Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Metalhead]

We need to get right manager in, current one isn't for various reasons.

Things will never change under Daniel Levy. If (and hopefully we won't) we're daft enough to sack Conte then well just end up repeating the same issues over and over.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

No Manager is going to fix this situation.

We need to get Levy into a dialogue about why we aren't able to win things with the way he runs the club.

You could get 15 other premiership chairmen into the room and ask the same question. In recent times silverware has gone to the best teams, teams that pay the most for the best players. We like the other 14-15 teams don’t dine out at the top table.

 

[HedgieSpur]

This is what has shocked me most. People forget the end of poch, how bad it was. They also forget the facts that we were 9th when conte got here and had finished 6th/7th two years previously.

Exactly. Im not even criticising people for it...its pretty natural actually.

Having a shit time at work?....your old job doesnt seem so bad., problems with your current partner?...all of a sudden your time with you ex was actually pretty good...

 

[walworthyid]

And, sadly, we did not win anything. We came up short every year, every competition.

Until we are committed to playing like a big club, we have to look for different ways to beat the top-spenders - and its not looking for lesser versions of the top players.

But how glorious our failure was!

Given that failure is what the vast majority of teams do, would you not rather do it gloriously with the hope of winning?

What we are watching right now is an affront to the traditions of our club! Sitting on the edge of our own bloody box at home to Villa! Are you serious?

 

[RJR1949]

People are arguing whether Conte or Levy should go in response to our dreadful performances.

Frankly, I’d like them both to go.

Levy is a brake on the club realising its potential.

Conte is not getting the best out of our players.

 

[Spurzinho]

No Manager is going to fix this situation.

We need to get Levy into a dialogue about why we aren't able to win things with the way he runs the club.

ENIC are accountable to no one. They have no obligation to give a tinkers toss what we think. They OWN the club. We can cause a stink but will it ever be in big enough numbers to convince ENIC to lower their asking price? That's a rhetorical question btw as the answer is clearly no. I am as p*ssed off and frustrated with ENIC as anyone, I can also see that there aren't very many savvy, self-aware philanthropists out there who would be willing to buy the club and run it in the interests of us fans whilst not endangering the long term stability of the club. One only has to look at Elon Musk and the burning skip that is twitter to see that people with that kind of money tend to be completely deranged. Levy will remain in charge of this football club until a buyer comes along. There will be no quality control. If the buyer has the money then they will acquire the lions share of the club. Whether they will act responsibly is anyone's guess. Do I think a sale is imminent? No, I do not. Quite frankly anyone that paid what ENIC want would have to be certifiable to be begin with!

In short, we're stuck with ENIC and they're stuck with us. The only movable pieces are the manager and the players.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Really wouldn't be surprised to see Conte return to Italy at the end of his contract , his wife and daughter haven't followed him to London and still live in Italy so I believe and the return of Poch who I think still has a family home here will return , must be true Jesus himself has predicted it...

Pochettino will 'for sure' return to Tottenham, claims assistant

Jesus Perez joined the north London outfit in 2014 and was Mauricio Pochettino's assistant manager until his sacking in November 2019 after five years at the club.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[SirNiNyHotspur]

Ramon Vega wasn't good in era. He was shit.

Why do you want to live in the 90s to excuse ENIC for how shit we are today? Our players aren't sufficently better than the Veg 'era' otherwise we'd be winning things, we have so many shit players in our squad we could easily pick at least 2 or 3 from every team in the league that upgrade on the shit we have accumulated, and yes we couldn't do that from the other teams of the 90s that have moved on also. I am sick of hearing about Sugar and the 90s, Leeds etc it's complete BS that continues to excuse the continued failure we are as a club, to me it's like saying at least this skid mark isn't as big as the skid mark I had in the 90s, it's still a fucking skid mark!

 

[Stamford]

It was not bad bad football at all. It was better than we are currently playing with lesser/cheaper players.

