Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[$hoguN]

I really hope we break the cycle of not supporting the manager and giving him what he needs to succeed. But only after Conte leaves. He's the wrong horse to hitch our wagon to.

His career demonstrates that is incorrect though. He is exactly the right horse based on previous records. Fans just don’t like the football when it’s attritional

 

[A Bit Much]

If levy is keeping him on then I'll be very concerned about the direction of the club. This is coming from someone who is probably one of the more pro-levy people on this site. The bloke can't keep anyone onside at this rate.

 

[mil1lion]

Well if it's about fitting in a checkbook manager like Conte who can only compete with big fat checkbook and leave on eurofootball fronts, then change of culture = takeover and become sportswashing machine for dirty money. That is the only way we will fit Conte.

And the change of culture we need is shift from plying after trophies like a petulant child to trying to be the best we can on our resources. Maybe then we will actually hire a suitable manager. And eventually even win a thing someday.



And has European record that looks like he managed PSV and Sporting there instead, maybe Dinamo Zagreb.

So what if he hasn't won the Champions League, you can't ignore what else he has achieved. I hate to break it to you but regardless of manager the top teams spend the most money. Call Conte a cheque book manager all you want but what manager isn't? Arsenal are top because they spent the money to get there. Barca are top because despite their financial issues they've spent big and got big players. Top teams have ambition and spend big. They don't sign Spence or Rodon when a manager needs first choice options, they don't sign Danjuma on loan because he's a cheap option, they don't sign Lenglet on loan because they don't want to spend for the first choice. Why do you think we need sports washing to spend big? It's not how Arsenal, Liverpool, Utd are run and even Chelsea now are run by an American. We have this incredible stadium hosting multi events and Levy talk about how this spending is not sustainable. He's out of touch with football in the same way Sugar was in the 90s. He hasn't adapted to the fact we now play in a global league where the top teams spend hundreds of millions in each season. I know there are great coaches who can make good teams great but they only get so far. Great teams can make good coaches great ones. Bottom line is we haven't had a great team in the last 4 years and we'll only get so far until we build another. Regardless who the manager is.

 

[Trent Crimm]

So if the 'bigger' players have backed Conte, I assume Romano has been on the phone to them all on their day off and they've all spoken freely to him confirming they think 'certain' players aren't with them.

Which of the 11 selfish players don't think it's them? Which of the selfish 11 players who have been selfish has Conte now told are not selfish?

So either they're all selfish, as Conte said, or some of them aren't (in their eyes, not Conte's) and they feel others are selfish, yet they are still all asked to play together on the same pitch.

As we know, Conte only plays players he trusts, so let's say 6 of the starting 11 on Saturday ARE selfish and 5 aren't, but they are the collective he trusts. What the fuck are they all doing on the same pitch if Conte has been mad with them for weeks? And what is he doing even playing them if he knows it is disrupting the team spirit if he thinks the team is that fractured?

Something doesn't add up for me.

If Conte wanted to make a point to the selfish players he shouldn't be picking them, it's as simple as that, if he feels they're not good enough, not committed enough and don't have the fight then why hasn't he changed it like ANY other manager would?

In any other team, bad eggs would be dropped, simple as, and fans would back the manager on the basis of leaving a couple of players out the team, no one would question it, but Conte gets 'but who else has he got?' He's got a lot of players who I'm sure would gladly come in and show what they can do. If players are letting him down fucking drop them! Simple as!

Every club has a bad egg/few bad eggs. Adebayor, Aubamgeyang etc., but they're not left to fester as first choice and become virtually un-droppable. They're taken out the team. But it seems we've been managed in a way where now there's not only 1, or 2, apparently, but 11, by Conte's own words. And he's let the rot set in so bad that he's now got 11 players who don't get on/don't trust each other/don't like the work ethic?

When you omit a bad egg, other bad eggs pay attention. If you continue to play bad eggs, the good eggs pay attention. So what the fuck has he been doing by 'covering it up'? Fair enough outside the club, but if he's been covering it up within the camp and continued to play these players with each other that is shocking management.

So the football is crap, the players are completely divided (but all selfish), the team can't compete and Conte can't do a thing about it and none of it is his fault? Okay.

All I read.

 

[$hoguN]

I am fully onboard with this cycle being broken, I just dont think Conte is the man for it, and while I get that just means I want the cycle to continue as we would sack Conte, he is just so very wrong for the club.
It is at its end so just pull the trigger. Even if Levy bought his bullshit *I was only calling out the players bruv* story, he has eviscerated the club in the public domain, yes what he said rang alot of truth bells, but he did it in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons, he doesn't give 2 shits about Spurs. Why would you try to change the way the club works under this unstable grenade of a man, it would be ridiculous. He doesn't stay anywhere long enough to change his underpants never mind the club itself. We are currently a joke club and it does need changing, but not under this bloke. Get him out, please.

