Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

I don't have an issue with the system but our front three need to be better at receiving/keeping the ball.

Bringing on Richarlison really highlights this. We fizz the ball into his feet and it sticks. If the defender is up him he can spin off into space, or if the defender sits off him he'll turn and run or play the ball to a teammate.

spursfan77 said:

People moaning just for the sake of it. Us who go to games enjoy them while we are there. It is better than the shite served up in the last year of Poch, mourinho's tenure and Nuno's ill fated attempts.

Click to expand...

I’ve been going to spurs long enough to know we have a fair few moaners within our fanbase but I don’t see why so many posters seem to be getting defensive and trying to justify the first half performance when both the players and the manager have even said the performance was disappointing in the post match interviews.

The manager pretty much said that we didn’t do what we worked on in training in the first half and just because we restricted Forest to a limited number of chances and had some good counters ourselves shouldn’t excuse the fact that we were poor in that half. I’ve seen a lot of posters thinking this was by design but I really don’t think it is from watching previous Conte teams and from his post match comments.

@Trix made a good point that the players look like they’re still overthinking things at the moment as they’re still getting used to the tactics. I think this could explain the slow starts as I thought we started taking much more risks with our passing around the back and in midfield second half and it meant we broke there press much more consistently and looked way more threatening.

There are always ‘out there’ posts on SC especially in the match thread but I think the vast majority recognise that we are still relatively early on in the process and that there are improvements to make. The positives at the moment are that the organisation and countering that Conte has instilled is yielding an impressive number of points already and we still have huge scope to improve.

DogsOfWar said:

I don't have an issue with the system but our front three need to be better at receiving/keeping the ball.

Bringing on Richarlison really highlights this. We fizz the ball into his feet and it sticks. If the defender is up him he can spin off into space, or if the defender sits off him he'll turn and run or play the ball to a teammate.

Click to expand...

Yeah son and Kane have been poor this season at that. Son can’t play with his back yo goal and even yesterday kane mid coming controlled a few that were fizzed into him.

spursfan77 said:

First half yesterday we gave the ball away far too much. Every long kick was coming back at us and our defenders clearances were just falling to their players time and again. I think this is what Conte was hinting at after the game. Had we been smarter clearing the ball or not given it away as much as we did then we’d have carved open even more chances than we did. When we get it right there are going to be quite a few teams on the end of a thrashing.

Click to expand...

It doesn’t help that we have Davies and Sanchez playing, they aren’t good enough passers to play out so I guess we go long ball more now. Romero helps and hopefully lenglet gets a chance and impresses as he is very good on the ball

SC under AVB: Well we win the possession trophy.
SC under Jose : We are relying on moments of brilliance. We need patterns of play.
SC under Nuno: I see no patterns of play.
SC under Conte: I see patterns of play but we're so boring. We aren't in possesion enough. Where are the moments of brilliance?

TLDR Football fans are never happy and sometimes don't know what they want.

For what it's worth, I'm enjoying watching us more than I have done since Poch, and we're also picking up the results. Win/Win for me.

Hope he feels he's been backed enough to sign a new contract. Don't fancy it rumbling on in the media this season that he's in his last year.

PLTuck said:

SC under AVB: Well we win the possession trophy.
SC under Jose : We are relying on moments of brilliance. We need patterns of play.
SC under Nuno: I see no patterns of play.
SC under Conte: I see patterns of play but we're so boring. We aren't in possesion enough. Where are the moments of brilliance?

TLDR Football fans are never happy and sometimes don't know what they want.

For what it's worth, I'm enjoying watching us more than I have done since Poch, and we're also picking up the results. Win/Win for me.

Click to expand...

Yep, this is how I feel about it.

How most spurs fans want us to play:


How teams get Conte'd:

TOLBINY said:

This issue for me is seeing teams like City and Liverpool who for the last few seasons have played an attacking brand of football that I enjoy watching and that wins them more games than not as well as delivering silverware. I prefer that brand of football and want my team to play like that. IF Conteball is guaranteed to deliver silverware, then I would take it - the end justifies the means.

Click to expand...

I thought people tended to find Man City boring to watch?

I think we will start to look much better when Son and Kane find some better form. When they are cutting through teams at their best we are by default more exciting to watch. Similarly when our wing backs pose a more attacking threat like Doherty did towards the end of the last season we look much better. I think things might look a bit stodgy at the moment due to some of those players not really hitting their stride yet. True we have in the past dominated possession but even that can be very dull and frustrating to watch when a break through is not forthcoming.

I think the football is still much better than under either Nuno or Mourinho and we showed at the end of last season that when it clicks we can move up a gear.

Kane of course is a notoriously slow starter and Son often looks redundant when he is not scoring or at least getting on the end of chances.

Cochise said:

Personally, I'd rather watch a good footballing team that can control the flow of a football match. Not sure why being critical of the current approach is wrong. It's ugly to watch us be pushed closer and closer to our own goal and live off scraps.

Click to expand...

I thought Villas Boas football towards the end of his time here was far worse. It is not particularly pretty at the moment but it has been at times under Conte so I’m hopeful it will be a bit better and we are winning. Winning when not playing well is a good habit.

Ive actually found Conte's football more interesting than I thought I would when we recruited him to be our manager.

Our fast counter attacks are very enjoyable to watch and when we pile into the box it's exciting to me.

I would like more control of the ball but we don't have good passers in defence and are a bit patchy with the ball in Central Midfield.