You're also really boiling down his 5 years at the club to bad at the beginning, he was backed and it was ok, then he wasn't and it was terrible. It was a bit more than that! We were in 2 title races and a champions league final. We qualified for the champions league 4 times in a row and had many, many fantastic victories over top teams.

I'm not for a minute saying that Poch solve everything or that Levy will suddenly back him. What I'm saying is that the football under conte is dreadful and it is likely to stay that way. Therefore he needs to go.

sorry but it was bad. he was a Kane fk deflection away from the sack. That first half was worse than anything I've seen in the past two years.

I'm not boiling it down to anything, I love poch. But how it ended odd the most relevant point here not the glorious bit. And nothing has changed at the club so why bring him back.

 

[FinnYid]

Things will never change under Daniel Levy. If (and hopefully we won't) we're daft enough to sack Conte then well just end up repeating the same issues over and over.

Why is it daft to sack Conte if it comes to it? You seem to make it like it's irrelevant how we perform on pitch or whatever the results are, back the manager and....? If it continues like this, he will get the boot and rightly so. If it changes, well we all would be happy if that was the case. Even if doesn't look like very realistic case.

 

[TH1239]

There needs to be more discussion about injuries to absolutely critical players in the squad and the impact on performance and results.

Kulusevski and Bentancur have started only 6 matches together this season. Spurs have won 5 of those and drew the other (to Chelsea away). During those 6 matches, the team scored 19 goals and conceded 8. If Arsenal had Saka and Odegaard start only 6 times these season, they wouldn't be top of the table.

If the poor performances continue with Kulusevki, Benatcur, and Richarlison back into the lineup, and a new right wing back introduced (Porro, preferably), then I'd be more sympathetic to examining an immediate managerial change.

However, the issue of what happens to Paratici if Conte leaves is also of paramount importance and isn't being discussed nearly enough in this thread. It was Paratici who secured incredibly favorable deals for Romero, Kulusevski and Bentacur. It's Paratici who is responsible, according to Ally Gold, for completing revamping the club's scouting structure. Who fills the power vacuum as sporting director if Paratici leaves?

For those of you who want Pochettino back, if Paratici leaves, how exactly will transfers work? Will Pochettino be the one selecting players within a defined budget? Will we go back to the [failed] transfer structure the club had in 2017-2019 (except without the guaranteed massive revenues of Champions League football)?

I think Conte will right the ship once the squad gets healthier and we bring in a first choice right-wing back. The only way I could see the club being definitively better off without Conte a year from now would be if Paratici stayed and someone in the mold of Luis Enrique came in (experienced, success in Europe and in domestic play, used to high pressure situations, clear footballing ethos, will demand investment in the squad and have no attachment to any existing player in the squad). Enrique is probably the only obtainable manager that fits that criteria, but the fear is that it would be much more likely that Paratici left alongside Conte and Pochettino entered, which just isn't a recipe for success unless Poch only takes the role contingent on huge investment in the squad (which given where his career is currently after his failed PSG spell, he likely doesn't have the leverage to pull off).

 

[walworthyid]

OK so...as I keep asking. With a different manager, does this team (with the same injuries, form etc) come 1st - 3rd with a different manager or is it that the results would be largely the same but the football would be "nicer" to watch?

Its a good question and one I have pondered often. For me I think, it is about where I see the team going as much as it is about the results. I've seen our fans boo when we've been 2-0 up and playing badly, and I've seen them cheer the team off when we've been 2-0 down and playing well. It's the hope that people want, the potential for glory. When you don't have hope, you don't have anything. At the moment, hope is in short supply and that is in large part because of the performances.

 

[AtoubaToothpaste]

OK so...as I keep asking. With a different manager, does this team (with the same injuries, form etc) come 1st - 3rd with a different manager or is it that the results would be largely the same but the football would be "nicer" to watch?

Could be both, who knows? No manager is guaranteed to do anything, but let's take the worst of your options there--it would certainly be better to enjoy the football while having the same results, no? It would certainly be better to have the fans get value for their hard-earned money and enjoy the match day. It would certainly be better to have some hope rather dreading another boring, passive game as we sleepwalk into yet another transitional period.

