Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[fishhhandaricecake]

Klopp's Liverpool is predictable, doesn't mean you can stop them though.

Guardiola coaches in a similar way to Conte. You are told where to stand to the inch. He has a better calibre of player, they execute his system better and the dominate games.

When Guardiola arrived at City, in his first 18 months they spent 400m. Pep got 3 new full-backs for 120m when all his full-backs were old that first season.

We gave Conte Spence for 15m.

I am being somewhat obnoxious because Spence is a talent and we have spent some money but not enough yet. Conte wants to be dominating games, he doesn't want to sit on the counterattack. He is making do with Dier and Davies.

His system works, Conte works, and he is an incredible coach, I think he's better than Guardiola because Conte has dragged teams to titles and is more flexible because hes had to be flexible.

Conte is not the problem, the players can't deliver what he wants to make us dominate. We are good enough to do some of what he wants but there will be games like West Ham where they can't handle the ball under pressure. Bissouma and Lenglet might help but they aren't De Bruyne and Laporte.

Exactly this. As Conte said it'll take another 2+ windows to get to the level we need to be.

Until then he will drag us kicking and screaming over the line to win games but we won't be a powerhouse winning machine like he had/made at Chelsea and Inter until we've had a few more transfer windows as ultimately we are a bit short on quality still to dominate games consistently.

That being said Conte teams don't tend to 'dominate' games that often but with improved player quality for example I think a better RWB would've scored that chance Emerson hit at the keeper and our defence would've have conceded at least one of if not both of the goals, if we also had a better CM we'd have probably created a bit more and if we'd had another top quality attacking option on the bench that would've given us further options still, so the match would've looked very different.

 

[rossdapep]

I'm not entirely sure that I agree with the comment about Bissouma not adapting quickly. He's not really been given much of an opportunity yet to prove that either way.

He's only played one full 90 minute game and a few minutes here and there. I take your point that you must be alluding to the fact that Conte must be assessing whether he thinks Bissouma is ready or not based on what he's seen in training.

Yeah thats what I meant.

He had that difficult 45 mins against West Ham (?) and whilst he did pick it up second half, Conte is probably still seeing somethings that need work.

I hope we see more of him soon

 

[rossdapep]

By the way, when Conte leaves us I hope Amorim is available. Very smart coach.

 

[worcestersauce]

I think this comes from the fact we were told, and saw a Conte pre-season. We thought we'd be fitter than the other team and buzzing around them. If anything we look to be the ones less fit that the opposition, maybe thats because of the tactics to hold shape etc. We were just expecting something more after his pre-season

I don't know that the fitness is relevant on a game basis at this stage of the season as everyone is fresh but as the season goes on it will begin to tell. I guess if we finish the season well we'll be able to judge.

 

[Phil_2.0]

You make some good points but Conte teams never really dominate, certainly not in terms of possession.

His 2 recent title winning teams (Chelsea 16/17 and Inter 20/21) had average possession of 54% and 52% respectively. We had 51.9% average last season (50.4% so far this season). This is in contrast to the likes of City and Pool who do dominate matches (68.2% and 63.1% in 21/22 and regularly 60% plus averages in previous seasons).

Unfortunately it's simply not Conte's way to dominate the ball and control games. Instead he likes to soak up pressure and hit teams with quick build up play when the ball is won. For me in today's game you need to be able to do more than that and Conte needs to evolve his tactics imo.

Yes Conte wants to control the space, dominate areas with overloads, commit more men in the box and physical mismatches. It's a different type of domination. He never wants his teams to Mourinho it, he wants to build through the thirds but with fast and dynamic play. He is more willing to allow his teams to manage the game through the use of the low block than Pep or Klopp that is true.

It's dangerous to let this group of players go into their shell. Under Mourinho it was the same, after a game I remember him specifically saying something along the lines 'It's not the plan to defend like this, I promise you at halftime I did not tell them not to attack'.

We still have those players in the team now. When it gets tough and noisy, they retreat too quickly and don't have confidence on the ball when it gets stressful.

 

[vuzp]

It's obviously what he is doing, but how long do you persist with this? At some point it might be better to take him out and bring him on against tired legs with 25-30 minutes to go to get his goal.

Agree 100% with this, I think that is why Kulu looks so good when he comes on, running at tired players.
Don't get me wrong love Kulu as a player but some of his starting games he hasn't been great too.
Just think Son needs a rest and start from the bench.

 

[wadewill]

By the way, when Conte leaves us I hope Amorim is available. Very smart coach.

Didnt Bohley Bollocks say he wanted him at Chelsea in the future, the day after appointing Potter

It would be nice to get in ahead of them for once rather than having their sloppy seconds.

 

[rossdapep]

Didnt Bohley Bollocks say he wanted him at Chelsea in the future, the day after appointing Potter

It would be nice to get in ahead of them for once rather than having their sloppy seconds.

I didn't see that but that is ridiculous if he did.

 

[Monkey boy]

By the way, when Conte leaves us I hope Amorim is available. Very smart coach.

Im judging this solely on one game which was yesterdays'. He set his team up no differently to what 90% of other coaches do or would do against us. On another day we would have run out comfortable winners. At no point yesterday did i feel threatened by anything they did but almost had a resigned feeling when that ball went for a corner as it was almost inevitable what would happen next.

