Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[PaulM]

Funnily enough, all his rantings at the poor old sports-journalists who were asking reasonable questions, has made me more angry with time.
These press conferences are the manager's chance to communicate with the fans, but I feel I've been shouted at myself!

We knew he was psychotic and I welcomed that as the players had been taking the piss. Mourinho didn't have the energy to strike fear into them.

But the players are looking casual again. Is he raging at them or has he given up as his contract comes to an end? They do need blasting, but shouting at me isn't going to help and for everyone else's mental health and safety, I think he needs sectioning.

This line of thinking seems to be popular with a lot of fans but do the players really need shouting at?

How many people perform better in their job when they’re being aggressively told what a c**t they are?

Even Fergie, the man famed for the hairdryer, realised he had to adapt his style because people don’t respond well anymore to being shouted at or abused.

There are better ways to manage a group.

 

[DenverSpur]

Look no further then Cancelo having his bags packed.

Do you think Levy would let his manager bin such a high profile player. He didn’t want to sell Dele.

 

[DenverSpur]

Who's the alternative for Dier? Our CB are atrocious. Outside of Romero they're all terrible.

And Conte has been asking for a quality CB, or 2, since he arrived. All he got was Lenglet! Ok we couldn’t get Bastoni but there are plenty of really good CBS we could have got if we’d really made the effort.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

You have to want to play as a front-foot team in the first place. That would be a start. Conte has been making excuses all season but he's the leader of a side without character, morale, intent, or aggression. And it's his team. We've spent a fortune and he's not made them into a competitive team. A new manager that wants to play on the front foot would be a change for the better. He'll have his work cut out, but it starts from there. Conte just looks like a washed up check-book merchant at the moment...he's being exposed for a full season of mediocrity and he shares a decent chunk of the 'credit' for that with a shit-for-brains chairman, useless DoF, and gutless players.

Any manager that arrives with good intent and urgency and wants to transform this shit show into team will be an improvement on the incumbent.

Time will tell but I honestly think even with front footed tactics and coaching we will still fall short until there is a full reset at the club from top to bottom.

No matter what anyone thinks of the players in terms of quality, that loser mentality cannot be coached out of them.

Just how many times have we fallen short as a club? In 20 years? Complete failure on the pitch. I don’t give a fuck about how many semi’s, final’s and title runs we’ve had we’ve been able to win a sum total of fuck all.

I don’t give a shit about being entertained at this point, I want to win. I want to win consistently. I want trophies for my club. And it’s embarrassing that the fans have to constantly go through a rollercoaster ride because of utter incompetency.

Conte may have burned his bridges but my fuck everything he said was the truth. I don’t care about his intentions, his message was exactly what everyone at the club needed to hear.

 

[JacoZA]

I do not understand how you look at a club strategy that hasn’t produced a trophy in 15 years, and a player culture that sees us drop out of cup competitions against minnows every season like clockwork, and decide the biggest* problem is the manager with a proven track record who has been at the club for less than two years.

AC alludes to this IMO with a comment that doesn’t seem to have caught as much attention: where he talks about the previous managers that have been at the club. Good managers who have failed. Some with their reputations in tatters. Because 9 times out of 10 the manager gets blamed. Conte is too stubborn. Jose is a toxic has-been. Nuno is out of his depth. Poch has no Plan B.

*Yes, he has to shoulder some responsibility but he is very, very far from being a big enough part of the problem that swapping him will solve it.

 

[Liamyid28]

The players take some blame the manager also must take some blame but the sad thing is nothing is ever going to change until these owners are gone and they ain’t going anywhere! Personally I’ve wanted them out since they gave arry saha and nelson that summed them up then and nothing has changed since. They really are all about profit over glory.

 

[DenverSpur]

I was wondering the same and thought the only person who looked any bit selfish with the ball was Kane and I very much doubt he was referring to him. Maybe he doesn't mean selfish in such a case specific sense. Actually I just checked the quotes and to me it sounds like he's referring to more off the ball moments, like maybe players not moving to support others, track back, cover etc.

He’s talking about all of them because they don’t have the necessary desire, nous and personal pride to hold onto a3-1 lead against the worst team in the league.

 

[oohaahedgar]

The football at times has been boring to put it mildly. It can’t just be the managers , Levy is at the top and he has to be held accountable. What Conte said was mainly correct and perhaps he had already said it in private. Maybe he needed to do it in public. Maybe just maybe Kane’s goals gave masked the fact that we are a mid table team but with a world class striker.
The one thing that doesn’t make sense is our inability to beat teams at the bottom and the championship. The lack of winning anything has taken root and we do bottle it when the going gets tough. I don’t know where we go from here, Poch couldn’t have been more wrong when he used to say winning the FA Cup , League Cup or Europa wouldn’t elevate the club in peoples eyes. It would have done , we wouldn’t constantly have 15 year trophy dodgers thrown at us for a start. We’ve been consistently a top 6 team for 12 years. That’s 48 trophies, we’ve had a chance of winning, any other team would have picked up a few along the way. Even a shit Arsenal won the FA cup 3 times. Wining is a habit unfortunately so is losing. Nothing will change until we have new owners and I can’t see the current lot selling. It’s set in with most fans I know too, winning things seems like a distant dream.

