Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Didnt he bring in kulu to turn him in to a RWB. The guy doesnt seem like hes got much pace for that role but we'll see if he ever tries him out there.

I really, really hope not because a slow left footer playing at wing back just sounds like a recipe for disaster. We saw how ineffective Doherty was when he tried him at LWB.

 

[KH1882]

This will only end in one way.

 

[number41]

It’s not like he will leave until after the summer window if he does.

 

[Dean]

His appointment was always going to end in a bad way imo.

He is a great coach but he was never going to fit our club and owners. We were never going to give him the funds and backing he wants to compete at the very top. I was baffled when he came here because despite some of the PR that we’d spend big etc I just didn’t believe we’d ever do enough to satisfy him. He is never satisfied even when he’s been at Juventus, Chelsea and Inter.

Like it or not, the best type of coaches for our club and it’s model are people like Poch, Potter and ten Hag, who work with young players, develop them and create youthful teams with identify to grow and be more than the sum of its parts.

And it doesn’t help that our owners don’t put any of their own money in and make consistently terrible footballing decisions the past few years.

This is not a dig at Conte, he’s a world class coach. But he was never going to fit us and unfortunately I think we are already starting to see it unravel.

I've never voiced an opinion of 'Enic out' on the forum before, despite my internal thoughts, but if this doesn't end well then it's clear to me (as if it isn't already) that they are the problem. The potential issue then is that no manager with any ambition will want to work with them. So we'll just have years of mediocrity to look forward to (again).

Just back the bloody manager!

 

[Jamturk]

Watching inter now and they dominating Liverpool just can’t score

Playing great though

Conte left a great legacy there, 352 playing like a dream.

 

[CookieYiddo]

Happy we have a Manager who will tell the board they are shit and push them to do more. Not happy with how clearly upset he already is at this club and how this absolutely could all collapse in the summer.

 

[spursfan77]

This goes against everything else he’s been saying this month. I think it’s been taken out of context or poorly translated. But who knows. He didn’t expect big names in January. And 2 of our better players were injured. I think people need to relax.

This. 100%.

 

[ajspurs]

Investing in potential is, as a club, exactly what we should be doing. If he's not happy with that, there's been a serious miscommunication at the very top level.

I do think there should be a balance though. I'd love nothing more than to have some experienced 'winners' in and amongst the players with potential.

 

[dontcallme]

I've been waiting for his appointment to be official before sharing my views.

I was one of the ones saying I thought Conte is not the right fit for us, but this doesn't stop me feeling very excited at his hiring. My concerns about him were never anything to do with his quality as a coach..

First of all, I didn't think he'd get past the interview stage. He's known for being demanding and is reported to be asking for a large backroom staff when he joins a club. I thought Levy would be against this and Conte would see that we're not an elite club and he would steer clear. He's respected as one of the top coaches in the world and I thought he would go to an elite club.

There's lots of talk about spending and giving him a war chest. This is all well and good. Our net spend over the last 3 years is £200m plus we're likely to spend another £40m on Romero plus possibly paying up for Gollini. So I hope we continue, not start, to spend in our "painful rebuild."

Where I worry about Conte is that even if we do put up the money, we're not a top destination. I read Dybala's contract ending in the summer. Even if we put up the money the likes of City could blow us out of the water if they wanted to. Is Conte going to be able to handle this?

Everytime we have tried a "next level manager" like Santini, Ramos and Jose it has failed. Pretty spectacularly and quickly too. I believe Jose was backed and failed. I also believe he's pretty much done as a manager now.

Conte though clearly has a future still and all the ambition and passion required to succeed. I think Conte is suited for managing the best and he has a good history of coaching players to be better. I believe there is a huge amount of talent in our squad and we might start to see the best from a few who have previously been struggling.

I have to believe that he was hired and took the job on the basis that he is clear with what he wants and this is going to be provided to him. What he wants is more than simply financial backing in the transfer market.

So yes, I have reservations but I know these are potentially easily remedied. At the moment the excitement is taking over.

I was someone who was concerned about his hiring before he joined us. I didn't think he was the right fit for us and he's used to working with the best and challenging for titles.

On his hiring, I'd hoped that he understood we're not in great shape and there's no quick fix but at the same time we have some good positives.

I really hope he can work with the board and can give us at least 2 full seasons. Him turning us back into challengers for the CL would be a huge achievement for him.

 

[dontcallme]

I do think there should be a balance though. I'd love nothing more than to have some experienced 'winners' in and amongst the players with potential.

