Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Hakkz]

Example: Conte identifies another Diaz in the summer. Levy says OK, he's worth 50m, we'll offer 30 and try and squeeze every last penny out of Porto until 31/08. Then another Liverpool come in and snap up the player paying something close to the 50m sought. Do you think Conte will like that? Because that's Levy's modus operandi.

Funny thing then that Paratici is the one doing the business and negotiating. I know it doesn't fit your agend, sorry.

 

[dontcallme]

Funny thing then that Paratici is the one doing the business and negotiating. I know it doesn't fit your agend, sorry.

It's unbelievable that fan genuinely think us missing out on players to Liverpool is due to simple money rather than the fact that they are clearly bigger and better than us.

 

[wrd]

It's unbelievable that fan genuinely think us missing out on players to Liverpool is due to simple money rather than the fact that they are clearly bigger and better than us.

I like the part that on January 5th, Liverpool wouldn't have gazumped us but on January 28th they could.

 

[double0]

You have to say though that Conte is a manager who kicks every ball and spends every single second of the match living it and barking instructions and organising the team. Yet tonight from minute one he just stood there in silence and with zero energy like he wasn't really up for this match. It doesn't take a cynic to ask if this demeanour and attitude rubbed off on the team also........ It mirrored the manager, lacking energy, lacking passion, totally half-arsed.

Really. Conte shouldn't have to be on an emotional roller-coaster for the players to turn up.

Kane wants medals etc but did he do enough as a striker against boro to merit going through to the next round...Kane showing up against Man C and then strolling around against other teams because we can't rotate him is a big part of the problem.

 

[mil1lion]

Conte can only play a 343 formation, if he doesn’t have the quality players for this formation, he still plays it. A good manager works with what they have, we should be playing 352 or 442, but conte can’t do that. People will not like this, but I think conte is one dimensional and he wouldn’t bother me, if he goes…

He literally changed formation only last night

 

[JCRD]

It's unbelievable that fan genuinely think us missing out on players to Liverpool is due to simple money rather than the fact that they are clearly bigger and better than us.

More annoying is when you listen to certain shows on youtube etc or listen to pundits and they say why didnt spurs put down the money earlier - it would have made no fucking difference except that Liverpool would have come in earlier. Or Barcelona would have come in earlier. There would have been no difference to the outcome only the timing. Fucking stupid idiots like really infuriates the fuck out of me.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

Example: Conte identifies another Diaz in the summer. Levy says OK, he's worth 50m, we'll offer 30 and try and squeeze every last penny out of Porto until 31/08. Then another Liverpool come in and snap up the player paying something close to the 50m sought. Do you think Conte will like that? Because that's Levy's modus operandi.

What happened with Diaz is Paratici agreed the deal and conditions, then apparently Mendes passed on every detail to Liverpool and they offered exactly the same, a move which Diaz and his agent preferred no doubt for profile reasons.

 

[mil1lion]

I will always support the person in the hotseat. I didn't want Jose but while he was here I got behind him, same with Nuno. I didn't want Conte but will support him while he is here.

BUT, he has to take some of the responsibility for our form. It's not ALL on the players, and it's not ALL on him. It's on all of them. If he has no responsibility then why bother having a manager in the first place?

It doesn't help that we swing from one extreme to the other in terms of managers. Players bought for one manager are not necessarily going to be the right players for the next if they have completely different systems. I thought this was the whole idea behind having a DoF. ?‍

It's all very well blaming Winks for all our ills but both Kane and Son were shocking last night along with Winks. If Kane wants to win trophies so bad he has a funny way of showing it on last night's evidence.

I wish the narrative of "the same players" would just go. It's completely untrue. Roughly half of the starting 11 have changed since Poch's time. The half that has stayed the same include our 3 best players in Lloris, Son and Kane.

That's incredibly harsh on Kane. It was very clear he was fatigued last night as was Son. Yet Son has actually been subbed off but Kane never is. He put the effort in last night but was very leggy and I'm not surprised.

