Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Japhet]

Sarr was great away to Milan in ECL he was awful at home in the NLD. Which Sarr was Conte supposed to pick?

You're right about him being a poor fit - he has a winners mentality.

He was awful in the NLD because numb nuts Conte insisted on 2 in midfield where Arsenal outnumbered us and left us chasing shadows.

 

[RuskyM]

Who's this prick?

 

[Misfit]

Sarr was great away to Milan in ECL he was awful at home in the NLD. Which Sarr was Conte supposed to pick?

You're right about him being a poor fit - he has a winners mentality.

Yes. Conte's genius 2 man midfield was another problem entirely of his own making now that you mention it. I mean, why wouldn't being overrun in the middle game in and game out work, regardless of personnel? A total mystery to which we might never know the answer.

I've actually been quite polite about him to spare the blushes of his supporters but let's face it, the guy harmed his own legacy far more than ours during his tenure. That's nobody's fault but his own. In terms of the financial juggernauts ever again turning to him to shape their fortunes, I think he himself has likely put paid to that at the age of just 54.

 

[14/04/91]

And for Harry Kane as well! The look on his face when he saw Sanchez poised to enter the fray!

I couldn’t even bring myself to lose the plot. I just shook my head and thought ‘please go’. Imagine Ange, Klopp, Pep or pretty much anyone else faced with the same scenario.

 

[14/04/91]

To be honest if I had lost three friends and had medical issues myself (meaning I had to go back and forth between countries away from family etc) in the same period I'd probably struggle to do the job to the best of my abilities and my mind would certainly not be right for it. So I think he should get a bit of slack for that timeframe, but perhaps I am alone on that front.

What he said after Southampton was actually nothing different from what gets said on here about our players. He was wrong to say it in public, but to this day I don't think what he said was completely unfair and I bet he told them face to face as well. We had all thought it at one point hadn't we? I know I did.

But we’re not paid millions to manage the club, the players and keep this sort of thing in-house.
Ange has treated all the players with utmost respect in public, even those he clearly didn’t rate.
Sorry but he wanted to get paid off and stamped his feet like a petulant child to do so; irrespective of personal issues, that was classless and unprofessional.

 

[Johnny J]

I don't think about Conte a lot. At least actively. But sometimes, when I go for a long walk and the wind is howling against me at a specific angle, Antonio suddenly pops into my head. Unbidden. Uncompromising. Unclothed.

We stare at each other there, in the liminal space between spaces. His presence is neither hostile nor friendly. It is as flat and neutral as vanilla ice cream, or a slice of meat-free salami. He has a knowing, expectant look that compels me to quicken my pace. His head is bald and smooth; he has left such vainglorious matters as hair far behind.

And then he leaves as quickly as he arrived, back to an unknown dimension I cannot access, let alone understand. I look around and suddenly the world feels hollow. Somehow emptier than it did mere seconds before, though those brief moments felt as long as watching one of his last matches as our manager.

Is this what Lovecraft's protagonists infamously experienced? The cosmic horror of uncaring, incomprehensible Great Old Ones conducting their business with nary a care for us mere mortals?

When I reach home, I glance behind me. No one is there. Except sometimes the postman, attending to his prosaic affairs.

But as I turn to step through my door, I often sense a gentle Italian whisper on the breeze that I can't quite decipher. And I am glad, because if I could, it would surely drive me insane. I dare not investigate further, but it sounds like - and surely it cannot be - "Two in midfield, Johnny. Always two."

With a shudder, I lock the door and unclench.

 

[mabolsa_ritchey]

Absolute charlatan, and I pray that if we get into Europe that we draw against whichever side he manages next and give them an absolute battering

 

[parj]

I was never a fan of Conte. He needs to be in charge of a team that can sign the best players to win. His first season in charge at Chelsea, if he had UCL we probably win the league based on what happened in his second season there.

However, he is a good manager if you are willing to throw money at him.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Conte is a twat. Move on.

 

[Hoddlegenius]

Why are we still discussing this guy?!!

 

[Johnny J]

Why are we still discussing this guy?!!

Same reason as in Field of Dreams.

 

[ultimateloner]

I rate Conte as a coach. The results speak for themselfs.
I have doubts about his integrity. He is experienced enough to know what is appropriate to say to the media, as an employee and representative of the club.

 

[Nayim60yards]

No it wasn't.

After the United game when Nuno was fired we were 2 points away from any realistic top 4 contenders.

