Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[THE SPURSBOY]

Im going to west ham game with a west ham fan hes confident im not says it all

 

[mil1lion]

When people say we have players who have stunk the place out for too long, the only two players they're really thinking of are Dier and Davies. And maybe also Sanchez.

For most of the rest of the squad, that simply isn't the case, as you show.

Lloris, Dier and Davies have been costly this season. That's 3 in the first team and the same area of the pitch. In regards to Dier I do honestly think a better ball playing keeper would replace the need for him at all. Ter Stegen is as good a passer as him for example. It just feels like Dier is just there to deputise for the distribution of Lloris. Then we have Davies who is so unbelievably clueless with the ball at his feet, only good defending. Lenglet is the alternative but the opposite who is good on the ball but so poor defending. Those are fundamental positions where everything builds from and 1 mistake leading to a goal changes the complexion of a game.

 

[Harrier]

No top team succeeds with a defence this poor.

Agreed, but it makes little sense to persevere with a system that surrenders possession and constantly camps in your own area, allowing far more opportunities for the opposition to exploit this poor defence.

Conte seems to be a one trick pony, and that trick ain’t working!

 

[Freddie]

Sarr literally just showed how good a signing he is. Romero is our best centre back. Emerson has proven to be a quality defender. The signings under Paratici have been overall good. We just need more particularly in defence.

A handful of good performances from Sarr and Royal...let's not get carried away. Look at how we're performing and how poorly a lot of the individuals in our starting eleven are performing. Our squad is miles off where it should be.

Also LOL at Romero being our best centre back. That just means he's better than Dier. He's putting in as many average performances as great ones.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I'm not going to name the players because a lot of you have been brainwashed...............

Go on, I dare you. Show the brainwashed the path to enlightenment

 

[Marty]

Lloris, Dier and Davies have been costly this season. That's 3 in the first team and the same area of the pitch. In regards to Dier I do honestly think a better ball playing keeper would replace the need for him at all. Ter Stegen is as good a passer as him for example. It just feels like Dier is just there to deputise for the distribution of Lloris. Then we have Davies who is so unbelievably clueless with the ball at his feet, only good defending. Lenglet is the alternative but the opposite who is good on the ball but so poor defending. Those are fundamental positions where everything builds from and 1 mistake leading to a goal changes the complexion of a game.

I'm not at all disagreeing that those players you mention have been a problem for us for too long.

But the way such complaints are often framed, you'd think we haven't changed any parts of the squad since 2017. We've made wholesale changes in most areas of the pitch in the last three years, but the job done in those areas hasn't been good enough.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

There you go. We are so predictable.

You stop Kane and Son and you stop Tottenham and it’s been that way for more than just Conte’s tenure. Ever since we lost Eriksen and Prime Dele it’s been that easy.

 

[mil1lion]

Agreed, but it makes little sense to persevere with a system that surrenders possession and constantly camps in your own area, allowing far more opportunities for the opposition to exploit this poor defence.

Conte seems to be a one trick pony, and that trick ain’t working!

Yeah but like I said everything builds from the back. It's not even like we boot the ball long all the time under Conte. We do try to play out but the players just don't have the quality for it. There is definitely an issue under Conte and his system though and I would certainly be for more attacking football. I just don't think we'll be a success with these defenders regardless. I do feel Alderweireld and Vertonghen were fundamental to our success under Poch. They were the best central pairing in the league for a few years. Liverpool literally transformed with Allison and VVD. They gained about 20+ points a season. When VVD got injured the drop off was huge.

 

[Black]

Go on, I dare you. Show the brainwashed the path to enlightenment

You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

I do feel Alderweireld and Vertonghen were fundamental to our success under Poch.

?

Not only as a great CB pairing, but both had experience playing at FB - which meant they were capable of covering out wide when our FBs bombed forward

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

I'm not at all disagreeing that those players you mention have been a problem for us for too long.

But the way such complaints are often framed, you'd think we haven't changed any parts of the squad since 2017. We've made wholesale changes in most areas of the pitch in the last three years, but the job done in those areas hasn't been good enough.

We’ve largely replaced players in the squad with Lower quality, that’s the problem.

The only top class signing we’ve intentionally paid for is Richarlison. Bentancur, Kulusevski were both considered punts.

How are we meant to compete when we barely spend £25-30 million on first team replacements when our rivals are spending upwards of £50 all the way up to around £90 million in the same positions.

Now I know not all players with high fees end up being world class, but I can bet you the percentage of those that work out is much higher and correlates to a higher transfer fee.

Until we are willing to go out on a limb and spend properly across the pitch, we will always be behind the pack and slowly but surely we are heading toward mid table mediocrity if things don’t change soon. The world isn’t standing still while Levy and co get their shit together.

 

[mil1lion]

A handful of good performances from Sarr and Royal...let's not get carried away. Look at how we're performing and how poorly a lot of the individuals in our starting eleven are performing. Our squad is miles off where it should be.

Also LOL at Romero being our best centre back. That just means he's better than Dier. He's putting in as many average performances as great ones.

