Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Joshua shepherd]

I don't remember us having the 4th best squad.

I do wonder what might have happened if we truly backed Conte. One thing is for certain his first season we looked really good at times.

Sanchez, Dier, Davies, sessegnon, Royal, Hojbjerg, bergwijn, Lucas, winks. On the wind up suggesting we had the 4th best squad in the league at that point. We had two genuine world class players, two players who came in and made an instant impact and the rest were sub par for a top four finish.

I still think we don’t realise how good Kane was for us, our team now is much better than that one but with son on the decline and Kane gone we’re missing so much of what made us compete for top four for so long.

 

[CookieYiddo]

An Elite manager no doubt but also a baby who threw his toys out and of the pram and spoke about our club like it was beneath him and we should be thankful he is even in the building.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

I don't remember us having the 4th best squad.

I do wonder what might have happened if we truly backed Conte. One thing is for certain his first season we looked really good at times.

If we spent on older players on big wages we would have eventually found success. Problem is the football was too defensive so fans are always one defeat away for calling for him to be sack. Also, Conte has no interest in developing young players/using the academy.

Both playing attacking football and developing young players are key facets to the spurs DNA/culture so he was just the wrong fit for us as a club.

In fact, I would say overall he is the wrong fit for the prem full stop. I’ve got a good friend who is a Napoli supporter and he recognises that fans at Italian clubs are at ease with defensive football so you don’t get the same kind of negativity in the stadium from a defensive performance as you did when he was at spurs.

I know Conte had success at Chelsea but that was a club where winning is the only thing they care about so you don’t get the same expectations from the fans over the style of football.

 

[YB123]

I don't remember us having the 4th best squad.

I do wonder what might have happened if we truly backed Conte. One thing is for certain his first season we looked really good at times.

Agreed. Ridiculous statement.

 

[djhotspur]

People seem to conveniently forget this. Yes his second season was a disaster, but he lost all interest after the Summer window imo and then blew up for that reason(plus all the bereavements). Like many others he wasn't backed, end of story for me. Yes he could have handled things miles better, but he knew it was a lost cause and so sulked and bitched his way to a pay off........ because he could.

Yeah be interesting to see what he could do with the back 6 we have now, if he had porro, romero, dragusin, VDV, Udogie as his starters, that's a huge step up from what we had. Obivously he had Kane, but bar that the squad is miles stronger now.

 

[TOLBINY]

He got us top4 with 4th/5th best squad in the league.
Considering we didn’t play in Europe when the rest of our competition played it was a good job, but nothing like a miracle.

Did you bother to read the quote - he said "I can't do miracles"

 

[Albertbarich]

He wasn’t the right fit for Levy so it was doomed and yes he clearly lost interest after the summer window. Remember him asking for Bastoni and getting Lenglet? But he certainly was right about the culture .

It rips through the club. Top four is everything . Trophies are part of a long standing never ending project, because poor old enic can never compete with the evil Man City and others.

The club isn’t set up to win, it’s set up to get more revenue and there is a big difference. Conte for all his many many faults is desperate to win at any cost.

 

[TOLBINY]

Sanchez, Dier, Davies, sessegnon, Royal, Hojbjerg, bergwijn, Lucas, winks. On the wind up suggesting we had the 4th best squad in the league at that point. We had two genuine world class players, two players who came in and made an instant impact and the rest were sub par for a top four finish.

I still think we don’t realise how good Kane was for us, our team now is much better than that one but with son on the decline and Kane gone we’re missing so much of what made us compete for top four for so long.

You forgot Doherty, Tanganga, Rodon and Skipp.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Did you bother to read the quote - he said "I can't do miracles"

He was directly quoting Guntz's light hearted comment (which I assume he didn't see as a joke)

I mean...., he did get us into the top 4 with Sessegnon, Emerson, Dier, and Davies as starters.

That sounds like a miracle to me!

He got us top4 with 4th/5th best squad in the league.
Considering we didn’t play in Europe when the rest of our competition played it was a good job, but nothing like a miracle.

 

[kmk]

 

[alfie103]

If we spent on older players on big wages we would have eventually found success. Problem is the football was too defensive so fans are always one defeat away for calling for him to be sack. Also, Conte has no interest in developing young players/using the academy.

Both playing attacking football and developing young players are key facets to the spurs DNA/culture so he was just the wrong fit for us as a club.

In fact, I would say overall he is the wrong fit for the prem full stop. I’ve got a good friend who is a Napoli supporter and he recognises that fans at Italian clubs are at ease with defensive football so you don’t get the same kind of negativity in the stadium from a defensive performance as you did when he was at spurs.

I know Conte had success at Chelsea but that was a club where winning is the only thing they care about so you don’t get the same expectations from the fans over the style of football.

Is developing young players a key facet to the Spurs DNA/culture? Who decided that?

 

[SUIYHA]

Getting us into the top four in his first season, with the squad we had, playing the great football the way we did, and after the way we'd been playing for the last couple of years - was nothing short of a miracle.

Having the second season he did, with over £100m net spent, the easiest Champions League draws we could ever expect to get, going out of both cups to lower league opposition, every single player in the squad except Bentancur regressing, and playing diabolical football littered with tactical disasterclasses in big games - was nothing short of gross incompetence.

Both of those things are true. And just for the record, we were in "4th" when he was sacked but only because we'd played multiple games more than everyone around us - if they won their games in hand (which they did) we dropped down to 7th.

 

[Hercules]

To be fair, where were we in the league when he left?

 

[SUIYHA]

To be fair, where were we in the league when he left?

7th when accounting for games in hand

 

[stevespurs]

I hated the whole second season. Hated it!

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

just heard this back, and yes same culture still exists within the club. Also as i havent been following Serie A this season, didnt realise Napoli were so far clear. So another one (whether player or manager) that suffers at Spurs but nowhere else

'Culture' stems from the top of organisations, always has always will.

I wish people would stop blaming our players and managers, its Levy and the board downwards, we are a profit making entertainment business not a football club who is run by people who know or want to go all out to win.

This is the 'culture' problem.

 

[RuskyM]

So glad this wiggy **** fucked off.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Is developing young players a key facet to the Spurs DNA/culture? Who decided that?

Since ENIC took over a key part of their strategy was buying young talent and developing them. Eriksen, Bale, Lennon, Huddlestone, Dawson, Dele, Son etc... etc....

We're not a club who wants to focus on buying too many 29 yr olds on high wages - which is what Conte would have preferred.

 

[Goobers]

I don't hate Antonio at all. I really feel for him on a personal level for the last 9 months of his managership which must have been a very difficult time for him. But I am so glad he ain't our manager anymore.

 

[alfie103]

Since ENIC took over a key part of their strategy was buying young talent and developing them. Eriksen, Bale, Lennon, Huddlestone, Dawson, Dele, Son etc... etc....

We're not a club who wants to focus on buying too many 29 yr olds on high wages - which is what Conte would have preferred.

We aren't a club like that mainly because ENIC choose to operate in that way. ENIC and Tottenham are two separate things.