 

[mdharris]

Just seen the interview. I liked it. He’s calling out the club and the players for their failures. It’s not all on him. I’m glad Conte is saying it. Particularly his criticism of Levy.

Conte is long gone from the club. But I’m glad he’s calling out the BS of Levy on his way out.

 

[worcestersauce]

I can't help but think the job of the manager is to get the players playing as a team and not for themselves so to complain that's what they're doing reflects badly on him. I'm still not sure what he means by that to be honest but I do think they know he's not committed to the club and is making his excuses and is blaming them so maybe they're just not playing for him, put that another way and you could say he can't get the best out of them anymore. All of which brings me back to my hobby horse, I don't see any point in him sticking around.
I'm not angrily shouting to sack him I just don't see any point in keeping him here for the next couple of months, even more so if our alternative is available.

 

[hamsup_sotong]

I think if we had a less rigid defensive manager and style and we played to our players strengths and we didn’t have to re-build the squad to a 3atb system and had instead spent the money on a CB and creative attacking midfielder I think we’d be easily 3rd and still in at least 2 of the cup competitions.

knowing baldy you'll probably get that 3rd cb cause it's a bargain and another striker instead. For all contes fault at least he's at the forefront and is accountable. Whereas our chairman just hides behind the scenes

 

[DanielJohnCosta]

knowing baldy you'll probably get that 3rd cb cause it's a bargain and another striker instead. For all contes fault at least he's at the forefront and is accountable. Whereas our chairman just hides behind the scenes

don't think i've ever seen him take one ounce of responsibility.

 

[HildoSpur]

I am baffled how anybody that supports Spurs and desperately wants the club to be successful can be unhappy about what Conte said. He has high standards and clearly the club, the players and the owners are not matching his ambition. If you are unhappy with what he said then ask yourself what your own ambitions are for the club?

 

[Gilzeanking]

*Yes, he has to shoulder some responsibility but he is very, very far from being a big enough part of the problem that swapping him will solve it.

How does this rumination help ? Levy is going nowhere. The players are going nowhere . We need to get on with things NOW.
The big question.... is Conte helping the team to do well NOW or is he hindering the team doing well. My opinion is that he he is hindering.
I fucking hated his lousy subs. It was a message to all the players from a manager with NO balls. 'Git the wagons in a circle..mighty Soton need a goal and they've scored 11 so far in the Prem this season so we're in big trouble'....More defenders now'.
Mentality problems ? Conte has mentality problems if he thinks we need to cower in front of mighty Soton.

For me Conte is a dinosaur and isn't helping. Time to change the only big part we can and stop wallowing in abstracts like 'mentality' which we can't improve atm.

 

[djhotspur]

You have to want to play as a front-foot team in the first place. That would be a start. Conte has been making excuses all season but he's the leader of a side without character, morale, intent, or aggression. And it's his team. We've spent a fortune and he's not made them into a competitive team. A new manager that wants to play on the front foot would be a change for the better. He'll have his work cut out, but it starts from there. Conte just looks like a washed up check-book merchant at the moment...he's being exposed for a full season of mediocrity and he shares a decent chunk of the 'credit' for that with a shit-for-brains chairman, useless DoF, and gutless players.

Any manager that arrives with good intent and urgency and wants to transform this shit show into team will be an improvement on the incumbent.

Lol but if you think those players can play front foot football and it work you are in for a rude awakening.
The same issues still will exists, the midfield will get pressed and can’t play their way out which will lead to us losing the ball constantly, our forwards as we’ve seen cannot play intricate football in and around the box and will lose the ball constantly.
You think our defence is bad now…. Just wait until it’s constantly countered on and we have 2 cbs against 2-3 attackers in a high line.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

