Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Johnny J]

It took Klopp four years to win a trophy with Liverpool.

We need more players who are better with the ball and clever with their movement.

 

[Nick]

I'm very happy to remain patient, we'll improve every window. I think it's just Arsenal doing so well that is making some people nervous and impatient

 

[rossdapep]

Without Romero, maybe even with him, we easily have the worst backline out of the big 6.

Martinez and Varane looked very good for United.
Koulibaly, Fofana and Silva should be very strong.
Any 2 from Dias, Stones, Akanji, Ake and Laporte is ideal for City.
Van Dijk and Matip or Konate for Liverpool.
Even Saliba and Gabriel at Arsenal.

They all have either a really strong or very good balance with some top CBs there.

Romero at his best is class and I do think Lenglet has been great too but seen as we work with a 3, because of the drop off with the others we don't yet have that overall quality.

You also have to have an athletic/quick type in the PL. That's where I think we will be focusing.

 

[double0]

This argument drives me mad. Just this calendar year alone, we've brought in SIX starting-quality players (Bentancur, Kulusevski, Perisic, Bissouma, Richarlison and Lenglet) that everyone agreed improved the squad. Add those to Romero, and then remove the dross such as Lamela, Alli, Sissoko, Reguillon, Winks, Lo Celso etc and it's a VERY different squad to that of previous years. Yes, some still remain, but what other team out there has changed an entire squad in that time?

The ones that remain are the ones messing up mainly ie Dier Lloris to a lesser degree Davies. Son hasn't performed up to standard and we lack rotation/competition.

 

[littlemandefoe]

Honestly speaking, what are the odds of him signing a contract? What are people like Fabrizio Romano and such saying about his future? Honestly nervous for him. I assuming Conte's waiting to see how backed he gets in January before he commits?

 

[allatsea]

I do agree to an extent, but you have to concede that we have been shockingly poor at times.

If we played well for 1 game and then started to show a bit of tiredness for a couple of games that would be fair enough, but we've been terrible for the majority of this season.

More than that though has been the negative tactics. Yesterday was positive from the off. We weren't great in the first half but showed some aggression and adventure.

The low block is not suited to our squad or fanbase in my opinion.

I don't understand how we can be "shockingly poor" and be 4th in the table.

 

[midoshairband]

I agree that Conte needs time and last season our front three were clearly compensating for some of the dross that was (and still is) behind them. I understand we're the 10th richest club in the world and should probably have a few more better players.

At the same time I think we're only the 6th or 7th richest club in the EPL - so theoretically (unless there's a very strange season like the ones under Poch where Leicester won and many big clubs had poor seasons) we arguably are never going to have an expensive, complete squad that can win the league. We should finish 6th so finishing 3rd or 4th is a good season. By the time Conte gets his 2 or 3 transfer windows that he needs, Kane & Son may have left and also need replacing. Remember Poch lucked out and some stars aligned in order to get a cut price first eleven that included Demebele, Eriksen, Verts, Toby etc. The squad still wasn't great.

Perhaps It all boils down to whether we want to watch us finishing between 3rd and 7th with a Conte team or perhaps reaching a similar position playing more attractive football under a similar quality manager who is perhaps better at improving young players. The only way I see us getting out of this cycle is if we invest heavily in the best youth coaches and the best youth players and become the next Dortmund.

it's a good point about the academy, but i think it's clear to see with the facilities etc that we really have invested in it. still the main issue is competing with City/Chelsea in the academy stakes, although the new scouting set-up is presumably intended to be better at talent spotting these youngsters.

I'd be interested who people think this similar quality manager who would get us 3-7th playing good football and using youngsters would be. and i would bet my last dollar if we played good football and kept finishing 7th people wouldn't be satisfied.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I don't understand how we can be "shockingly poor" and be 4th in the table.

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold of a word the use of it really takes hold

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

The ones that remain are the ones messing up mainly ie Dier Lloris to a lesser degree Davies. Son hasn't performed up to standard and we lack rotation/competition.

I don't necessarily disagree, I just take issue with the narrative that this is the same squad that's failed under x, y, z manager. Yes, a few players still remain, but for the most part it's a VERY different squad to Pochettino's and even Mourinho's.

 

[cabinfever]

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold it really takes hold

Exactly!!

I remember many, many years when the season was over for us by Christmas!!

Sky and the Internet have raised everyone's expectations to an unrealistic level.

I agree, we're not firing, but we're still in everything and that's the important thing at this stage of the season.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

I don't understand how we can be "shockingly poor" and be 4th in the table.

