Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[dobbo22]

We need a manager to get the most out of Lloris, Dier, Davies, Sanchez, Doherty, Emerson, Sessegnon...

Jesus…..

 

[septicsac]

Couldnt blame him if he walked, he has not been backed with the quality of player required, like many his predecessors. Made some strange decisions today in relation to his subs, but there are others that need to go before he is at the head of the queue.

 

[sundanceyid10]

Mate I feel you, couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said.

The main thing is as you say “where do we go from here” and it’s been like this rinse and repeat for so so so long now and that comes back to Levy because the football strategy that he sets up is always flawed and a mess.

As you say either we back conte PROPERLY or we get rid of him / he walks now and we get Poch or whoever in so we actually play some football where we try to keep and pass the ball and attack and try and win, sure we’ll continue to need a rebuild but at least we won’t as you say be 20-30 mins into a game and give up all hope.

It absolutely comes back to Levy.

 

[wspur]

Going to Spurs is a chore now, hating every minute of a matchday. What have we become. We should be grateful for this though, we have a world class manager. Get both Conte and the board out asap before we are no more.

 

[Darth Vega]

I cant disagree, but Conte wants that 400m now. He doesnt want a four year project. He wants immediate success.

He keeps talking about process and time himself, he's been doing so since day one. Even if we accept that that's a lie and he needs a shit ton of money right now, then so what? Why don't we just give to him? It's not as if Poch will come back and look at the players we (us fans, Conte, everyone) know aren't good enough and say any different to Conte. He'll want Emerson gone, Dier gone, Sanchez gone etc. Whatever money Conte wants Poch will want too because he was calling for the 50-70M players years before Conte even got here.

 

[DSpurs]

I do understand that you need to give a manger time and that Levy and ENIC are 100% the biggest problem as they do not seem to want to push on and win things. But Conte is so inflexible that he seems to rather write off an entire season than try to win games by adapting. In what world can someone seem to be world class in their role but not try to win in the short term. A decent manger could adapt AND still win a battle with the ownership over a long term plan.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

De Zerbi would be my choice.

Fresh coach, fresh ideas.

Similar to when Poch came to the PL.

But its totally pointless with them in charge

I still want Gallardo and he was one I wanted most along with ETH the moment we lost out on Nagelsmann. Still tho the discussion is absolutely pointless, if Levy is here it will be Poch without even a shadow of a doubt.

 

[AtoubaToothpaste]

They've spent £300-400M on players perfectly tailored to him and they aren't planning on stopping. He may have won them a cup already but he also took them to 8th twice, their worst season since 95. I'm not saying Conte is infallible but every top manager has been backed and it's taken them time to reach the very top. Arteta and Klopp took four years, Pep a bit more immediate but they spent way more, and even Sir Alex Ferguson took five years at United. It needs time and it needs money and if and when we back him can we truly see his limitations. Enough chopping and changing at Spurs, we don't have the money or the inclination to spend it to follow the Abramovich model.

Do you seriously think that Conte is going to stay here for 4 or 5 years? Are you really happy to watch this god-awful football for that long in the hopes we might win a domestic cup along the way?

And, in all due respect, Liverpool, Man Utd, and Arsenal were all playing much better football than we are while they were building. If we saw something similar and Conte committed to a 5 year deal then you might have a point, but let's be real, neither of things are happening, are they?

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Couldnt blame him if he walked, he has not been backed with the quality of player required, like many his predecessors. Made some strange decisions today in relation to his subs, but there are others that need to go before he is at the head of the queue.

But he has been backed it’s laughable people say this

Kuluveski
Bentancur
Richarlison
Perisic
Bissouma
Lenglet

thats more than Jose and Poch got

 

[JCRD]

He keeps talking about process and time himself, he's been doing so since day one. Even if we accept that that's a lie and he needs a shit ton of money right now, then so what? Why don't we just give to him? It's not as if Poch will come back and look at the players we (us fans, Conte, everyone) know aren't good enough and say any different to Conte. He'll want Emerson gone, Dier gone, Sanchez gone etc. Whatever money Conte wants Poch will want too because he was calling for the 50-70M players years before Conte even got here.

Because we dont have 400m. We may have 100m each year. We have already spent a fair bit of money, and we will spend but we need to get rid of a few too. We have such a huge squad and need to get rid of a few.

 

[WiganSpur]

Spot on. The guy from day one has held us to ransom. Belittled some of our players. Talked and talked about money and how we are paupers and im paraphrasing.

I have been repeating myself over this but this whole 'back Conte' phrasing - fuck me, I hate it. Conte isnt elite, he has been a very very good Manager and successful but not elite - only three or four real elite managers out there. Ive hated it from day one where people have been like 'we are so lucky to have him' - nope. He should be lucky he is with us too.

Just hated the dynamic from day one.

It is funny because at the start of the season - you would read how our squad is better than Arsenals or Man Uniteds etc etc etc - so where are those messages now?

Managers need to add value, they need to make the sum greater than the individual parts - and right now, the sum is lower in my view.

I get the criticism of Conte, but Levy is so good at waiting things out so that the fans turn on the manager rather than the real culprit for 20 years of on the pitch failure. A new manager comes in and suddenly the fans forget about Levy or signings and it's all can X finally get a tune out of the same old underperforming players?

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Currently I think it’s pretty clear that we will never amount to more then a top 6 team as long as Levy/ENIC are in charge.

We already have been more than a top 6 team with Levy/ENIC in charge. 2nd in the league with 86 points is not a "top 6 team".

 

[Scott Spur]

There seems to be a feeling that you are either team Levy or team Conte, but for me it's possible that they BOTH need to go.