The truth is, Conte is a great manager when he has a team of elite-level players. We're not a club that can give him that. As exciting as it was to get him at the time, it was never the right fit, and won't be the right fit. We know Conte's history. He is not a long-term manager, and there's no way ENIC will fund him. Personally, both Conte and ENIC need to go, but that's a wider discussion. For me, we must go back to being an exciting, attacking team competing for trophies (cups). The league is likely gone for anyone who isn't a sports washing vehicle (I still don't see Arsenal winning this year).

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

You could get 15 other premiership chairmen into the room and ask the same question. In recent times silverware has gone to the best teams, teams that pay the most for the best players. We like the other 14-15 teams don’t dine out at the top table.

We can afford to, to some extent, we just choose to eat Big Macs instead.

 

[For the love of Spurs]

Why is it daft to sack Conte if it comes to it? You seem to make it like it's irrelevant how we perform on pitch or whatever the results are, back the manager and....? If it continues like this, he will get the boot and rightly so. If it changes, well we all would be happy if that was the case. Even if doesn't look like very realistic case.

but unless we fix the deeper issues we will be here next year and the year after and the year after that on repeat.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Conte’s system is so fucking easy to counter, which is why the last TEN matches have seen our opponents score first. They can outnumber our midfield, play a semi deep block conceding space wide to our impotent wing backs who can’t cross or shoot, and press Son.

Basically his system has been solved by dozens of managers this year.

When you hitch your wagon to one particular style with no flexibility, you are bound to be found out. It happened to Poch and his high press. A decent coach on Conte’s wedge ought to be able to tweak things a bit.
The nightmare scenario is that his style is fundamentally fucked now, but Danny feels bullied into buying him expensive players anyway, for a system ghat even the best players will never be able to make work. Then we’ll have screwed it for the next mug who takes us on, too!

 

[AtoubaToothpaste]

But as I always say to my traders, before you make comparisons, you have to ensure that you conditions are equal in both instances. In the 3 season before he came, Woolwich were a shambles, Newcastle were not Saudi. Times and the landscape have changed mate.

Sure, I agree with that assessment, but each season, there's always one or two of the top six that aren't competitive, so it's more comparative than you're suggesting. We didn't get there through luck. We were simply better than we are now.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

You could get 15 other premiership chairmen into the room and ask the same question. In recent times silverware has gone to the best teams, teams that pay the most for the best players. We like the other 14-15 teams don’t dine out at the top table.

Leicester?

 

[kris havard]

This is so obviously going to end with Conte out at the end of the season and Poch back they may as well get on with it imo.

conte is getting off lightly here imo, our team have no style, direction or pattern of play, I have no idea what they are trying to do.

dare I say it, even when Arsenal were shit under arteta you at least knew what they were trying to do, there players just weren’t good enough at it. Us, I have no idea.

again, people say it’s the same players that Poch had etc but apart from dier, kane, son and lloris in the first 11 they are all different and 50% of those players you wouldn’t have swapped anyway.

people rightly highlight contes record and it’s amazing but when you break it down, his style perfectly suits the Italian league, the premier league I don’t think so.

he can threaten to leave etc to try to force the boards hands but when he did it against Burnley, Poch was want waiting for levy’s call like he is now…..

its just a matter of time and you can tell the team/management know that

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

When you hitch your wagon to one particular style with no flexibility, you are bound to be found out. It happened to Poch and his high press. A decent coach on Conte’s wedge ought to be able to tweak things a bit.
The nightmare scenario is that his style is fundamentally fucked now, but Danny feels bullied into buying him expensive players anyway, for a system ghat even the best players will never be able to make work. Then we’ll have screwed it for the next mug who takes us on, too!

Klopp, Pep and Arteta are hitched to one particular style of play, that doesn’t seem to be an issue for them?

Every single manager has a particular style they stick too, they adjust the personal more than the method.