thanks mr. conte for all you are doing
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Manager Antonio Conte
- Thread starter Fattynomates
- Start date
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I get it if people really hate the way we play... but looking at where we are 1 year ago and where we are now, there is no debate the Conte impact is very positive.
Passive first halves aside, the squad is obviously still fighting for him.
I just don't buy it that this is his plan - to play so appallingly in games that we are almost certain to go behind and hope for a comeback?
The play in our first halves has been utterly utterly dreadful.
I just dont see a way out of this for us - we look like we have driven down a tactical cul de sac that we cant get out of.
It is possible I suppose that it could all just click and we play how we know we can for the entire game, game after game - but I think it is far more likely that our luck and the come-backs will dry up and we shall start a slide down the league.
I'm very pessimistic about where this is all heading.
The play in our first halves has been utterly utterly dreadful.
I just dont see a way out of this for us - we look like we have driven down a tactical cul de sac that we cant get out of.
It is possible I suppose that it could all just click and we play how we know we can for the entire game, game after game - but I think it is far more likely that our luck and the come-backs will dry up and we shall start a slide down the league.
I'm very pessimistic about where this is all heading.
Completely agree. Since about the 3rd or 4th game of the season i've been thinking it will click soon but its not happening. The world cup is coming in just the nick of time and hopefully that and a couple of new first teamers in January will change the mindset. Thats said in hope now more than any sort of expectation but fingers crossed.
Kane summed up what's going on (or not):
“We’ve got to find a balance between dropping and pressing. At the moment, we’re just dropping and sitting too deep. In the second half, we went man-for-man and took a bit more risk. We need to just find a little more patience when we are dropping and then being able to get out of that deep block and press. It is what we try to do but we’re just not quite executing it well enough.”
Basically, they're being too cautious and jittery.
It's not really working from an entertainment POV. The first 45 mins in too many games have been turgid. But it is working results wise: 3rd in the PL table, top of our CL group and now through to the last 16. All this with injuries and the mental weight of the world cup. And we're hardly the only team fucking up. One of the main reasons it's uncomfortable is that woolwich are playing eye candy football and are higher up the table doing it. That's where the open wound is.
I can't claim to be loving his style, but for me it's a case of 'in Conte we trust'. The guy is riddled with success and knows his stuff. I doubt he's loving every minute either with some of the players at his disposal but he has somehow got the choir singing from the same sheet (even if they've been flat a fair amount of the time).
This is a tough balance as pressing is risky. If the press is not coordinated and even 1 teammate is late or out of position, the press can be broken and a fast transition can result in conceding a big chance.
No one can press for 90 minutes, so it is about picking the moments wisely. Teams that control the ball like City don't expend much energy with the ball, so they are able to press almost every time they lose it. And they just foul immediately if they can't win it, which is blatant cheating but that's a different argument.
I can see why our players take the cautious route of dropping in. It is a better choice than running around like headless chickens but we definitely need to be able to improve our coordination and pick our moments better. Just deciding to not press one half and then press the 2nd half doesn't make sense. It's about identifying when the opposition is under pressure and at risk of losing the ball that the press needs to instinctually happen.
Unfortunately, the press typically starts with the forwards and neither Kane nor Son seem to have the energy to work off the ball. Lucas/Kulusevski and Richarlison are all better pressing options (Gil as well - he's crazy). We've even seen Bentancur leading the press several times from midfield, but that is not the best option as it means we lose our shape.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Considering their general success in Europe and who can doubt such a team's suitability for the PL league, how could that ever be described as a bad thing! And that's not even mentioning the visual delights on offer. Sign me up!!!!
Happy anniversary bossman.
I think I need to find a way to accept that the first halves go how they go with us instead of letting it infuriate me so much that it clouds my judgement overall. We're in a good position despite a few very disappointing results. The last 3 games have showed me there is some fight in there I just wish we didn't need to go 1 and 2 goals down all the time to show it.
Hmm is that true? Gonna need some stats
Would have thought we'd be behind City.
Football would be the sane well the tactics. Whose ever used WBs as the play makers?
Sadly... Still some haters...
That’s so BS. Potter took over from Chris H at Brighton and immediately turned them into a passing team. He didn’t soend billions doing it! Lots of trans have had coaches come in and change the way a team plays without buying top players. You really think that conte will morph into pep and get us playing Tika tala if he spends another £200m. He’ll be buy bloody more defender and WBs as he seems to think that’s where the creativity in teams comes from rather than midfield or forward players. Hence purchase of workhorse richo ahead of going for players like raphina.
Just lazy coaching and lazy thinking to say we will play a better style once we have better players. How much have we already spent.
Excellent post! Said it many times before on £15M a yr son isn’t bothered. Just wants ready made players to play counter attacking football.
Some suggest that it is a way to try and preserve energy to avoid injuries before the world cup.
It will be interesting to see if the slow first halfs remain after the world cup or if our tempo and intensity becomes more even keel.