Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Metalhead]

I have a vague recollection of Inter fans telling us not to expect any flexibility in the system when he first arrived.

He's not the only one. I mean you could argue for a degree of flexibility but I would suspect that he is not willing to compromise on his beliefs.

 

[Styopa]

Conte will invariably be linked to other clubs whether he stays here just until the end of the season or stays here for the next five years. He will invariably be linked to other clubs whether we are winning everything in sight or regularly looking like we did about Brentford and Brighton every week. That's the nature of the beast. Elite or high potential coaches and players will always be monitored by high profile clubs and the media has every interest in ramping up every little crumb of speculation. Anyway, the average life cycle of a manager at a Premier League club is just over 2 years. There will almost always be speculation about any manager's future.

 

[tony0379]

Maybe he should start telling them we've got 5 semi finals left Instead of finals, as we perform better in semis.

 

[Japhet]

Conte come on, you need to make some changes a HT, and Royal has to be the first to be subbed. Make a statement. A wingback with no purpose of positioning and attempted any cross - he can be taken off.

The irony is that we paid Aurier to fuck off so that we could bring Emerson in. Aurier would have been pretty well suited to RWB, at least a fuck sight better than Emerson.

 

[cjbyid]

I reckon if Skipp was available he'd change things up by putting him in midfield with the other two.

But I agree with the other posts that he has to shake things up

 

[dagraham]

Maybe he should start telling them we've got 5 semi finals left I stead of finals, as we perform better in semis.

It’s good to know that the 8 consecutive FA Cup semi final defeats that I went to were in fact just a bad dream after all.

Thanks

 

[Joely]

This from Conte pretty much sums up our issues

"In the last two games we've struggled offensively because we've found two teams that are very good defensively. Without the ball these two teams defended very deep, with the whole team, with all their players. When you find this type of situation you need to create the space, also to have players to beat their man in one vs one, to create the superiority,"

Our wingbacks just don't have the ability to beat the oppo one v one. Royal is a write off, Regi lacks the physicality to take on a player and is too easy to snuff out, Doherty is better running into space. Sessegnon showed at Fulham he can take on players but he just looks so tentative, as though he is more worried about breaking down again. They all pretty much need space to impact the game and that makes them useless in games like the last two.

If Conte does hang around, don't think he'll be too fussed if all 4 were shown the door.

 

[Japhet]

This from Conte pretty much sums up our issues

"In the last two games we've struggled offensively because we've found two teams that are very good defensively. Without the ball these two teams defended very deep, with the whole team, with all their players. When you find this type of situation you need to create the space, also to have players to beat their man in one vs one, to create the superiority,"

Our wingbacks just don't have the ability to beat the oppo one v one. Royal is a write off, Regi lacks the physicality to take on a player and is too easy to snuff out, Doherty is better running into space. Sessegnon showed at Fulham he can take on players but he just looks so tentative, as though he is more worried about breaking down again. They all pretty much need space to impact the game and that makes them useless in games like the last two.

If Conte does hang around, don't think he'll be too fussed if all 4 were shown the door.

I seem to remember long periods, especially in the first half, when Brentford were camped in our half. We couldn't manage a single counter attack of any note. The front line have become increasingly static and the 2 in CM are more often than not outnumbered and outfought. The refusal to shift from the starting setup is very frustrating when we could bring on Moura, for instance, at RWB and try to get on the front foot, or at least have somebody wide right who Brentford would have to try to stop.

 

[theShiznit]

This from Conte pretty much sums up our issues

"In the last two games we've struggled offensively because we've found two teams that are very good defensively. Without the ball these two teams defended very deep, with the whole team, with all their players. When you find this type of situation you need to create the space, also to have players to beat their man in one vs one, to create the superiority,"

Our wingbacks just don't have the ability to beat the oppo one v one. Royal is a write off, Regi lacks the physicality to take on a player and is too easy to snuff out, Doherty is better running into space. Sessegnon showed at Fulham he can take on players but he just looks so tentative, as though he is more worried about breaking down again. They all pretty much need space to impact the game and that makes them useless in games like the last two.

If Conte does hang around, don't think he'll be too fussed if all 4 were shown the door.

So he can see that and his only option was to put Kulu to RWB and Davies to LWB... Bit worrying.
relying on individuals (that are essentially defenders) to beat men as your sole way to create when teams sit deep is pretty poor.

what about quickening the tempo with the passing, moving players out of position with some actual third man running, some dynamism on and off the ball, some first time passing. or even just playing higher up the pitch to win the ball back high and get a bit of space that way.

 

[Joely]

what about quickening the tempo with the passing, moving players out of position with some actual third man running, some dynamism on and off the ball, some first time passing. or even just playing higher up the pitch to win the ball back high and get a bit of space that way.

To be honest, we are not blessed with quality passers of the ball in this team. Only ones who seem to have the ability to play a first time pass seem to be Kane and Bentancur imo.

Likes of Hojbjerg, Son, Moura, Bergwijn etc might get the odd one right but generally their passing is average to poor.

 

[wrd]

The ironic thing about that, and I know many will disagree, but as we are now Lucas in the side wouldn't be the worst thing.... If we were still our flowing, creative, effective patterns of play selves as we'd shown before the last few games I would say he's the last thing we need but for whatever reason, we're not. In fact, the last two games very much remind me of earlier in the season when Lucas was probably the brightest attacker on the pitch for us because we were so incapable of crafting out chances.