On top of that, Nuno had already played City, Arsenal, Chelsea, United and West Ham (at London Stadium).

View attachment 137895

You are painting a rosier picture than the real situation though. Look at the table below. We had scored 9 goals in those 10 games and were already 11 goals behind Man Utd as well. We had numerous games and halves without even getting shots on target never mind goals and we were sliding down the table with three losses in our last five including two in a row without scoring. Nuno didn't coach us to play shit and not try to score goals, it was because we weren't very good. Conte came in and discovered that for himself when we tried our best to lose to Vitesse in his first game despite being 3-0 up. He got something more out of that group of players than expected and then with our excellent January signings we started to gain some real traction. Arsenal were nailed on for fourth and it was a miracle to pip them to it because all they had to do was not lose to us at the TH and that was that. Conte got us up for that game and we won our last three while they lost two of their three which gave it to us. I don't particularly like Conte's ways but credit where it's due he worked some magic that season.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

You are painting a rosier picture than the real situation though. Look at the table below. We had scored 9 goals in those 10 games and were already 11 goals behind Man Utd as well. We had numerous games and halves without even getting shots on target never mind goals and we were sliding down the table with three losses in our last five including two in a row without scoring. Nuno didn't coach us to play shit and not try to score goals, it was because we weren't very good. Conte came in and discovered that for himself when we tried our best to lose to Vitesse in his first game despite being 3-0 up. He got something more out of that group of players than exoected and then with our excellent January signings we started to gain some real traction. Arsenal were nailed on for fourth and it was a miracle to pip them to it because all they had to do was not lose to us at the TH and that was that. Conte got us up for that game and we won our last three while they lost two of their three which gave it to us. I don't particularly like Conte's ways but credit where it's due he worked some magic that season.

View attachment 137914

I simply responded to a post that agreed with Conte, that it was a miracle that he took us from 9th to 4th when it clearly wasn't.

I agree with most of the above. Nuno was bad. Conte did a really good job in his first season.

He was on course of doing a good job in his 2nd season too. In fact, when he had his temper tantrum following the Saints game, he was 1 point better off than his previous season.

Throwing a season away at a press conference is a far bigger failure than his first season was a success.

 

[VancouverSpur]

I am still lumbered with all them Conte wigs I was trying to flog on match days. Unforgivable that he left.

 

[Nayim60yards]

I am still lumbered with all them Conte wigs I was trying to flog on match days. Unforgivable that he left.

Sell them as merkins mate, you'll clean up!

 

[easley91]

But we’re not paid millions to manage the club, the players and keep this sort of thing in-house.
Ange has treated all the players with utmost respect in public, even those he clearly didn’t rate.
Sorry but he wanted to get paid off and stamped his feet like a petulant child to do so; irrespective of personal issues, that was classless and unprofessional.

I did specifically say it was wrong to do it in public.

 

[Styopa]

I think the press conference was just a sideshow really- a bit of theatre.

Whatever Conte’s intentions were in that conference, I think things had already gone badly wrong behind the scenes. There was obviously a disconnect between Conte and the whole club- the players, the owners and the fans. The press conference was a public culmination of that. It probably hastened his departure but by all accounts he had already decided he was off at the end of the season.

 

[PaulM]

You are painting a rosier picture than the real situation though. Look at the table below. We had scored 9 goals in those 10 games and were already 11 goals behind Man Utd as well. We had numerous games and halves without even getting shots on target never mind goals and we were sliding down the table with three losses in our last five including two in a row without scoring. Nuno didn't coach us to play shit and not try to score goals, it was because we weren't very good. Conte came in and discovered that for himself when we tried our best to lose to Vitesse in his first game despite being 3-0 up. He got something more out of that group of players than exoected and then with our excellent January signings we started to gain some real traction. Arsenal were nailed on for fourth and it was a miracle to pip them to it because all they had to do was not lose to us at the TH and that was that. Conte got us up for that game and we won our last three while they lost two of their three which gave it to us. I don't particularly like Conte's ways but credit where it's due he worked some magic that season.

View attachment 137914

Yeah for me, Conte did very well in the first season not only to get top 4 but to win games that mattered. And we won some of them well. Results-wise, he was a good manager.

However, his combustion at the end, which was undignified and done for selfish reasons, ruined any chance of him being fondly remembered here.

Don't miss him and he has no legacy at Tottenham for me.

 

[mil1lion]

I am still lumbered with all them Conte wigs I was trying to flog on match days. Unforgivable that he left.