- Aug 8, 2019
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I’m not excusing anything. Everyone is at fault here. Trust me I’m not a fan of the stubbornness, specifically in personnel where Son is rendered useless if he keeps having to come short. I don’t even give a shit if the team is entertaining or not, but at this point the most logical thing to do given the state of our defence is to try to out score opponents. The defensive personnel in general can’t be trusted in a passive block, so I’d probably just use the more aggressive mid press we used v city in both games and get another forward on the pitch in place of Perisic and see what happens. Danjuma/richarlison left no 10 position and Son LWB with a block 5 yards higher and supporting the press. 442 without the ball, with the ball Son starts wider to have more space to run into and can still access the dangerous areas he historically scores/assists from. My big complaint is that Conte is stubborn in this way, and that’s completely different to saying he’s a bad manager in 2023. We saw last season with mostly the same players that we were destroying teams frequently with the same coach and same formation. As I already said, I do think Son’s role change is baffling and probably the main cause behind the poor play individually and collectively.Nah, it really is up for debate at this point. In 2023 his football philosophy and approach is actually hurting us, negatively impacting the players. We have been solved by 25 different sides now, we have no actual identity or pattern of play, and we look clueless against a 3 man midfield.
Simply put what Conte has done in the past doesn’t excuse this. The quality of Andres Iniesta isn’t up for debate either but there’s a reason he’s playing in bloody Japan. It’s time to take Conte out of the elite manager conversation. No elite manager, given £150m to spend over 3 windows, would be this poor.
But what is important is Conte’s system has been fine when he has the personnel required to execute the patterns. The stubbornness probably comes from the fact his style hasn’t really failed him anywhere in the past decade. Switching it up is probably a lot easier from the average fan’s point of view than from the man who has won major trophies consistently since 2010. He probably thinks his way is the best way, and I don’t blame him for that because the facts back him up. The key is realizing that isn’t the case with his current side. I have no doubt the style won’t be an issue with a more reliable defence with a higher level of quality. I will, however, continue to find issue with simple things like having Son play in a way that emphasizes his worst qualities and negates his best. That I won’t argue with. But to say time has passed his system by just isn’t true currently, and if it is true, it will only be found out several years down the line if he fails at other clubs trying the same things as he has tried here.
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