Of course I'd rather get clicking as a unit like we were not long ago but if that can't be reproduced I certainly wouldn't be against that idea. I think Bergwijn would be the 'tidier' option though and the ball retention on the side with him and Kulusevski will probably be quite good as they both hold it up and use their bodies well but I think Conte is reluctant to use him.

Yeah Moura has been poor in recent weeks but him nearly running through was literally the only attacking move aside from kane's shot that looked threatening.

I've banged the drum for the Moura/Kulu interchange since Jan, though Doherty destroyed the need for it with some great performances, with him out it's back on the table

 

[mil1lion]

Maybe he should start telling them we've got 5 semi finals left Instead of finals, as we perform better in semis.

And that we don't have to play Chelsea

 

[theShiznit]

To be honest, we are not blessed with quality passers of the ball in this team. Only ones who seem to have the ability to play a first time pass seem to be Kane and Bentancur imo.

Likes of Hojbjerg, Son, Moura, Bergwijn etc might get the odd one right but generally their passing is average to poor.

That's why teams sit in so successfully against us.
Hell some of our players take three touches just to control it before even looking up so to expect a first time pass is a bit much

 

[JCRD]

This from Conte pretty much sums up our issues

"In the last two games we've struggled offensively because we've found two teams that are very good defensively. Without the ball these two teams defended very deep, with the whole team, with all their players. When you find this type of situation you need to create the space, also to have players to beat their man in one vs one, to create the superiority,"

Our wingbacks just don't have the ability to beat the oppo one v one. Royal is a write off, Regi lacks the physicality to take on a player and is too easy to snuff out, Doherty is better running into space. Sessegnon showed at Fulham he can take on players but he just looks so tentative, as though he is more worried about breaking down again. They all pretty much need space to impact the game and that makes them useless in games like the last two.

If Conte does hang around, don't think he'll be too fussed if all 4 were shown the door.

All four should be shown the door (perhaps Doherty has shown enough to be a back up)... im quite cut throat about things, people may talk about potential, people may talk about they have done one or two good things and people may after a half decent performance give the benefit of the doubt - im of the opinion that none of them are good enough and absolutely get them the fuck out the door.

 

[rabbikeane]

The irony is that we paid Aurier to fuck off so that we could bring Emerson in. Aurier would have been pretty well suited to RWB, at least a fuck sight better than Emerson.

Now watch us sign wing backs and then replace Conte with someone who play a flat back 4

 

[Teegart]

There’s a clear way to play against us, and teams will do this till the end of the season. With our 343, teams completely out man us in CM, forcing us to use the wing backs to attack and penetrate. Problem is our wing backs are by far the weakest part of our team.

We struggle to even keep meaningful possession unless our opposition choose to sit back in a low block. Our wing backs are like black holes.

It’s incredibly frustrating to watch. We could have played our last two games for 3 hours each and not scored.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

He's not the only one. I mean you could argue for a degree of flexibility but I would suspect that he is not willing to compromise on his beliefs.

Your right and if you listened to Eriksen and Frank after yesterdays game, they said that they prepared all week for this game based on how Conte sets up. This will be a common theme going forward, as teams have seen the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Wolves, Southampton etc, successfully nullify his tactics and set up..

 

[Joely]

All four should be shown the door (perhaps Doherty has shown enough to be a back up)... im quite cut throat about things, people may talk about potential, people may talk about they have done one or two good things and people may after a half decent performance give the benefit of the doubt - im of the opinion that none of them are good enough and absolutely get them the fuck out the door.

Think the club need to start taking that kind of approach when it comes to moving players on. We have far too many players who don't turn up far too often during a season. They can have good games which hoodwinks people into believing they've turned the corner etc but you'll see plenty of non performances/stinkers from them during a season to.

Dier, Davies, Hojbjerg, Sanchez, Doherty, Sessegnon, Moura, Bergwijn and now maybe even Reguilon (not even going to bother to include Royal and Winks)......can anyone hand on heart see us build a successful team with any of those as first team regulars. Keep some for the squad by all means, but as it stands, I don't think any of those can be relied upon to consistently perform during a season.

We are in and around the top four but with Newcastle's new found wealth and if Man Utd get it right under Ten Hag, we could quite easily drop off if we don't replace those players with some that are up to the job.

 

[ajspurs]

Yeah Moura has been poor in recent weeks but him nearly running through was literally the only attacking move aside from kane's shot that looked threatening.

I've banged the drum for the Moura/Kulu interchange since Jan, though Doherty destroyed the need for it with some great performances, with him out it's back on the table

Yeah, same with against Brighton where his little burst around the defender and into the box was one of the only things we did all game. People will only look to the subsequent pass that was poor, but to even get into that position was way more than what anyone else was able to do.

I too would like to see those two on that side, with Emerson literally playing himself out of the side with his performances.

 

[SPURSLIFE]

Conte will invariably be linked to other clubs whether he stays here just until the end of the season or stays here for the next five years. He will invariably be linked to other clubs whether we are winning everything in sight or regularly looking like we did about Brentford and Brighton every week. That's the nature of the beast. Elite or high potential coaches and players will always be monitored by high profile clubs and the media has every interest in ramping up every little crumb of speculation. Anyway, the average life cycle of a manager at a Premier League club is just over 2 years. There will almost always be speculation about any manager's future.

Pep and Klopp seem to be happy enough and have been in charge for 5 years. So it seems success brings contentment and stability.