If we play anything close to our A game in the return fixture then i wouldnt be surprised if we hit them for 3 or 4 as i didnt think they were anything special at all.

Football is a funny old game as out of all the games we've played i think thats the one that we deserved to lose the least. You could make arguments for Forest, Wolves, Chelsea and West Ham all thinking that we've stolen points from them yet i dont think Sporting can still quite believe their luck to have won both this and the Frankfurt games with an aggregate score of 5-0.

 

[johnwhitesghost]

Im judging this solely on one game which was yesterdays'. He set his team up no differently to what 90% of other coaches do or would do against us. On another day we would have run out comfortable winners. At no point yesterday did i feel threatened by anything they did but almost had a resigned feeling when that ball went for a corner as it was almost inevitable what would happen next.

If we play anything close to our A game in the return fixture then i wouldnt be surprised if we hit them for 3 or 4 as i didnt think they were anything special at all.

Football is a funny old game as out of all the games we've played i think thats the one that we deserved to lose the least. You could make arguments for Forest, Wolves, Chelsea and West Ham all thinking that we've stolen points from them yet i dont think Sporting can still quite believe their luck to have won both this and the Frankfurt games with an aggregate score of 5-0.

Exactly this. This is our only defeat since April??? We’ve probably deserved to lose a couple in that time, and haven’t.

We can’t really complain. Take the chances: win the game.

 

[felmani26]

By the way, when Conte leaves us I hope Amorim is available. Very smart coach.

Does seem a logical choice should the time come; 3 at the back, defensively solid but seemingly more progressive in attack married to a (growing) reputation of winning mentality.

Someone very much to keep an eye on.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Staggered nobody asked him about his lack of subs.

Hopefully it gets addressed on Friday because he needs to wake up & realise we need to shake the team up.

 

[cjbyid]

By the way, when Conte leaves us I hope Amorim is available. Very smart coach.

Potter should be available then

Seriously though yeah they looked solid/well coached Lisbon.

 

[danielneeds]

One thing I can’t really get my head round is how lacking energy we seem currently. Conte was supposed to have got us fitter than ever before this summer, but we look flat at the moment, slow to loose balls, closing down at half pace. I don’t really understand why.

 

[wadewill]

Something that has struck me this season is how aggressive CB's have been at cutting the ball into Kane out, same with Son, they have been on them quickly and strongly and again last night. Its been happening all season and is another example of us not really trying anything new

 

[rossdapep]

Im judging this solely on one game which was yesterdays'. He set his team up no differently to what 90% of other coaches do or would do against us. On another day we would have run out comfortable winners. At no point yesterday did i feel threatened by anything they did but almost had a resigned feeling when that ball went for a corner as it was almost inevitable what would happen next.

If we play anything close to our A game in the return fixture then i wouldnt be surprised if we hit them for 3 or 4 as i didnt think they were anything special at all.

Football is a funny old game as out of all the games we've played i think thats the one that we deserved to lose the least. You could make arguments for Forest, Wolves, Chelsea and West Ham all thinking that we've stolen points from them yet i dont think Sporting can still quite believe their luck to have won both this and the Frankfurt games with an aggregate score of 5-0.

Yeah, that's true. However, he has shown that with limited tools he's got his team well organised and despite always losing key players adapts.

I do think they got a bit lucky last night, as had we have been sharper we'd certainly have worked their keeper more, but he is a bright coach who has had to work with limited tools and has actually made a few players career's.

For example, Palhinha went from being a Sporting castaway who had spent most of his time out on-loan elsewhere to becoming key player for them.

In Almorim's first full season, Sporting had a major reshuffle. Players were recalled, young players promoted and they lost a lot of big names. Yet they won the title.

Although, I do think in today's game we are seeing a lot of promising coaches emerging and some are a bit samey

 

[Metalhead]

Yes Conte wants to control the space, dominate areas with overloads, commit more men in the box and physical mismatches. It's a different type of domination. He never wants his teams to Mourinho it, he wants to build through the thirds but with fast and dynamic play. He is more willing to allow his teams to manage the game through the use of the low block than Pep or Klopp that is true.

It's dangerous to let this group of players go into their shell. Under Mourinho it was the same, after a game I remember him specifically saying something along the lines 'It's not the plan to defend like this, I promise you at halftime I did not tell them not to attack'.

We still have those players in the team now. When it gets tough and noisy, they retreat too quickly and don't have confidence on the ball when it gets stressful.

I remember that Jose quote.

 

[spursfan77]

Staggered nobody asked him about his lack of subs.

Hopefully it gets addressed on Friday because he needs to wake up & realise we need to shake the team up.

I think he was asked about why he doesn't make more subs a couple of weeks ago.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

It's obviously what he is doing, but how long do you persist with this? At some point it might be better to take him out and bring him on against tired legs with 25-30 minutes to go to get his goal.

Hoddle made a good point that sometimes even though the player might not like it once they're dropped/rotated to the bench it takes the pressure/chains off them and often they will then come on and play better, get their goal etc, although Leicester have a leaky defence so possibly a good one to try Son from the start again but for sure Kulu 100% will start so would mean resting Richy instead, I can see Conte doing that tbh and if Son still doesn't score vs Leicester then he might be dropped against Arsenal in the following game.

 

[matthew.absurdum]