 

[JCRD]

What happened with Diaz is Paratici agreed the deal and conditions, then apparently Mendes passed on every detail to Liverpool and they offered exactly the same, a move which Diaz and his agent preferred no doubt for profile reasons.

And he has been here for five mins and already won more than Kane. It really is absurd.

 

[dimiSpur]

Funny thing then that Paratici is the one doing the business and negotiating. I know it doesn't fit your agend, sorry.

I'm sorry, do you have me confused with someone else? I don't have an anti-Levy agenda. Quite the contrary, he's done some great things for the Club.

Recognising his faults and mistakes, of which are plenty, isn't having an anti-Levy agenda. Oppositely, if you're sitting there saying that anyone who criticises Levy has an agenda, it probably means you are the one with the pro-Levy agenda pal.

He's made some royal cock-ups in his time and if, and I state again IF, he's brought in Conte to polish current turds, or build a team with a 3+ year plan, then it will be the biggest cock up yet.

What part of that do you disagree with and why is it anti-Levy?

 

[Tarricko]

I keep seeing the coach vs manager argument on here and I was thinking about it after the game last night.

Before I continue, I absolutely do not want to see Conte sacked. We need to support and back him well into next season, unless something insane like a relegation battle happens.

But I do wonder about this handful of "elite" managers and what it truly means. I'm starting think that managers like Conte, Jose, Pep etc are indeed world class managers, but only at elite clubs. What I mean by this is these are the top managers that belong at the top clubs, clubs set up for success. They manage the highest expectations, deal with the most pressure, handle the biggest egos and are on the right side of those small margins that make a successful team.

Then you have managers you might call coaches, such a Poch, Potter and Hasenhuttl. These coaches create well drilled teams that are often better than the sum of their parts. They exceed expectations. These managers are often successful at those clubs outside of elite, but inside the top 10 of their respective leagues. Well run clubs with a good mixture of impressionable and eager youth and experience.

Then you get the relegation fighting managers, maybe like Allardyce and Dyce . The managers that keep teams up, play the most practical, pragmatic football. It isn't the prettiest but these managers get the best out of average players, often on low budgets.

Could Guardiola stroll into Burnley and outperform Dyce? Could Allardyce do what Conte does? No. Managers and clubs are not always comparable. There are different, expectations, setups and challenges.

I guess my point is, is Conte at Spurs a bit like putting diesel in your Ferrari? Are we ever going to act like a big club. If not, the whole thing is pointless isn't it?

Just some thoughts / poor quality opinions.

 

[Tarricko]

More annoying is when you listen to certain shows on youtube etc or listen to pundits and they say why didnt spurs put down the money earlier - it would have made no fucking difference except that Liverpool would have come in earlier. Or Barcelona would have come in earlier. There would have been no difference to the outcome only the timing. Fucking stupid idiots like really infuriates the fuck out of me.

Surely the point of putting down money earlier is that it would have left us with more time for contingencies if another club came in? I think that is what annoys people. Not fuck about until the last day and end up with nothing.

 

[PLTuck]

That's incredibly harsh on Kane. It was very clear he was fatigued last night as was Son. Yet Son has actually been subbed off but Kane never is. He put the effort in last night but was very leggy and I'm not surprised.

That's fair comment and speaks to the wider squad issues. I probably was a bit harsh on Kane, but for whatever reason Conte started him and he didn't perform. If you are manager, then part of that is to manage players minutes and fitness.

 

[JCRD]

Surely the point of putting down money earlier would have left us with more time for contingences if another club came in? I think that is what annoys people. Not fuck about until the last day and end up with nothing.

Valid point and I agree but dont think that is the point others are making - I genuinely think they think if we put the money down we would have got the players in question...

Also we did have contingencies and two of them came (Kulusevski and Bentancur happened very quickly). Werent we told that Paratici tends to have five or six on the go and then pulls the trigger...

