Next Manager Watch

[cockerel downunder]

Can’t believe people want to sell Davies! He’s exactly the kind of reliable squad member great teams always have !! Can play back 3 or 4, never complains, never lets you down

 

[snakehipsspurs]

Yeah - I don't fully understand this either. Although I guess there are some arguments you could make for sticking with Conte until the summer even if we know he's leaving:

- Maybe the Poch rumours aren't true and we're still undecided on who the next manager will be
- Maybe we think massive upheaval mid-season could harm our top-4 hopes and after last season we think Conte is still our best bet of achieving that aim.
- Maybe Poch doesn't want to join the club mid-season and wants a fresh start with a full pre-season
- Levy is a tight bastard and really doesn't want to pay off Conte and his staff unless he really has to (no Maybe required for this one)

Ideally we wouldn't have put ourselves in a position where our manager is running down his contract and that's the main problem at the heart of all this. But if the above are true then I can understand the thinking, even if we're stupid for being in this situation to begin with.

I honestly believe it’s some combination of all 4 of your points that means the decision has not been made yet, but I don’t believe there’s enough to any of them that it couldn’t be overcome if we really wanted to make the change.

And that’s why we’ll always be stuck at this level we’re at now. I’ve been very vocal that I want Conte to be given time and backing, but if we aren’t going to do that then there’s no point keeping him. Unmotivated and pissed off Conte will not get us top 4.

 

[Timberwolf]

I haven’t checked but I think my point still stands that particularly Man C, Man U, and Chelsea relentlessly spend considerable amounts each window and that gives them a certain margin for error. Still it’s no guarantee, you still need to spend it wisely. And we are also guilty of spending a lot of money and getting it wrong.

Yeah, even Liverpool had to spend massive money very wisely on a number of key positions to get their success.

Allison, VVD, Fabinho, Mane and Salah were all spectacularly good signings which came at considerable cost (Mane and Salah would've certainly cost 50m in a post-Neymar to PSG market).

Their hit rate over that period was second-to-none, hence they won the title and champions league. In that period, we probably didn't actually spend a huge amount less than Liverpool except we signed a barrel of turds and practically none of them improved our first 11.

If we'd signed 5 top class players instead of Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sanchez, Sissoko and [combine the money wasted on N'jie, Nkoudou, Janssen, Clarke, Sessegnon, etc] we could've been where Liverpool were.

 

[easley91]

Nice post although I wouldn’t say levy has been flexible more like scattergun and he seems to have a preference towards quick fix serial winner manager who aren’t actually a good fit for what we need, thank god he didn’t get his first target in Louis Vang Gaal and settled in Poch, but after all the amazing work Poch did Jose was a disaster but he’s not learning from his mistakes so the same issues arise, that is why H88, Trix, Herc and many others are saying Levy is the problem.

Let’s see with the next appointment and support for said manager in terms of squad ins and outs and a plan to see if anything has changed but we won’t hold our breath.

Some fans want to win now and so it's understandable why he went with Jose and Antonio. Jose had us top at one point and Antonio got us 4th when it seemed impossible. His mistakes aren't necessarily the managers, but the recruitment in terms of players for said managers. His biggest mistake was still getting involved in the football side of things while Paratici seemed to be doing well.

 

[Scot-Spur]

This gets said a lot, but if anyone thinks for a second the fans being 'on his back' makes the slightest bit of difference to how he runs the club or whether ENIC will keep him on they are deluding themselves.

It's a multi billion dollar operation, they're not going to make management decisions based on fan chants, hashtags or chaps waving flags at the training ground.

Levy and ENIC are around as long as they want to be, the discussion should be what's best for the team given that limitation.

I mean if you say so, if the fans views didn’t matter why didn’t we hire Gattuso? Please don’t tell me Levy done his due diligence.

 

[Timberwolf]

I honestly believe it’s some combination of all 4 of your points that means the decision has not been made yet, but I don’t believe there’s enough to any of them that it couldn’t be overcome if we really wanted to make the change.

And that’s why we’ll always be stuck at this level we’re at now. I’ve been very vocal that I want Conte to be given time and backing, but if we aren’t going to do that then there’s no point keeping him. Unmotivated and pissed off Conte will not get us top 4.

Yeah I wouldn't be at all surprised if we go on a terrible run, mutually terminate Conte's contract if he's still in Italy, and then bring in Poch when it's too late and top 4 is already gone.

It seems very rare that a team performs its best when they know the manager is leaving. There are so many examples of this across many leagues and situations. If it's an open secret Conte is off then we're kidding ourselves if we think the rest of the season is going to go well.

 

[mil1lion]

I'm not taking it as fact.

Im interpreting it differently to others. And the fact that it has happened with previous managers leads me to believe it will happen again.

I'm not so sure it has. We have loaned these players out when the manager doesn't want them. Terminated the contract of Aurier and Doherty. Loaned Winks, Lo Celso, Rodon, Gil, Ndombele and Reguilon. I'm not sure why anyone would think Poch or any other manager will be any different. We do have a bloated squad of 30 players so whoever the manager is will have to decide who to clear out. If we can't sell we will loan or even terminate as we have done for Jose and Conte.