He made a lot of valid points because he was correct.

just because it hurts to hear and fans don’t like his football, doesn’t make him any less right.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

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.

Well that really is quite depressing.
I get that a large portion of what he said is right, but to allow him to come out and run out club down so viciously is embarrassing. It’s accepting the fact he comes across like he’s doing is a favour being here, and we should accept his dour football and sulky demeanour with humbling gratitude. Shocking. He’s as culpable as the board and players for the mess we are in, but his mud slinging deflection tactics appear to be working. Other clubs must be laughing at us, let the manager stroll around underperforming, say what he wants to the media, let him keep getting away with it. I don’t see him changing his football or his behaviour. Feels like he wants to be sacked so he can wander off back to Italy with his payout, merrily slagging off our club as he goes.
I really hoped he’d signed his own P45 with that rant, so at least I could look forward to a brief respite from the mind numbing football, hope for something approaching fresh attacking tactics for a bit, make us worth watching out of footballing passion, not out of sheer duty.

Keeping him now and promising of backing him isn’t going to improve the football in the short term. The fact his family never moved over always suggested to me he was only ever here for the short term. Doesn’t matter what the promise him, I can’t see him committing to next term. The rest of this season is just about how he gets paid, one lump sum to go now, or weekly/monthly and he’s has to keep turning up and chucking the same team out with the same tactics, getting the same results, and hearing the same excuses.

 

[JonnySpurs]

Or you've realised that you are originally incorrect and I've just shown that up?

8 is a handful yh?

And i didnt even include Skipp, which wouldve been unfair.

Sure, if it makes you feel better.

half of those players either aren't at the club and those that are barely play outside of Kane, Son, Davies, Dier and Lloris. FYI - thats 5, e.g. a handful.

 

[mattstev2000]

His career demonstrates that is incorrect though. He is exactly the right horse based on previous records. Fans just don’t like the football when it’s attritional

I disagree. He's had massive success but primarily in Italy, playing a brand of football that doesn't suit the club, on a short term basis before he generally falls out with everyone around him.

He's completely the wrong horse for our club. Any of the options currently being discussed in the next manager thread would be a better choice.

The best choice would be to go back in time a few years and back Poch properly the first time round.

 

[Rob]

I do feel our DoF situation has us in limbo right now. We can't start a manager search until that's sorted one way or another.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

As much as I’m not a fan of the football I definitely see the logic in keeping him. I’ve always been of the opinion that if we have enough patients to allow him to build a side in his own image then eventually success will come.

Problem is I get the impression that he doesn’t want to see through the rebuild himself.

I must say I’m not entirely convinced that success will come if we stuck with him tbh. I’m sure i’m probably being a little biased because of my dislike of the tactics, but i really do think the two games a week issue is a big one for him. Plus his teams have often struggled against high pressing teams and I think there is an issue with his lack of adaptability that will ultimately cap how successful we can be.

But most important is your second point, I just feel there is more of an issue then just not being fully backed. The issue with his health, his family being in Italy and all the losses will have certainly taken its toll. I’d be very surprised if he could be pursued to stay.

 

[talkshowhost86]

His career demonstrates that is incorrect though. He is exactly the right horse based on previous records. Fans just don’t like the football when it’s attritional

I personally don't like the football when we lose to Sheffield United, Wolves, Leicester and Aston Villa. Attritional or not.

 

[$hoguN]

I disagree. He's had massive success but primarily in Italy, playing a brand of football that doesn't suit the club, on a short term basis before he generally falls out with everyone around him.

He's completely the wrong horse for our club. Any of the options currently being discussed in the next manager thread would be a better choice.

The best choice would be to go back in time a few years and back Poch properly the first time round.

Yet he has turned a Chelsea team around to win the league.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I do feel our DoF situation has us in limbo right now. We can't start a manager search until that's sorted one way or another.

I would have thought he should be sacked as well based purely on performance.

Two managerial appointments and two absolute duds.

Plus a transfer record that is uneven at best.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

If you don't feel you have the support of the owner - in the form of signing the players you want, not the one the owner wants - would you stay?

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.