Actually it makes Romero better than Dier, Sanchez, Davies, Tanganga and Lenglet. I would say its more than a handful for Emerson but the complaint is always his attacking quality but defending he has been our most consistent wing back. For Sarr we literally have only a handful of games to judge him anyway. Honestly the quality we've signed is far and above what we had before. Even Bissouma is far better than Winks even if we are not seeing him at his best yet. Richarlison may not be playing much but he's far better than the likes of Jansen, Llorente or Vinicius who came before. Its not just Kulusevski and Bentancur but they are clearly the 2 who jave improved the first team. We did need a strong squad though and it's getting there. It's just the first team hasn't been finished yet so we're no seeing enough improvement.

 

[Styopa]

Yeah but like I said everything builds from the back. It's not even like we boot the ball long all the time under Conte. We do try to play out but the players just don't have the quality for it. There is definitely an issue under Conte and his system though and I would certainly be for more attacking football. I just don't think we'll be a success with these defenders regardless. I do feel Alderweireld and Vertonghen were fundamental to our success under Poch. They were the best central pairing in the league for a few years. Liverpool literally transformed with Allison and VVD. They gained about 20+ points a season. When VVD got injured the drop off was huge.

I broadly agree with regards to our issues at CB but then you have to ask what on earth has Paratici been doing? Our transfer spending under him has not been insignificant. I don't see how there was money in the budget for someone like Richarlison but not for another high-quality CB. In fact if Dier and Davies are as bad as some here are suggesting it should be easy to replace them with better players?

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it

So you got nothing. Fair enough

 

[Black]

So you got nothing. Fair enough

Do not cast your pearls before a swine.

You people aint stupid use your brains, look at what we had to what we now have.

These fraudulent managers have destroyed our club. And you supporters are so hungry for success you allow yourself to be blinded by what's actually going on right n front on your eyes.

 

[muppetman]

You stop Kane and Son and you stop Tottenham and it’s been that way for more than just Conte’s tenure. Ever since we lost Eriksen and Prime Dele it’s been that easy.

I’d argue that you really only needed to stop Eriksen at the time. Since then Kane has become a more creative player but overall you’re spot on.

 

[Albertbarich]

Do not cast your pearls before a swine.

You people aint stupid use your brains, look at what we had to what we now have.

These fraudulent managers have destroyed our club. And you supporters are so hungry for success you allow yourself to be blinded by what's actually going on right n front on your eyes.

You alright mate?

 

[mil1lion]

I'm not at all disagreeing that those players you mention have been a problem for us for too long.

But the way such complaints are often framed, you'd think we haven't changed any parts of the squad since 2017. We've made wholesale changes in most areas of the pitch in the last three years, but the job done in those areas hasn't been good enough.

There's definitely an issue in that we have not set the priorities well enough. For all the squad improvements the first team has not been resolved. That's the key issue because they're the ones starting most games. Most of the signings are good enough to come in if there's injuries. We have made plenty of signings and spent a decent amount. It's just frustrating because we're not addressing the key part of our problem area. We moved a left back to left centre back and a defensive midfielder to centre back which should have been a temporary fix and they're still starting. We have a massive issue of not replacing players until after they decline. It happened with Dembele, then Vertonghen and then Toby, now its happening with Lloris who has hit his decline, Davies and Dier who are also declining yet they weren't good enough in their peak either. Its all well and good if we sign 20 players and spend x hundred million but actually when you see the first team still has not been fully addressed its a big issue. Its because we have no transfer strategy and jump from one player to the next in different positions who are different styles. There's more to signings than individual players and the quality they possess. A lot of signings made sense just not at the expense of improving the first team.

 

[Timberwolf]

I also don’t get his and the players mentality.

Son’s interview post Leicester defeat included similar words to ‘being cautious because Leicester are a very dangerous team’.

Like seriously? every team has some form of threat, you just manage this threat whilst also imposing yourselves on the opposition. There’s ‘managing the game’ and then there’s our approach of ‘shit the bed, rinse and repeat’.

All’ sides in the EPL and in Europe will look at our attack and rightfully shit themselves as Son, Kane and Kulusevski should be putting the fear of God into the opposition with Danjuma and Richarlison also offering a threat from the bench.

Yet for some stupid reason our negative tactics renders our front 3 as pretty much passengers. They’re easy to mark and keep subdued.

On the ‘odd’ occasion we’ve actually played on the front foot this season we’ve created chances for fun, scored actual goals and won games.

With the exception of Kane none of our other attacking players can perform with their back to goal so why the hell do we keep setting up this way?

Also pretty funny if we went into that game trying to be cautious and promptly got slapped 4-1 (and were lucky to keep the scoreline to 4).

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Do not cast your pearls before a swine.

You people aint stupid use your brains, look at what we had to what we now have.

These fraudulent managers have destroyed our club. And you supporters are so hungry for success you allow yourself to be blinded by what's actually going on right n front on your eyes.

cast your pearls? haha, it's literally what everyone on here does

But if you're that reluctant to fill in the blanks and withhold your opinion because people on here are brainwashed and idiots, then what are you even doing here. Pointless.