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Manager Antonio Conte

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Airfixx said:
He's only contracted for 18 months (*).

(*With a mutual extension clause for another year.)



If he's back in the summer and yet still storms off before the beginning of the following season, can questions be asked then too?

As your post alludes to, I don't think a title challenge is a realistic expectation in the first full year; but it does concern me that he has that degree of an all or nothing mentality (I mean that's blatantly what's been underpinning his recent outbursts as it is).
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I think he is a great manager, no question but as you say, he is an all or nothing kind of guy and I don’t think that is really what fits the current profile of the club.

Which again just highlights the poor footballing decision making at the club imo. If he’s off in summer or even at the end of his contract next season I don’t think anyone would be that suprised all things considered.
 
Ali G: "Conte threatened the players that if they didn't beat Leeds he'd keep them at the Spurs Lodge for 3 days until the M'bro game"
 
Raumdeuterz said:
Important to note that Guardiola in his first season at City struggled to get top 4, had games where they were battered by the likes of Everton (we beat them VERY comfortably too) and generally just weren't particularly good. That was with a full pre season, lots of spending and him being considered the best manager in football. You had English pundits revelling in his failure as it proved the PL was a different beast. Klopp too struggled after coming in mid season, lots of very poor results. Even in his first full season they scraped 4th in the table.

Top managers aren't magicians, they don't arrive, wave a magic wand and within a month you have champagne football. There's a lot of painful transition and mistakes along the way, thus far Conte has had zero pre season and 2 Jan signings (one of which has been injured) to work with. I understand not being impressed currently, but people have to ask themselves if they really want the club to pay the fee of sacking another manager and start a new project with new aims because we've had a poor couple of months. This club needs stability and consistency.
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It’s also important to note that Pep spent a trillion pounds, something we won’t be able to do.

A lot of these top managers buy success. They rarely build anything from the bottom up.
 
Matt1882 said:
We're making openings, but wasting the potential chances. Son is rolling balls at the keeper, Kulu is rolling shots the wrong side of the post, Winks is....giving the ball away.
Under Nuno we weren't even getting those.
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Funny how don’t call out Kane when Kane has statistically been one of the least clinical strikers in the PL this season

Also, we beat City under Nuno too and the stretch of games we lost before we sacked him came against stronger opposition, not shit teams.
 
Sonofa said:
Best post of the thread sir.

If we're serious about turning the club around we need to be looking at giving him 2 full seasons minimum. If we're still no better then fair enough, questions should be asked.

Sadly, I don't think he will stay that long.
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Am fine but we are presuming Conte firstly wants to try and build from half a team/squad and secondly whether he is able to do it.

No doubt too many players still at the club have been smeared in failure but I did and have expected a bit more from Conte.

No doubt he is a top manager with very good players but it would be a mistake to assume that translates into being able to do the job our club need.
 
KaneDomBadBoy said:
Funny how don’t call out Kane when Kane has statistically been one of the least clinical strikers in the PL this season

Also, we beat City under Nuno too and the stretch of games we lost before we sacked him came against stronger opposition, not shit teams.
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How the fuck are you slating Kane at this point. The guy is doing 2 jobs cos our midfield is wank
 
BrightonSpurs said:
How the fuck are you slating Kane at this point. The guy is doing 2 jobs cos our midfield is wank
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Matt1882 Matt1882 was talking about how unclinical we've been this season and called out everyone but Kane. Up until last week, Kane was the least clinical striker in the league this season. Hence why I made that comment.

As far as people being asked to do more than they're asked to do, everyone else playing in this Conte ball system is being pulled out of position. Everyone is doing much more than they're asked to do. Kane, Son, Kulu all look like midfielders. In the case of Son, Kulu, they look like they're playing holding mid at times more than LW and RW.

PEH being asked to be the second coming of Modric when he clearly doesn't have the ability and asking our 'wingbacks' to play wingback when they clearly don't have the ability to do so. This is all Conte's doing.
 
Airfixx said:
Funny you say this as Wilder won the game with a teenager from the bench with no EPL experience.... First season in the senior squad..... A mere 13 champ games in total. Hardly screams world class depth.



Maybe Wilder is the better manager? :gallashmm:


....Let's unravel this little mystery together, Iggy-babes.
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His a fan bois, rational thought goes out the window. Didn’t wolves play a young kid v us the other week. Pool played a youngster in their 3 CM. Everyone gives their kids a chance. Only conte doesn’t give them a chance. The argument that just bcos Harvey hasn’t played in PL somehow excludes him from getting some minutes in a cup game v championship team is unbelievable! Exactly when is he meant to play?
 
Airfixx said:
As far as I've seen 1 maybe 2 people have said they want him gone..... Perspective.

By the same token; there's no reason he should be spared reasonable due scrutiny.




With regard to both the above similar questions; it depends what one is seeking for us to get out of Conte or another manager at this juncture...

If what's at play here is little more than impatience and a pipe-dream that we ought to be able to expect league titles from Conte within his contracted 18-months (so long as he gets to have a bit of a spend up in the summer); well, these people are most likely on a road to disappointment.

If however some think there's more chance of progression under a longer term project (eg some of the Potter ilk) and/or thinks the football may be more pleasurable from week to week and what's more think any investment made would be better spent in pursuit of those things then I think there's a fair and objective discussion to be had.


Personally my hopes (expectations) of Conte's immediate tenure is a re-boot in attitude and a re-direction/positioning over the next 18 months that leaves us in a position to THEN start challenging should any financial backing continue beyond this summer......