My view is this, yes the players are misfiring, but these are the same players that took us on a surge from mid table to top four last year. The same players able to turn it on to turn over Man City a couple of weeks back but then fell to losses against Leicester and Milan. Upped their game to beat Chelsea (who we always struggle against) only to collapse against Wolves, Sheffield Utd (who were weakened due illness) and a spineless/toothless home game against Milan. Rallied with a win against relegation threatened Forest, then collapse against bottom of the table Southampton. Yes the players have made individual errors in that run, but equally can we really say they’ve been set up to tactically take advantage of the opposition in every occasion? Sitting in a defending for the majority of 90 minutes in blind hope that either Kane or Son can capitalise on a counter attack is not s sustainable approach game after game. You invite that much pressure and it is inevitably going to lead to lapse in concentration and mistakes happen. Try keeping the ball more and pushing teams back, force them into mistakes rather than let them play out easy.
The manager’s role is to coach the group of players he has, and then select an appropriate team set up to win. Conte does not seem to be improving these players, there is little to no structure, zero attacking intent. That is why the blame lays with him in my opinion. If the players aren’t up to it, don’t pick them. Then try and coach then up to the level required during the countless hours of training they get. These are predominantly all internationals, not a bunch of strangers who’ve never kicked a ball in anger suddenly thrown together at short notice.
His ability to extract performances last year has deserted him this year, is the working relationship already broken? His petulant rant yesterday blaming the players and the board will have done nothing to build morale and confidence. It seems like nothing more than a sulking attempt to get fired, by a man who does not want to be here anymore but will not willingly walk and surrender his payout, so we’ll get more abject performances and wild moody press conferences until the board sack him and then he can float off back to Italy with his wedge of cash.
From the off it always felt like an odd appointment, with him having supposedly turned us down that summer. Almost like, ‘well nothing better has come along, may aswell take this until it does’, like a proper 2am minesweeper in a club looking for someone to take home. Always felt like he’s doing us a favour by being here.
Will the next manager fare any better with this pool of players, they could do, and should do. But at least let’s get someone who understands the limits of the board support, and yet still wants to be here to improve things.
As for Conte’s rant at the board, Levy has been here for years, his methods are well known. This should not come as a sudden shock to Conte. In most people’s working life, if you went out and called your boss out for being incompetent to customers (and we as fans are the customers), then you’d be sacked for gross misconduct.
The sooner this sulking toxic little man is gone, the better. Whilst I understand he has had a difficult year emotionally, he is a professional, and should behave as such. If he is too tired/broken mentally, he needs to step down for his own health, not keep stumbling blindly along to maximise his payout. The fact his family never moved over with him also tells me he was never in this for the long haul.

 

[Spurs Lodge Kittens]

You can both agree with everything Conte said (although not pointing any finger at himself).
And also want him jettisoned to the sun either today or first thing tomorrow morning.

Well said, Antonio but, from bottom of my heart, it's time to go.

 

[HildoSpur]

My view is this, yes the players are misfiring, but these are the same players that took us on a surge from mid table to top four last year. The same players able to turn it on to turn over Man City a couple of weeks back but then fell to losses against Leicester and Milan. Upped their game to beat Chelsea (who we always struggle against) only to collapse against Wolves, Sheffield Utd (who were weakened due illness) and a spineless/toothless home game against Milan. Rallied with a win against relegation threatened Forest, then collapse against bottom of the table Southampton. Yes the players have made individual errors in that run, but equally can we really say they’ve been set up to tactically take advantage of the opposition in every occasion? Sitting in a defending for the majority of 90 minutes in blind hope that either Kane or Son can capitalise on a counter attack is not s sustainable approach game after game. You invite that much pressure and it is inevitably going to lead to lapse in concentration and mistakes happen. Try keeping the ball more and pushing teams back, force them into mistakes rather than let them play out easy.
The manager’s role is to coach the group of players he has, and then select an appropriate team set up to win. Conte does not seem to be improving these players, there is little to no structure, zero attacking intent. That is why the blame lays with him in my opinion. If the players aren’t up to it, don’t pick them. Then try and coach then up to the level required during the countless hours of training they get. These are predominantly all internationals, not a bunch of strangers who’ve never kicked a ball in anger suddenly thrown together at short notice.
His ability to extract performances last year has deserted him this year, is the working relationship already broken? His petulant rant yesterday blaming the players and the board will have done nothing to build morale and confidence. It seems like nothing more than a sulking attempt to get fired, by a man who does not want to be here anymore but will not willingly walk and surrender his payout, so we’ll get more abject performances and wild moody press conferences until the board sack him and then he can float off back to Italy with his wedge of cash.
From the off it always felt like an odd appointment, with him having supposedly turned us down that summer. Almost like, ‘well nothing better has come along, may aswell take this until it does’, like a proper 2am minesweeper in a club looking for someone to take home. Always felt like he’s doing us a favour by being here.
Will the next manager fare any better with this pool of players, they could do, and should do. But at least let’s get someone who understands the limits of the board support, and yet still wants to be here to improve things.
As for Conte’s rant at the board, Levy has been here for years, his methods are well known. This should not come as a sudden shock to Conte. In most people’s working life, if you went out and called your boss out for being incompetent to customers (and we as fans are the customers), then you’d be sacked for gross misconduct.
The sooner this sulking toxic little man is gone, the better. Whilst I understand he has had a difficult year emotionally, he is a professional, and should behave as such. If he is too tired/broken mentally, he needs to step down for his own health, not keep stumbling blindly along to maximise his payout. The fact his family never moved over with him also tells me he was never in this for the long haul.

Same players yes which means they have the ability when they are motivated but we have seen time and time again that many of these players are unable to sustain that level and fold under pressure. It's their mentality that's the problem and always has been, over multiple managers now.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

He likes a good moan.... he did finish the season at Chelsea but went in the summer.

Antonio Conte: Chelsea staff and players must share blame for poor season

Antonio Conte said if Chelsea fail to catch the top four, the collective responsibility for an error-strewn campaign would involve his players and the club’s hierarchy

www.theguardian.com

 

[hamsup_sotong]

don't think i've ever seen him take one ounce of responsibility.

at the very least he's at the forefront