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Christian Stellini - Acting Head Coach for a small part of the season

For all this talk about Conte being a long-term manager, he simply has to start acting like it. Sign a contract to show you want to be here, and I think the club will continue to back him. The club obviously did poorly with transfers during the stadium build period, so the post-Poch managers have had some disadvantages there playing catch up with the squad.
I've said many times that I was ecstatic with what Conte achieved last season. This season is maybe a sophomore slump, but the point is that he should be helping nurture and develop talent, which IMO shows that he's a long-term manager. Instead, Conte has been running stalwarts into the ground instead of giving young players chances to come into the team, even for meaningless Carabao Cup matches. When I see his squad selections and subs, I can't help but feel that the guy has lost the plot a bit.

For full transparency, I did vote Conte out (but only after his contract is finished). If he can show he wants to be around for the long-term, I'm totally fine with that. Some stability could be a good thing, but he's got to want it too. Finally, I think he's a good person and I like him way more than Mourinho. I have no ill will towards him whether he stays or goes. He's had a tough year, and in such a public-facing job, it can be difficult to separate the private and public lives these guys lead. At the end of the day, I hope the time off lets him recharge his batteries and spend time with family.
 
papaspur said:
For all this talk about Conte being a long-term manager, he simply has to start acting like it. Sign a contract to show you want to be here, and I think the club will continue to back him. The club obviously did poorly with transfers during the stadium build period, so the post-Poch managers have had some disadvantages there playing catch up with the squad.
I've said many times that I was ecstatic with what Conte achieved last season. This season is maybe a sophomore slump, but the point is that he should be helping nurture and develop talent, which IMO shows that he's a long-term manager. Instead, Conte has been running stalwarts into the ground instead of giving young players chances to come into the team, even for meaningless Carabao Cup matches. When I see his squad selections and subs, I can't help but feel that the guy has lost the plot a bit.

For full transparency, I did vote Conte out (but only after his contract is finished). If he can show he wants to be around for the long-term, I'm totally fine with that. Some stability could be a good thing, but he's got to want it too. Finally, I think he's a good person and I like him way more than Mourinho. I have no ill will towards him whether he stays or goes. He's had a tough year, and in such a public-facing job, it can be difficult to separate the private and public lives these guys lead. At the end of the day, I hope the time off lets him recharge his batteries and spend time with family.
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Skipp started in the carabou cup with gil and spence coming on as subs. For a club that has only 1 cup in 20 years it wasn't meaningless.
 
Lilbaz said:
Skipp started in the carabou cup with gil and spence coming on as subs. For a club that has only 1 cup in 20 years it wasn't meaningless.
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True, we had Skipp start but overall, that performance against Nottingham was pretty poor given how many starters we had. Also, I should mention the context of this particular season with the World Cup and need special management of the players' fitness.
I know some people just want any trophy, and sure, the last cup we won was in that same competition... but this is the same cup where Dier ran off to take a dump during a match so that kind of sums up how I see it.
 
Probably an illusion, but I think our players look less stiff and controlled and more, dare I say playful with Stellini. Conte and Stellini are of course two sides of the same coin, but it looks that way to me.
 
Does seem to be more stand offish on the sidelines, letting the players figure it out for themselves. Don't know if it's helping or not but it's different to Conte putting himself in the starting eleven.
 
Gutter Boy said:
7 wins from 7 games. Officially now the best manager working in the game. The savior of our season
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For us, 4 games, 4 wins, not a single f*cking goal conceded.

That's some record. And for what it's worth, I agree with @Bedfordspurs - I think there's more to this than simple luck. I think the players look more relaxed, more instinctive, more confident in themselves.

I know Conte still sets them up, picks the team and talks to them in the week - but as with last week, I have to wonder if his hectoring from the sidelines affects the lads, while Stellini's relative passiveness lets them play.

When Conte returns this week, I hope he takes some lessons from his time away.

1) Relax a little more, both for your own health and maybe to let the lads play.
2) Start Richy on the left, and we look better for it. For GHod's sake, don't start Sonny again - let him recover from the bench for a while.
3) Work from home more, please. :p
 
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