I think if Conte trusted Gil and/or played 2 number 10s alongside Kane we'd keep more of the ball. Kulu is essentially a number 10 anyway, but ultimately we are having success playing the way we are. We create a lot of chances still, I never worry about us scoring. Even in the Chelsea game, we were a live threat, needing just 4 correct passers to be in.

I don't quite get why everyone was so down about our performance on Sunday. Even Kane and Conte post match were way too upset.

Forest played in an absurd way, left themselves 3 vs 3 at the back and if we were more clinical we could have killed the game early. We set up fine, probably went too long from goal kicks in the first half but Forest were excited, 430 ko on sky, crowd were up. We managed the first half ok. Kane should have killed the game when the defender nicked back in in that 1st half.

The worst thing about the game for me was the final 30 minutes were a mess, should have killed the game with a penalty or with one of our multiple counter attacks. Scrappy, running around and tired legs due to so many counter attacking opportunities. Then we had nonsense like Richarlison, Bentancur concussion, giving away the ball, lots of defensive corners and not managing their counter attacks correctly.

Should have been a calm finish to the game, especially when we went to 2-0, crowd should have been silent. We should have got to 2-0 sooner.

It was worrying to me want Conte said after the game, that we were afraid to pass the ball 1st half. I am worried that we are too desperate to win as a club, with Kanes window shortening and too many players like Sanchez, Lloris, Davies, Dier, Kane with scars on them and so much desperation for a trophpy we tense up when we need to play because there will be times when we have to play football and not win through sheer effort.

That's why I love Bentancur, comes in the team like a man whose won it all, so he plays calmly, unafraid because he's won leagues. Kulu also plays like a man unafraid, it's his youth I suspect paired with a strong mentally.

I am rambling now but I think Conte is good, we are creating chances and are strong defensively. I would like to have games where we drive the opponents back but I think that's down to personnel more than Conte wanting us to sit deep.

npearl4spurs said:

How most spurs fans want us to play:

How teams get Conte'd:

Click to expand...

The top gif reminds me of the match day thread.

I though we played ok against for forest, we needed to keep the ball a bit better and some of the passing was a bit off. But it is never easy facing promoted teams away early doors in the league, it’s the time when you don’t want that kind of fixture, promoted clubs are always high energy due to being back in the top flight and the home crowds are always really up for it. It was a more tricky fixture that lots of other clubs fans would ever give us credit for.

Phil_2.0 said:

Ive actually found Conte's football more interesting than I thought I would when we recruited him to be our manager.

Our fast counter attacks are very enjoyable to watch and when we pile into the box it's exciting to me.

I would like more control of the ball but we don't have good passers in defence and are a bit patchy with the ball in Central Midfield.

I think if Conte trusted Gil and/or played 2 number 10s alongside Kane we'd keep more of the ball. Kulu is essentially a number 10 anyway, but ultimately we are having success playing the way we are. We create a lot of chances still, I never worry about us scoring. Even in the Chelsea game, we were a live threat, needing just 4 correct passers to be in.

I don't quite get why everyone was so down about our performance on Sunday. Even Kane and Conte post match were way too upset.

Forest played in an absurd way, left themselves 3 vs 3 at the back and if we were more clinical we could have killed the game early. We set up fine, probably went too long from goal kicks in the first half but Forest were excited, 430 ko on sky, crowd were up. We managed the first half ok. Kane should have killed the game when the defender nicked back in in that 1st half.

The worst thing about the game for me was the final 30 minutes were a mess, should have killed the game with a penalty or with one of our multiple counter attacks. Scrappy, running around and tired legs due to so many counter attacking opportunities. Then we had nonsense like Richarlison, Bentancur concussion, giving away the ball, lots of defensive corners and not managing their counter attacks correctly.

Should have been a calm finish to the game, especially when we went to 2-0, crowd should have been silent. We should have got to 2-0 sooner.

It was worrying to me want Conte said after the game, that we were afraid to pass the ball 1st half. I am worried that we are too desperate to win as a club, with Kanes window shortening and too many players like Sanchez, Lloris, Davies, Dier, Kane with scars on them and so much desperation for a trophpy we tense up when we need to play because there will be times when we have to play football and not win through sheer effort.

That's why I love Bentancur, comes in the team like a man whose won it all, so he plays calmly, unafraid because he's won leagues. Kulu also plays like a man unafraid, it's his youth I suspect paired with a strong mentally.

I am rambling now but I think Conte is good, we are creating chances and are strong defensively. I would like to have games where we drive the opponents back but I think that's down to personnel more than Conte wanting us to sit deep.

Click to expand...

I completely agree on the calmness Bentancur has brought it was definitely needed and has made people around him better too. I still think there is much more to come from him.

sundanceyid10 said:

I thought Villas Boas football towards the end of his time here was far worse. It is not particularly pretty at the moment but it has been at times under Conte so I’m hopeful it will be a bit better and we are winning. Winning when not playing well is a good habit.

Click to expand...

I think it's also a positive that in the post match interviews both Conte and the players are alluding to the fact we aren't playing particularly well and know we are still someway off our best football. They are accepting the wins but aren't entirely happy about the performances themselves.

Trix said:

I think it's also a positive that in the post match interviews both Conte and the players are alluding to the fact we aren't playing particularly well and know we are still someway off our best football. They are accepting the wins but aren't entirely happy about the performances themselves.

Click to expand...

Yes I don’t think it should be underestimated how much of an important quality it is to win and get results when not playing well. If any team is ever going to do anything in the league then they need that type of trait.

P4W3D1L0
Cake is being baked, worry about the icing later

Sorry if this is a repost, but I was very impressed.

Is anyone going to ask the question, if Nuno produced this football you’d be going nuts.