Now he may not philosophically agree with this outlook (and harbour a 'no title = failure' attitude) ; but what that means to me is top 4 by the end of next season with the squad being of better quality, balance and mentality than when he arrived. (Essentially, there being a short and a medium term project here for him.)

.....If however; he is not committed to that remit (and will just pout and moan if he's not in the title mix), then I think I'd rather cut our losses in the summer and give someone else that same kind of backing and pursue a more progressive, attacking brand of football in the process.
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Great post, let’s see some progression from the manager in areas that don’t require just throwing money at it. Things like motivation, passion, better coached, some change in tactics when called for, flexibility, give some of the younger players ago, etc.. All this can be done between now and end of season where we have a clear out get some quality in and reset. His paid handsomely to be able to do the above and his a “super coach”. I’m mean for all bielsa”s faults how did he get mainly a bunch of champo players passing and moving creating chances? I remember when glenn took over Swindon and got them promoted he got them playing a brand of football alien to what most were playing in the champo. Not saying that is what we need but shows that coaches can make a difference to style of play regardless of quality players.
 
Igula said:
I think all his so-called mistakes have been down to issues with the squad. I can't think of a mistake he made that wasn't due to the lack of quality that we have.

He obviously isn't 10/10 no manager is but his decisions have to be looked at with context and the context is we don't have good player.



Moura can't break down defenses he is terrible at it. This is what I am talking about if the complaint with Conte is that he didn't play Moura to breakdown the defense I have a hard time giving him much stick because Moura is a terrible option. Hard to blame Conte when he has to decide which terrible option to go with.

if he had Eriksen on the bench and left him out sure then he should be getting tons of criticism but we didn't have players to break down Burnley which is why we have consistently struggled against teams like that since we moved on quality players.



I find fans always complain about how late managers make subs. It was the case under Poch, Nuno, I don't remember it under Jose but I think that is because

When his bench options are crap like Bergwijn, Scarlett, Royale I don't blame him for not getting them on because they all suck and are unlikely to change anything.

The one complaint I would have with him is Reguilon but I have to think it is a fitness issue. If not then that is clearly a major issue he has because no way should Sess start over him and definitely no reason Emerson should ever go on ahead of him either unless there is a fitness problem.



Motivation is almost impossible for us as fans to determine from a manager. How do we know what was or wasn't said by Conte?

I also struggle to think that players should need a manager to motivate them in a one off game in the FA Cup. That should be easy as can be for anyone. And it is not like this is the first time these players have not looked motivated under multiple managers.



Moura sucks not sure what him being up front has to do with us having any expectations. The fact we are playing crap like him Chelsea shows why we lost. They have so much more talent than us not sure how that gets put on the manager.



4/10 for a manager who has been here for 4 months with zero pre-season and no summer window is insanely harsh. The jury can be out on him but he has zero to prove. He has shown he can be very successful at multiple clubs. If he doesn't work here it is not down to him but those above him and the players.
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You criticise moura and I know he has his faults but sure as hell if he started v Burnley they would have been far more worried about his pace and running at people than our WBs or kulu.
 
Château NoHo said:
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Conte's biggest match for Inter (Europa League final).

3-5-2.

LWB: Ashley Young, 34 years-old.
RWB: D'Ambrosio 31 years-old.
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Didn’t they lose?
 
Raumdeuterz said:
Important to note that Guardiola in his first season at City struggled to get top 4, had games where they were battered by the likes of Everton (we beat them VERY comfortably too) and generally just weren't particularly good. That was with a full pre season, lots of spending and him being considered the best manager in football. You had English pundits revelling in his failure as it proved the PL was a different beast. Klopp too struggled after coming in mid season, lots of very poor results. Even in his first full season they scraped 4th in the table.

Top managers aren't magicians, they don't arrive, wave a magic wand and within a month you have champagne football. There's a lot of painful transition and mistakes along the way, thus far Conte has had zero pre season and 2 Jan signings (one of which has been injured) to work with. I understand not being impressed currently, but people have to ask themselves if they really want the club to pay the fee of sacking another manager and start a new project with new aims because we've had a poor couple of months. This club needs stability and consistency.
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Thanks for the perspective.
 
Airfixx said:
Still hanging out for the suggestion from him that he wants to be 'that guy' tho'... The guy that puts that time in.
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I don't think he will be that guy, I think in his mind he wants to be the guy that puts the building blocks down for future success, he already said he wants to leave the club in a better shape than it was when he got here.

I think he wants an entire overhaul of the back room staff, from the medical team to the scouting and really set the club up for future success, he knows what makes clubs successful and I think that's the issue here in general at this club, the owners and chairman have no idea what makes the club successful on the pitch and let's hope Conte changes that.

If he is allowed to do that or not remains to be seen however.
 
Incomplete_usernam said:
I don't think he will be that guy, I think in his mind he wants to be the guy that puts the building blocks down for future success, he already said he wants to leave the club in a better shape than it was when he got here.

I think he wants an entire overhaul of the back room staff, from the medical team to the scouting and really set the club up for future success, he knows what makes clubs successful and I think that's the issue here in general at this club, the owners and chairman have no idea what makes the club successful on the pitch and let's hope Conte changes that.
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I'd be at peace with all that..... (Again, he's providing no reassurance that he's committed to such a project..... All he's really doing is vocalising problems to the media that we as fans already know exist.)

However, my gut's telling me it's more a case that (regardless of what he told himself when he signed up) he's fighting against his own instincts which are to only want to be in a title race.

Incomplete_usernam said:
If he is allowed to do that or not remains to be seen however.
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...Further to what I've just said, even if we have a big window in the summer, I'm not entirely convinced he'll stick it out.
 
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