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Manager Antonio Conte

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Hmm.. I know we are doing really-really well in terms of results.
I mean this has been case throughout 2022.

But I have a small worry lingering in the back of my head. And I'd like to share it now when times and results are good. I feel that purposefully giving control of the midfield away might have a plan that opposite managers will bite through at some point. And will find an antidote. I am not fully sure we have many alternative ideas.

I really hope that Conte is considering this, but I hope there will be an option to play with 3 CMs as well, as it would give us A LOT more flexibility and in some instances also more control. I know that Forest and Wolves did not have high quality chances against us (mostly) but hey, I still remember ManU game from last season. When they could turn to some certain Ronaldo... and with our approach combined with his finishing meant disaster to us. I am afraid it could happen again. And more than once.

What I mean is - if we would use two more attacking fullbacks, so pair of Perisic and Spence for example... and instruct them to be active and aggressive going forward. I could see us playing for example -


-----Son----Kane----
-------Kulusevski---
Perisic-------Spence
--Bissouma-Benta--
Davies-Dier-Romero
--------Lloris--------

With Bissouma and Benta (or Skipp instead of him) could at times almost drop back between the CBs and form a strong foundation in the middle.

Or alternative to that if we want to be more conservative, then subsitute Kulusevski for PEH as most advanced CM. That would mean extra cover. I have a feeling that in some situations CM trio of Bissouma-Skipp-PEH can be used and it would give us incredible steel in the center of the field.

I trust Conte and I hope whatever he chooses (even if he choses to start all 38 games in EPL in same lineup and tactical approach) but I am just thinking about game dynamics and can't help to feel that starting 3 CMs at times could really benefit us.

I think the point is about control, we give the midfield battle up for the sake of controlling the two boxes, people will say that you having lots of possession means you're in control of the match but that doesn't necessarily mean the opposition isn't in control either. I don't think changing to 3-5-2 will result in more possession either, I mean it didn't for Inter because they were averaging the same possession we are averaging now under Conte when they won the league (52%)

It's a fair concern though and it's a debate I had with a mate who was saying that this style of football isn't sustainable but it's worth noting that when Conte won the league with Chelsea when he amassed 93 points his possession stats were the worst out of the top 6 (55% on avg).

I don't have a problem with the formation, it's not setup to dominate possession in midfield however against Forest we were sloppy on the ball, we kept giving the ball away, not just the midfielders, but playing out from the back was sloppy and Kane and Son didn't have their best games in terms of ball retention, we'll need to improve on that and we obviously will.
 
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Curious to see how Conte era compared to peak Poch era.
 
Curious to see how Conte era compared to peak Poch era.
I prefer watching peak Poch over Conte-ball no doubt, truly thrilling to watch. But I'm under no illution as to how effective we are under Conte. His teams are legit, and always competitive.

Right now our numbers are tracking easily 3rd best team in PL since his arrival, if the small trend continues with Liverpool (based this season so very, very small sample size - but I'm a dreamer) continues then we could overhaul them just - we're tracking at an +80 point finish based off all his PL Spurs games!
 
Yeah, I'll challenge anyone to find a bigger managerial impact over the same time frame anywhere.
Yep and that's the major point. Conte only joined the club in November yet the change in results, structure to play, mentality of the club has changed massively. Klopps first season at Liverpool..8th. Conte half a season at Spurs...4th.

Honestly the progress of the club has been ridiculous since Conte has joined, sometimes the football on the eye can be frustrating and for me it's not so much the tactics its the players ability to play the tactics i.e draw the opposition in by playing the ball around at the back and then release the front three in the gaps. When its done right its amazing and a joy to watch. Its high risk football which makes it a hard watch as sitting in for such long periods of the game means you've always got that fear of teams scoring as it's just constant but controllable pressure.
 
Yep and that's the major point. Conte only joined the club in November yet the change in results, structure to play, mentality of the club has changed massively. Klopps first season at Liverpool..8th. Conte half a season at Spurs...4th.

Honestly the progress of the club has been ridiculous since Conte has joined, sometimes the football on the eye can be frustrating and for me it's not so much the tactics its the players ability to play the tactics i.e draw the opposition in by playing the ball around at the back and then release the front three in the gaps. When its done right its amazing and a joy to watch. Its high risk football which makes it a hard watch as sitting in for such long periods of the game means you've always got that fear of teams scoring as it's just constant but controllable pressure.
I genuinely watch a game and feel totally at ease when we are without the ball. No team looks like scoring against us, I felt this way watching Chavs have all the ball, people all around me melting, but I never saw them have barely a clear-cut chance (this is the same with every game we play).

BUT, I don't get any pleasure out of watching us.

I don't put this on our players, it's all on Conte. There is zero secret to what team he will select (this will change over the coming weeks no doubt as we go into this ridiculous period of a game ether 3 days or so) and how they will play. It means the oppo know too and rarely do they play into what we want them to do. There is a template of how the oppo can play against us, so I would like to see us play with a 5 man mid so we can get on the ball more and maybe change things up a little bit but that's purely aesthetics.

We are in total control (or as much as most teams can be), this isn't "Jose ball" sitting back in a low block, we are extremely solid and deal with pretty much everything, most games the oppo attempts on our goal are speculative efforts from outside the box.
 
fucking disgrace tonight! playing with 10 fucking men with son, thats 5 fucking games now hes been allowed to drag us! playing against shit cunts like west ham who invite you to break them down and you got three donkeys at the back who are scared and clumsy with the ball at their feet! fucking retarded shit
 
Terrible tonight. If we start with the same 11 on Saturday, I’ll start to lose faith.
i wont fucking bother watching! sick of it. fuck is the point of paying 60 million for a forward when youre allowing one to play 5 games completely dragging us! fucking disgrace! weak shit, thought he was meant to be strong.

not even on son now, he should of been dragged out a couple games ago but him rotting away is not only costing us points its damaging the squads confidence because the performances are fucking shite.
 
Conte has been good. And I hope he continues to deliver as well. He is talented coach. But Conte fucking embarrassed us and himself and us today.

Game was there for the taking. But can't play it with 10 men just because of stubbornness.

We had decent bench and only using 1 sub when we never were close to scoring?!? Fucking stupid. Just 2 points gifted away without fight.

Agghhh... So irritating.
Basically we surrendered, but not on the field but the coach waived white flag.

Really hope he learned from today.
Enough of giving Son guaranteed playing time and keep starting with Royal. They don't contribute now, team is more important than individuals.
 
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