What's hard to understand about it? Is it not possible that we can be poor, while others are even worse?

 

[bubble07]

Without Romero, maybe even with him, we easily have the worst backline out of the big 6.

Martinez and Varane looked very good for United.
Koulibaly, Fofana and Silva should be very strong.
Any 2 from Dias, Stones, Akanji, Ake and Laporte is ideal for City.
Van Dijk and Matip or Konate for Liverpool.
Even Saliba and Gabriel at Arsenal.

They all have either a really strong or very good balance with some top CBs there.

Romero at his best is class and I do think Lenglet has been great too but seen as we work with a 3, because of the drop off with the others we don't yet have that overall quality.

You also have to have an athletic/quick type in the PL. That's where I think we will be focusing.

But issue for me is if we had Akanji and Ake they would look terrible for us

 

[Wig]

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold it really takes hold

I'm shocked that you're shocked that they're shocked.

But there isn't just one hive bandwagon is there, more like two competing tribes that get more and more hyperbolic just to push their polar opinions.

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold of a word the use of it really takes hold

I know that the use of 'shocked' is a real bug bear of yours.

But I can genuinely say that several times this season I have been shocked out how bad we have looked

Of course after those several times it should start to be expected, so I suppose it should stop being shocking and it's usage should dwindle. Logically speaking. And we all know we're all very logical on SC...

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

Without Romero, maybe even with him, we easily have the worst backline out of the big 6.

Martinez and Varane looked very good for United.
Koulibaly, Fofana and Silva should be very strong.
Any 2 from Dias, Stones, Akanji, Ake and Laporte is ideal for City.
Van Dijk and Matip or Konate for Liverpool.
Even Saliba and Gabriel at Arsenal.

They all have either a really strong or very good balance with some top CBs there.

Romero at his best is class and I do think Lenglet has been great too but seen as we work with a 3, because of the drop off with the others we don't yet have that overall quality.

You also have to have an athletic/quick type in the PL. That's where I think we will be focusing.

I don't agree we have easily the worst backline. Both Man U and Chelsea have looked hilariously bad defensively at times this season. With a run of games, I think Romero, Lenglet and Dier is a very capable back 3. I personally think the problem lies further forward in a midfield that can neither shield the defence or play their way out of trouble. IMO the difference in quality between our central midfield and that of the other teams is way bigger than any gap between our defence and theirs. The day we get a ball-playing version of whatever it is Hjobjerg supposedly brings to the team, we will start to look A LOT better

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Without Romero, maybe even with him, we easily have the worst backline out of the big 6.

Martinez and Varane looked very good for United.
Koulibaly, Fofana and Silva should be very strong.
Any 2 from Dias, Stones, Akanji, Ake and Laporte is ideal for City.
Van Dijk and Matip or Konate for Liverpool.
Even Saliba and Gabriel at Arsenal.

They all have either a really strong or very good balance with some top CBs there.

Romero at his best is class and I do think Lenglet has been great too but seen as we work with a 3, because of the drop off with the others we don't yet have that overall quality.

You also have to have an athletic/quick type in the PL. That's where I think we will be focusing.

Such a great point and then add to that our wing-backs are barely top10 standard players and we lack some attacking depth no wonder we put in performances like we do at times.

 

[King of the Lane]

Reading some of the comments and seeing the overall impatient nature of our fans, I can't help but think if Arteta had been our manager and we finished the last few seasons like Arsenal have then we wouldn't have 'trusted the process' we would have called for him to be sacked, probably in his second season. Arsenal are now starting to reap the benefits of giving the Manager time and backing him - can we not do the same?

Do I want to see more positive football, especially in the first half of matches? Yes.

However, we are in the top 4 and have topped our CL group - all whilst being in the middle of an injury crisis and not playing to the standard that we all know we can. Things are actually more positive than people are making out.

 

[Gb160]

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold of a word the use of it really takes hold

*see ‘turgid’ for more details.

 

[Wig]

Such a great point and then add to that our wing-backs are barely top10 standard players and we lack some attacking depth no wonder we put in performances like we do at times.

In fairness to Perisic he has 7 assists already this season, so I wouldn't say he is "barely top10 standard". But there's no doubting we need to improve our defensive players in particular CB and RWB.

 

[DJS]

And I don't understand how people can be 'shocked' so easily all the time. This was shocking, that was shocking.

Fuck me. Everyone is at it. When the SC hive bandwagon thing takes hold of a word the use of it really takes hold

Sounds like you have an AGENDA there…