swap. Poch or Conte?

[EastLondonYid]

I'm still pinching myself that we actually have Conte..

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Poch was a busted flush when he left us, and nothing has changed there. I hope he goes to Utd, they’ll be fucked for another two seasons.

 

[allatsea]

With the various merry-go-round moves and rumours of late, let's imagine that Poch jumps from PSG to Man U mid-season.

If offered a straight swap, would you take Poch back and let ManU have Conte, or would you stick with Conte and face Poch in the Old Trafford dugout?

fwiw, I'd find it a tough decision when considering the history and emotions, but overall I'd stick with Conte.

No. Poch has not IMO proven himself to be a top tier Manager. He is at his best when he is in a situation like he was when he arrived at Spurs. Get rid of troublemakers and wasters and then focus on the talented youngsters. Once he has them unto speed he seems to have limited ideas on how to progress the team further.

 

[qqq1]

I love Poch. He's been the best performing manager we've had in my lifetime. However I think he's hugely over rated as a manager by some of our fans. He's a decent manager but he has too many shortcomings to be considered a top manager. He might develop into one in the future but I don't think he will.

 

[EastLondonYid]

Poch was a great fit for us at the right time, he had a great group of players and done well with them at a delicate time in our history, getting us top 4 consistantly over a difficult period whilst the new stadium build and with very little spend....loved Poch and always will...............

But i believe Conte would have won us the league with the players we had then....

 

[McArchibald]

Pochettino is nostalgia - Conte is the future.

 

[cider spurs]

Conte all day long for me.

Happy we've got a fully fledged bastardo type as a manager.

Takes no shit, not too shabby at winning the odd cup or two.

Here's hoping he can work his magic at Spurs.

Poch, comes across as a decent bloke, but he isn't close to Conte when it comes to the .managerial side of things.

 

[wrd]

I love Poch but we have a manager in Conte who I think will be considered the best in the world bar none once he drags us kicking and screaming to the very top and I have full belief that he will. I'll always be gutted that Poch left the club without that big trophy and I felt his work warranted him to be the one to break our trophy hoodoo and no better than the big one in Madrid but it didn't happen and I'm sad he and players like Eriksen, Vertonghen, Demebele didn't get over that big win but a line has been drawn over that era for a long time. Conte has no divisiveness about him which marred the managers after Poch before him and I think Conte will go down as the best manager we've had in decades by the time he's done with us. I also think Conte has shown this club a hell of a lot of respect in my opinion and us fans should do the same in return by looking forward and not back.

 

[Aphex]

Poch isn't a patch on Conte.

Conte schooled us when we had Poch in the Cup as well over the league campaign. Remember Son at WB tot ry and match Conte's system. It was one of the worst tactical decisions I've ever seen.

Conte is as good as it gets, up there with Klopp and Pep. Poch is the level below.

Poch will go United, he want sto return to the PL and United have wanted him for years. It will suck to see him there but really some people really need to move on from Poch, it's bordering on embarassing.

 

[SSC]

The head says Conte, the heart says Poch.

Bottom line is if you get the chance to sign an elite manager like Conte in his prime, you take it. Emotion cant come into these things. I do love the thought of Poch returning one day, even if it never happens we have a bond with the man beyond your normal ex-manager. I hope if/when he goes to Utd that feeling isnt destroyed but the club has to move on and evolve, if our paths cross again at the right time for both sides then great, but that time is not now.

 

[ShelfWatcher]

Conte all day long, Poch was a good manager for us, but his record is nowhere near Conte's

 

[talbot64]

Best thing for Poch would be to get some trophies on his cv. I hope he sticks out the season at PSG.

I really don’t want him at Utd as is a massive improvement on Ole and their squad is actually very good and they have money to improve further. Need to keep them down as long as possible

 

[TheTanguy]

Best thing for Poch would be to get some trophies on his cv. I hope he sticks out the season at PSG.

I really don’t want him at Utd as is a massive improvement on Ole and their squad is actually very good and they have money to improve further. Need to keep them down as long as possible

I think it's a bit of a myth that their squad is very good. They've got a couple of great players, but their defence is bang average and central midfield a mess. They need at least 4 top signings to even compete with teams like City and Chelsea at the moment.

 

[JimmyG2]

'Love the one you're with'
until such time.... but certainly not yet.

 

[JoaoPereira]

honestly I don't want Poch to ever come back unless we are in a position where we can't just mess it up which we all know it won't happen. there's a possibility he puts up a stinker and his image is tarnished. he wrote some magnificent chapters that are tough to replicate.

 

[Guntz]

Conte tactically destroyed Poch in that FA Cup semi-final back in 2017.

We were bang in form leading up to that game, with our strongest team and they had their two best players in Hazard and Costa not even starting.

I love Poch more than anyone, but Conte is by far the superior manager.

 

[wadewill]

It very well might happen. Been talking for weeks, and why they are looking for an interim coach. It's my opinion why they were happy to stick with Ole and limp through until the end of the season.

That seems like it was always the plan with keeping Ole on, unfortunately there has been smoke where Poch-United has been concerned since "that" Fergie dinner.

Problem for United is how unbelievably disjointed their squad is, its not an overnight thing and I'm not sure Poch would be a definite success there... although that might be might heart rather than my head.

 

[Blake Griffin]

i think fans have a warped view of judging managers, you can't just say a is better than b and b better than c. obviously at extreme ends of the spectrum that claim can be made but it's mostly about the fit between manager and club. ranking managers based on their c.v and trophy haul is a total misnomer.

just like f1 drivers though, managers are ultimately limited to what they have to work with. lewis hamilton isn't winning titles in a williams and the same principle applies in football.

 

[Timberwolf]

Poch isn't a patch on Conte.

Conte schooled us when we had Poch in the Cup as well over the league campaign. Remember Son at WB tot ry and match Conte's system. It was one of the worst tactical decisions I've ever seen.

Conte is as good as it gets, up there with Klopp and Pep. Poch is the level below.

Poch will go United, he want sto return to the PL and United have wanted him for years. It will suck to see him there but really some people really need to move on from Poch, it's bordering on embarassing.

Tbf Poch beat Conte convincingly 2-0 at the Lane that season, ending Chelsea's mad winning streak, and IIRC we also played really bloody well in the semi final we lost. It felt like everything Chelsea touched just flew in that day and with a bit of luck (and... tbf maybe not playing Son at wing back) we would've won that game. That's not to say I don't rate Conte - but I don't really buy the narrative that he 'schooled' Poch during his tenure as we also rinsed Chelsea 3-1 the following season. Agree with everything else you said though.

Anyway to answer the main question, I think Poch was a special manager for us, but we'd be mad to bring him back at all, let alone to replace Conte. Poch was losing his way towards the end and I don't think he's found his mojo back at PSG, whereas Conte is a proven world-class manager across multiple clubs and a huge coup.

If we ever bring back Poch I fully expect it to end in tears, as much as I love the guy. Much better to look forward to fresh managers with new ideas and right now there's barely a manager in world football we could have better than Conte.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]