Also there is backing Conte, which I keep hearing a lot of and being financially negligent. Bringing in say another RWB when we have two on our books just isnt sensible. We need to get rid of them. Same for LWB and same for someone like Winks.

It is funny when someone like Winks plays and people want to get rid of him - but doesnt Conte want him to stay? Is that backing Conte that we should get rid regardless of what he wants?

 

[ajspurs]

Can’t underestimate fatigue though. It’s another factor in why I find it impossible to believe we are capable of putting any sort of run together.

I think we looked shattered yesterday to be honest, that's why after having a night to sleep on it I don't want to be too harsh on individual performances. Bergwijn, who hasn't played much football, looked noticeably sharper than anyone else did at any stage of the match. Of course only in hindsight as I thought even fatigued, our team would be way too strong, but going with Bergwijn and Lucas (had he been fit) may have made a massive difference. Not to mention not being able to freshen up the centre of midfield at any stage of the match either.

I don't have any faith in this squad at all but at least there's the tiniest thing to hold onto in Bentancur and Skipp still to come back into the side, as well as a lot of 1 week breaks between games from now until the end of the season.

I'd personally love to transition into a midfield 3 of Bentancur, Skipp and Hojbjerg but don't think Conte fancies the 3-5-2 for whatever reason. It feels even more appealing to me now that we're getting even more from the wingbacks in an increasingly contributing Doherty and Sessegnon

 

[Deleted member 29446]

Has this been posted?

 

[Tarricko]

Bringing in say another RWB when we have two on our books just isnt sensible. We need to get rid of them. Same for LWB and same for someone like Winks.

Not saying I disagree but if City or Chelsea had a recent signing under performing in a crucial area, they would just go out and buy another one. They want to win above all else.

I know we can't do that. But that's the difference. The more I go down this route the more I just end up convincing myself we can never compete unless we get some awful oligarch or head of state owning us.

 

[JCRD]

Not saying I disagree but if City or Chelsea had a recent signing under performing in a crucial area, they would just go out and buy another one. They want to win above all else.

I know we can't do that. But that's the difference. The more I go down this route the more I just end up convincing myself we can never compete unless we get some awful oligarch or head of state owning us.

I dont think theyre the teams we ought to be comparing how we do things, id say Liverpool would be the team. I dont think Liverpool would go out and just by. Man City and Chelsea can - they have unlimited funds. We dont.

 

[hellava_tough]

Not saying I disagree but if City or Chelsea had a recent signing under performing in a crucial area, they would just go out and buy another one. They want to win above all else.

I know we can't do that. But that's the difference. The more I go down this route the more I just end up convincing myself we can never compete unless we get some awful oligarch or head of state owning us.

We need to get more out of the resources and infrastructure currently available to us.

Once we do that, then we can assess whether we need a sugar-daddy running us or not.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

I think we looked shattered yesterday to be honest, that's why after having a night to sleep on it I don't want to be too harsh on individual performances. Bergwijn, who hasn't played much football, looked noticeably sharper than anyone else did at any stage of the match. Of course only in hindsight as I thought even fatigued, our team would be way too strong, but going with Bergwijn and Lucas (had he been fit) may have made a massive difference. Not to mention not being able to freshen up the centre of midfield at any stage of the match either.

I don't have any faith in this squad at all but at least there's the tiniest thing to hold onto in Bentancur and Skipp still to come back into the side, as well as a lot of 1 week breaks between games from now until the end of the season.

I'd personally love to transition into a midfield 3 of Bentancur, Skipp and Hojbjerg but don't think Conte fancies the 3-5-2 for whatever reason. It feels even more appealing to me now that we're getting even more from the wingbacks in an increasingly contributing Doherty and Sessegnon

I think fatigue is also responsible for the inconsistency in general- Conte has brought in a high fitness regime and the players bodies aren't used to it. They perform well after a longer break between games but can't after short ones, hence WLWLWLL. He's trying to do pre-season catch up during the season.