 

[mil1lion]

but we haven't been failing for 20 yeas in fact in terms of supporting Spurs the last 20 years barring the last 3 haven't been that bad - we may not have got a trophy over the line but we have came dam close and finished consistently in the top half dozen in the League which we hadn't done since the early sixties

But that's in comparison to what? The Sugar years? We were a cup team, won multiple trophies every decade. We were never a league side really but that's changed now. We're a league team who finish in Europe but have lost the cups that made us famous. Whats it been 3 times now we've heard people say "Spurs like a year ending in 1" and low and behold won nothing just like the previous 9 years. Even our fans are accepting this is as good as it gets like Redknapp said. Well that was until Poch came and did better so it is possible. Then rather than push on for glory we keep it cheap and let the squad decline again. We have this bullshit logo that says to dare is to do and we dare to do what? Win the odd big match and fight for top 4. It's not terrible to be where we are but if this is as good as it will get don't bother building the stadium and stop charging the highest price for tickets.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Looks like Antonio is going to need to get out the matches

Just hope he's careful with that wig

Last seen at St Marys. If found, please return to a very distraught and emotional owner, last seen on a Ryanair flight bound for Turin

 

[whitesocks]

...

If he gets sacked, some might argue that this is an indication that the board do "want to continue in this way". Puts Levy and co in a tricky situation.

If they dont sack him, some might argue that the board agree that their ownership is the common factor every year without a trophy. That the euro conference is the limit of their ambition as it is an easy life.

I dont know - conte hates the players, owners, the fans, the country and just wants to go home, but he wont resign.

I resent this, as I hate all those things too plus the manager, yet I cant resign.

 

[Trix]

So if the 'bigger' players have backed Conte, I assume Romano has been on the phone to them all on their day off and they've all spoken freely to him confirming they think 'certain' players aren't with them.

Which of the 11 selfish players don't think it's them? Which of the selfish 11 players who have been selfish has Conte now told are not selfish?

So either they're all selfish, as Conte said, or some of them aren't (in their eyes, not Conte's) and they feel others are selfish, yet they are still all asked to play together on the same pitch.

As we know, Conte only plays players he trusts, so let's say 6 of the starting 11 on Saturday ARE selfish and 5 aren't, but they are the collective he trusts. What the fuck are they all doing on the same pitch if Conte has been mad with them for weeks? And what is he doing even playing them if he knows it is disrupting the team spirit if he thinks the team is that fractured?

Something doesn't add up for me.

If Conte wanted to make a point to the selfish players he shouldn't be picking them, it's as simple as that, if he feels they're not good enough, not committed enough and don't have the fight then why hasn't he changed it like ANY other manager would?

In any other team, bad eggs would be dropped, simple as, and fans would back the manager on the basis of leaving a couple of players out the team, no one would question it, but Conte gets 'but who else has he got?' He's got a lot of players who I'm sure would gladly come in and show what they can do. If players are letting him down fucking drop them! Simple as!

Every club has a bad egg/few bad eggs. Adebayor, Aubamgeyang etc., but they're not left to fester as first choice and become virtually un-droppable. They're taken out the team. But it seems we've been managed in a way where now there's not only 1, or 2, apparently, but 11, by Conte's own words. And he's let the rot set in so bad that he's now got 11 players who don't get on/don't trust each other/don't like the work ethic?

When you omit a bad egg, other bad eggs pay attention. If you continue to play bad eggs, the good eggs pay attention. So what the fuck has he been doing by 'covering it up'? Fair enough outside the club, but if he's been covering it up within the camp and continued to play these players with each other that is shocking management.

So the football is crap, the players are completely divided (but all selfish), the team can't compete and Conte can't do a thing about it and none of it is his fault? Okay.

I do wonder if the "selfish" thing isn't something that has been lost a bit in translation, or Conte didn't know the exact word to use so this was as close in his limited English he could get and it's sounded worse whilst he was angry. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

[JonnySpurs]

Not sure why there's any talk about keeping him when he doesn't want to be kept. That's half the issue here. If he'd actually committed to the club then I would've been a LOT more receptive to his rant and felt that it was actually for the good of the club and not just him trying to get himself sacked in the international break so he can get his pay off and leg it back to Italy!

 

[easley91]

I thoroughly enjoyed the football at the end of last season, and in spirts this one. Was at the Forest game and I found it a good watch.

It's baffling how we went from that to what it is now. I get it's probably a mix of injuries, the world cup, loss of coaches, Conte's health etc. and yet we are somehow in the mix for 4th still. Can't get my head round it. The players and manager can show the needed fire in some games, but not enough of them. When it clicks, it can be great to watch. It just hasn't clicked at all this season.

Whatever happens I don't think Conte will be here for next season. He'll either go this week or end of the season and we can start again.