Even as a former proud card carrying BSODL, I find it hard to defend Levy any more but there seems to be a feeling that Conte gets a free pass because of the faults of Levy.

I don't buy the "he's a winner" bollocks. So was Jose. He was still shit for us. I don't really watch football beyond Spurs, so I can only judge Conte by what I see.

I see a manager with no tactical flexibility, who seems to pick players based upon expectation rather than form, who refuses to give time to anyone who is not one of his favoured few, who is wedded to a formation that is not working, that we do not have the players to make work, who simply refuses to change or adapt.

Conte was tactically outclassed by Paul Fucking Merson! How the hell can Merson (and anyone without Spurs tinted glasses) see what is blindingly obvious, but Conte can't?

Levy needs to go, a lot of the criticism is fair. But, Conte needs to take responsibility too. He is the wrong manager for us, I don't give a shit what he has achieved elsewhere: it does not work for US! Obviously, I'm pissed off tonight, but this isn't a one off, ALL season it's been turgid, boring football and frankly we are bloody lucky to be where we are in the table.

This

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

The solution lies in the boardroom first and foremost before we look to the touchlines.

If the Chairman persists in appointing managers who are the complete polar opposite to our supposed DNA then I tend to agree with your post.

 

[JayB]

But he has been backed it’s laughable people say this

Kuluveski
Bentancur
Richarlison
Perisic
Bissouma
Lenglet

thats more than Jose and Poch got

The squad was in a terrible state when he arrived though due to years of abysmal recruitment by Hitchen and Levy. Regardless of who the manager was, significant signings were always going to be necessary in order to right the ship.

Having said that I don’t think there are many excuses left for the quality of performances we’re seeing. The only significant injury remaining is Bentancur, and the fixture congestion is much more manageable now than it was earlier in the season.

We should be doing better than we are with the players we’ve got, even if the squad remains in need of improvement.

 

[Tezza1978]

We need a manager to get the most out of Lloris, Dier, Davies, Sanchez, Doherty, Emerson, Sessegnon...

And that's precisely what some of those calling for a "young, project manager' want - to "work with the players" that "fit our system" ??

Levy would piss himself laughing at people like that. As that's the "formula" he has wanted for the last 20 years when he can just pull the Alan Sugar "you're fired" act every few years or so, then back to " a manager that wants to work with our very talented squad and young players" ?

 

[delawarespur]

Bizarre posts in here today about committing to and building something with a guy who's never stayed anywhere for more than 2 seasons even when he's won something. It's not working now, and it's never going to work in the long-term. Better pull the plaster now and get a proper project manager who is going to stick around for more than 5mins.

For what he's earning, Conte should be getting performances and making better decisions. Sure, it's not the greatest squad in the world, but it's not shit either. We couldn't even beat Brentford and Villa and we're definitely better than those. But every game this season he's set up negatively. The bloke is literally breaking records with how bad we are. Without Kane's setpiece goals, we'd be fucked.

I definitely want to support a manager and give them time, but Conte is literally the worst top-flight manager to hire if that's the goal. He's a win-now guy. And we're not winning a meat raffle with this turgid football.

We had this same discussion with Poch 3 years ago when we couldn’t beat Sheffield United and Brighton. And it’s a completely valid point. The point is why hire Conte when you know how he is as a manager? Why do you go from extreme to extreme from a project in Poch to coaches like Jose and Conte? There’s no semblance of a plan from the board. Conte doesn’t even have a squad of his players. And honestly neither did Jose. Poch did but wanted new players, and he’d more than earned the right to ask for them. That should be the point of discussions. It’s so much deeper than just the squad should be beating x team. If that was the case then on paper City would finish every league season with 38 wins. What should be the point of discussion is deciding whether to actually back Conte and give him everything he needs, regardless of him possibly deciding at random to bail, or finding a new project guy, but then actually fully sticking with the project and letting them work through pains until they get what they need. Because the club needs to decide now what their plan is and then follow though with that plan completely. We can’t keep going through manager after manager. Surely at this point we can all see it failed with the project guy and failed with winners because the board didn’t follow through by supporting the guy in charge. We can get a new guy and maybe we’ll play better football, but it doesn’t matter because we’ll get to the point like with Poch in 2010-2020 where the board won’t back a required refresh. It keeps falling on the manager every time, and this so obviously points to the ultimate problem, which is those who chop and change the managers without a plan.

 

[ilikeost]

Couldnt blame him if he walked, he has not been backed with the quality of player required, like many his predecessors. Made some strange decisions today in relation to his subs, but there are others that need to go before he is at the head of the queue.

LOL! I couldn't care less if he walked. He is a good manager, probably a great manager, but if he can't work with what we have and produce something better than the shit we've seen this season then he doesn't deserve to be the manager of Spurs, wrong man for the job.

 

[dtxspurs]

But he has been backed it’s laughable people say this

Kuluveski
Bentancur
Richarlison
Perisic
Bissouma
Lenglet

thats more than Jose and Poch got

People begging to have him backed when he's gotten that so far and yet everyone says we "backed Poch" after we gave him 2 senior players in one Summer.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Couldnt blame him if he walked, he has not been backed with the quality of player required, like many his predecessors. Made some strange decisions today in relation to his subs, but there are others that need to go before he is at the head of the queue.

Pochettino took us to the brink of the title and was rewarded with a summer window of no signings whatsoever. He then achieved a top 4 finish and got us to the Champions League final.

Conte got us back into the top 4 and was subsequently backed more than any manager has been in our history. He’s since bitched and moaned about us not being competitive, refused to commit to a new deal and now has us playing some of the worst football I’ve ever laid eyes on.

What’s his excuse? He should walk now before he is rightfully sacked.