Agree. I think the experienced winners will come at the end of the season with a few free transfers or low fees with high salaries. Bale, Modric and an experienced Naybet type centre back to join our younger players would be excellent.

 

[djhotspur]

Playing great though

Conte left a great legacy there, 352 playing like a dream.

Inzaghi improved them. Everyone has said they’re a better side now. I’ve been most impressed with skriniar and dumfries

 

[Dean]

Happy we have a Manager who will tell the board they are shit and push them to do more. Not happy with how clearly upset he already is at this club and how this absolutely could all collapse in the summer.

At the very least interviews like this are all fuel for the ragtops and 'pundits' to stir the pot.

 

[EastUpperDK82]

So Conte hasn't played any roll in Gil, Alli, Lo Celso and N'Dombele leaving... ?? ... okay it might not be 4 players out, 4 players in... and even if they are "young" players Bentancur and Kulusevski are also players he wanted before in Italy... but these quotes sounds like he is rattled by our business in january and major unhappy... come on... it's blown out of proportion...

 

[wadewill]

Playing great though

Conte left a great legacy there, 352 playing like a dream.

Last 10 has been very Spurs though ??

 

[joelstinton14]

This is kinda the stuff we knew we would get from Conte. Whilst it does as it’s positives it’s also has its negatives.
He can’t bemoan losing 4 players, he allegedly, sanctioned the departures off. I was really wary of appointing him pre Nuno, but was proved wrong By a) Nuno dire appointment and how b)fucking good a manager he is but this is the shit I was wary off. Never felt we were the right fit and this feels like the beginning of the end already. I really hope I am wrong again.

The 1% thing seems to be a misquote though, he says he only needs to feel a 1% chance to go for a title or in spurs case 4th.

Have to say, Uniting the fan base against Levy is probably the easiest thing to do right now but all he seems to be doing for the most part is actually turning fans against him. Fans aren’t stupid and don’t like being made mugs out of.

 

[Danfunkel]

Ah more drama before another massive game. Wunderbar.

 

[djhotspur]

Last 10 has been very Spurs though ??

Yup the whole game has. No final product and conceded 1 goal from a set piece and 1 lucky scrappy goal

 

[Jamturk]

Last 10 has been very Spurs though ??

Klopp turned the game with a master triple substitution.

 

[nikojev]

He quite clearly said before the window that we were SHORT on players and that he needed 3 more.

We shipped out 4 and brought in 2, which ofc is two less than before the window in terms of numbers. But then people started saying "oh but in reality these players 4 never played anyway, so if you think about it we really have 2 more players than before the window."

Time and time again we saw what position we needed, but none were filled. You could argue that CM was one of the positions, but the three main ones were RWB, CB and a ST. No shit he's disappointed.

If you go back and listen to his interviews before the window you will see that the comments from this one are in line with what was said before. What happens is that ITK and journos try to change the narrative based on how the window pans out. This is not a knock on people passing on info, but the sad truth is that the club has been terribly run from a footballing stand point and there has been no accountability at all. I think it's rare, or maybe even unheard of, that the whispers from inside the club have painted things as a failiure. As we all know it's never our fault.

It's not the ITKs fault for passing these things on, the problem is the fact that this is the narrative within the club.
It's mindboggling how people were rating our window as 8/10, excellent and so on.

Also, just because Conte is an elite coach who improves players doesnt mean that the club should buy players that are work in progress. He cant polish every fucking thing he gets. Give him some players that need no work at all so he can focus his time on a few ones that need it.

 

[wrd]

Having thought about it, we've been asking for a manager to come out and hold the board to a high standard and it seems he is doing that. He's talking about the profile of Spurs want or are insisting on and we'll see what happens in the summer but if the board want to go down that route then why have they hired this manager. We know he has absolutely smashed it everywhere he goes, everywhere, bar none. This is not a Jose situation where he's been on the decline, we picked Conte up after he showed the peak of his powers at Inter.

I don't like the interview but the part we shouldn't like is the part where I manager is questioning the philosophy of the club and perhaps also questioning the window (though that may be taken out of context) but the reason we shouldn't like it is because if we're hiring this manager then we need to go all in on his ways. I've made no secret of my disappointment of seeing all 4 players shipped out but if we're going to get this manager then back the manager, not half hearted, not get him to fit to our philosophy, ours hasn't worked, his has.

We'll see what happens in the summer but I'm surprised at an interview like this when it seemed we did what he asked and also didn't do certain things to make sure we have a clear run at what he wants in the summer. There can be no excuses in the summer, not a single one.