 

[mattstev2000]

I mean if you say so, if the fans views didn’t matter why didn’t we hire Gattuso? Please don’t tell me Levy done his due diligence.

Gattuso was a completely different kettle of fish - do you honestly think the club would have changed it's mind about him if the fans were just bothered about the quality of his football?

The club changed it's mind because there was a vocal reaction to the fact that he'd voiced anti LGBT views and condoned racist chanting against a former player.

Basically, the kind of stuff that the club doesn't want to be associated with. If Levy starts crapping on gay marriage and condoning racism then yeah he'll probably get the boot.

 

[Scot-Spur]

Gattuso was a completely different kettle of fish - do you honestly think the club would have changed its mind about him if the fans were just bothered about the quality of his football?

The club changed it's mind because there was a vocal reaction to the fact that he'd voiced anti LGBT views and condoned racist chanting against a former player.

Basically, the kind of stuff that the club doesn't want to be associated with. If Levy starts crapping on gay marriage and condoning racism then yeah he'll probably get the boot.

I mean surely the club knew about these issues and were ready to appoint him? You can’t be telling me those issues only can to light for the club due to social media and the fans?

 

[McFlash]

Yeah I wouldn't be at all surprised if we go on a terrible run, mutually terminate Conte's contract if he's still in Italy, and then bring in Poch when it's too late and top 4 is already gone.

It seems very rare that a team performs its best when they know the manager is leaving. There are so many examples of this across many leagues and situations. If it's an open secret Conte is off then we're kidding ourselves if we think the rest of the season is going to go well.

Yeah, none of us actually know what's going on behind the scenes but it does feel, from the outside, that it's a bit of a shambles again.
It does feel like the club are lurching along reactively again, instead of acting with a definitive plan.
Yet again, waiting to see what happens as opposed to making things happen.

 

[mattstev2000]

I mean surely the club knew about these issues and were ready to appoint him? You can’t be telling me those issues only can to light for the club due to social media and the fans?

I wouldn't put it past us! We only worked out how many players we were allowed to loan out when some random on Twitter pointed it out during the last transfer window

 

[Yiddo100]

True. But if Mason is to become a top coach himself he may have to think about taking a role as head coach somewhere.

He’s only what 32/33, don’t think another couple of years learning under a good manager will hurt.

 

[Scot-Spur]

I wouldn't put it past us! We only worked out how many players we were allowed to loan out when some random on Twitter pointed it out during the last transfer window

Valid point haha

 

[mr ashley]

Can’t believe people want to sell Davies! He’s exactly the kind of reliable squad member great teams always have !! Can play back 3 or 4, never complains, never lets you down

?

 

[parj]

I struggle to see Ndombele having another chance here because there seems to be a mental issue there regarding application that I’m not sure he will ever get past. It’s a big shame as he is clearly naturally very talented. Gio on the other had I would fully expect Poch to give a chance to. I would be surprised if he didn’t tbh unless an offer is made at the end of his loan that was accepted.

I totally agree NDombele is a write-off, but let's not kid ourselves, 90-95% of us were super excited by the signing. Poch saw the same stuff that most did. He should have been our new Dembele. Yes he has a reported shit attitude, but that looked to change big time with Lyon. Just a shame it came back

 

[cockerel downunder]

?

Well, hardly ever ;-)

 

[Styopa]

I mean surely the club knew about these issues and were ready to appoint him? You can’t be telling me those issues only can to light for the club due to social media and the fans?

Maybe the club was testing the waters… to be honest the way the club went about recruiting a new head coach was so farcical who knows what they were thinking.

 

[parj]

No he wasn’t. Ndombele had a couple of excellent games in the champions league and in the league but was awful in numerous games and had the same deficiencies in the average game as he has still now for Napoli.
Ndombele is just never going to make it in the prem, poch coming back will not change that.

I'm not saying he will be good but people saying Poch wasted the money are chatting shit cos the vast majority of people were super excited about the signing.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Who are the Vertonghen & Alderweireld replacements? Have we lined up with Dier, Davies, Sanchez and Tanganga this season?

You appear to see “being backed” as a one off result whereas I see it as a process.

Imo Conte has not been back sufficiently with the players he needs over the time he has been here. If he had, we wouldn’t still be utilising the defenders we’ve had from eons ago.

This is the problem though we can’t expect the club to do everything in one or two windows it takes a while

 

[Japhet]

If Conte is truly going, why delay the inevitable? This is what I don’t understand about the club. We have no courage of our convictions. Ever.

If we don’t believe he is the man to take us forward, and think Poch is, then do it today. That’s why I have no faith in Poch working, because we clearly aren’t ‘all in’ on the plan so will half-arse it as always and be back here again in 2 years.

I don't think sacking a man because he's been taken ill would be a very good look. Stellini probably deserves a shot at caretaker and he'd probably go as well if we sacked Conte. Probably means we're looking beyond Poch too.