seems like there are no end of people at the top end that bends Levy's ear , all of whom have differing opinions and wants, which is why we cant come to any quick decisions when needed?

Indeed and it's another reason he shouldn't be making footballing decisions. Yet here we are.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Is Perisic the failure we are making him out to be? Lots of assists. So is the issue that he is the wrong player or is it that he hasn’t had the appropriate rest due to injuries?

Perisic has been a car crash of a signing. His assists, which he accumulated at the beginning of the season, has been masking how entirely incapable he is of playing in the premier league at his age. He leaves us unbelievably vulnerable down the left side of our defence because he has nothing left in his legs to play in both halves of the pitch.

 

[DJS]

Is Perisic the failure we are making him out to be? Lots of assists. So is the issue that he is the wrong player or is it that he hasn’t had the appropriate rest due to injuries?

I think at left wing back in English league he is.

He can’t defend to required level there.

if we were to go back to a 4-2-3-1 it might be worth giving him a shot in the central attacking role where he won’t get roasted defensively quite as much.

 

[jurgen11]

Is Perisic the failure we are making him out to be? Lots of assists. So is the issue that he is the wrong player or is it that he hasn’t had the appropriate rest due to injuries?

great player - his age s catching up with him

 

[davidmatzdorf]

It's quite literally Conte's job (which he is paid 15m a year to do) to make us play as a team. It's his poor coaching that is making us look like a bunch of disconnected albeit high quality individual footballers. If he can't 'induce the squad to play as a team' he should be sacked, simple as. Yes it's a two way street and the players have responsibility but he's previously talked of how much he enioys working with the squad and praised their mentality/work ethic. Suprise surpise things have gone pear shaped and so he's turned on them (not totally unfairly) for his own self-preservation.

I can't see how you disagree with anything I wrote. If you listen to Conte's rant, "the manager" is on his list of reasons why the team is not functioning.

He's right about the players not gelling into a team. He's also right about it being his own responsibility to facilitate that. He's had two years and, after a promising finish to last season, that aspect of his management has gone backwards.

He may or may not be right to suggest that there is some kind of "club culture" that permeates everything in Tottenham and prevents any given squad of players from becoming the kind of overperforming team you need to win things on a consistent basis - that's all a bit Ouija-board for me, so I'm sceptical.

Pochettino achieved it, but there wasn't the necessary investment to cement the position (we were building a stadium at the time), so his warnings about the squad going stale came true and he got the sack. To pick up a point from my earlier post, unlike Arteta, he wasn't given time to fail and then come out the other side.

It can be done, even in Tottenham. But our past three managers (not counting Mason) have not been able to do it. We're presently in 4th position simply on the strength of our many high-quality individual players. The fans intuit that we should be better than this, but they keep calling for "more signings!" when what we really need is a manager like Ferguson, Guardiola, Pochettino, Howe or Simeone, who knows how to turn a squad into a team.

 

[mil1lion]

No I'm not as it was about Conte:



There are managers that beat the odds, Conte isn't such.

Then neither is Guardiola because he's only done it at the top clubs. How many managers really beat the odds? It's a tall order to do that. We'll never succeed unless we spend big. I would prefer a more attacking manager too. They will still need big money to beat the likes of City to any silverware though. We will still be weak minded and lack any ambition. At least Conte is ambitious whether you like him or not. At least he wants to break this loser mentality here. Finally a manager who tells it how it is and calls us out for it publicly.

 

[bceej]

It’s a club issue of a lack of decisiveness every single time. Players past their sell by date, managers linger on. That is what creates the culture, this is the softness of the club. I know how Chelsea was run under Abramovich was extreme but we could take a leaf out of their book in decision making to cut out a culture of complacency. Bloody predictable and ponderous in all of our dealings.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Sure there are a handful left from the Poch days

More than I thought: Kane, Skipp, Lucas, Sessegnon, Lloris, Davies, Son & Sanchez.

That's eight. I would have guessed four or five.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Lol I can't believe someone disagreed with having the right manager

I know right, says a lot about the IQ of some on here, how can 'one' disagree with the statement that having the right Manager can make a big difference?

Brilliant

In that case lets just not have a manager, get rid of Antonio and let the players work it all out themselves and see how that goes.

 

[IamSpurtacus]

I'm not even sure he believes that himself. Most managers are pragmatic enough to know they aren't going to get every player they want. Pep, Klopp, Arteta etc... have all lost out on high profile targets in recent seasons because their club wouldn't/can't pay the fee demanded for a manager's target.

I personally think Conte leaving is a combination of various factors - fan impatience, personal tragedy, contract indecision - that have unfortunately had a detrimental on the atmosphere around the club.

I think it's one thing to miss out on a top target - as you say, it happens to all managers

But look at united and ETH - they missed out on De Jong, and bought Casemiro. We missed on on Bastoni, and got a player on loan. We missed out on Skriniar and got Rodon

Conte wanted a RWF, and got someone he didn't want. This has happened to every manager as long as I can remember.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Then neither is Guardiola because he's only done it at the top clubs. How many managers really beat the odds? It's a tall order to do that. We'll never succeed unless we spend big. I would prefer a more attacking manager too. They will still need big money to beat the likes of City to any silverware though. We will still be weak minded and lack any ambition. At least Conte is ambitious whether you like him or not. At least he wants to break this loser mentality here. Finally a manager who tells it how it is and calls us out for it publicly.

All of that would be great with Conte if he didn't set us up on the pitch to sit back and let teams bully us.

I'm not saying we should, or even could go out and pass teams off the park or swashbuckle our way around the pitch for 90 minutes.

But the timid way he sets us up week-in-week-out isn't the hallmark of an ambitious winner for me.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Perisic has been a car crash of a signing. His assists, which he accumulated at the beginning of the season, has been masking how entirely incapable he is of playing in the premier league at his age. He leaves us unbelievably vulnerable down the left side of our defence because he has nothing left in his legs to play in both halves of the pitch.

To be fair to Perisic he usually has Sonny of the left side who is also required to track back for defensive duties when opposition are attacking but hasn't made a tackle since November 2019.

 

[dirtyh]

another sliding doors moment. unfortunately we all know how it ends.

 

[Now it's Spursonal]

 

[Nebby]

All of that would be great with Conte if he didn't set us up on the pitch to sit back and let teams bully us.

I'm not saying we should, or even could go out and pass teams off the park or swashbuckle our way around the pitch for 90 minutes.

But the timid way he sets us up week-in-week-out isn't the hallmark of an ambitious winner for me.

Exactly. If you allow teams to dominate the ball, bad things will happen. We surrender possession and with it control and initiative. It’s a recipe for disaster as our goals against stats prove.