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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

glorygloryeze said:
Ok, 6 months is a bit strong i agree. But the lack of rotating Son (and Kane to an extent) has not been good; when Son was playing poorly instead of dropping him for Richarlison, it was Kulusevski that was dropped! It has been odd squad management by Conte given how demanding he is, how he's talked about 'looking towards the bench then looking back to the pitch' last season.
We are paying now for lack of rotation earlier this season. I honestly think some of the players look shattered, as well as scared...

I agree it looks odd to talk about poor football and how we've had our best start etc. But look at the table and see how we can go from 3rd to 6th pretty easily (remember when we were top with Jose and slid down to 5th/6th in just two games because it was so tight and we were playing similarly in a mediocre fashion?)
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Other than playing Richarlison over Son once or twice what rotation would you have liked to see?
 
braineclipse said:
Other than playing Richarlison over Son once or twice what rotation would you have liked to see?
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I would have played Bissouma instead of PEH or Bentancur at times, sometimes for rotation for Bentancur, sometimes because PEH needs to feel when he doesn't perform well there are actually other options to take his place.
I would have played Spence in last 20 minutes of matches that we were winning comfortably AND where we had every other position settled. This way we would have a chance to see a) how he performs with others and b) give us a chance to see someone who is likely better than Emerson going forward; the fact our attacks often die on his side is killing us.
 
billyiddo said:
For all the talk about poor football we have had our best start to a season since the 60s i believe so there's a bit of the old stick with a winning team logic as well.
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I think this record is masking some big problems, problems which really only become apparent when we play the decent, high pressing teams. I accept Conte needs more time to bring in better players, especially at the back to enable us to beat the press. I really believe we need a creative player in midfield. Conte has had such a player when in charge of Chelsea and Inter. Otherwise we rely on Kane dropping deep to create something. I have no idea why he didn't bring in Eriksen, perhaps he didn't want to come? ( Been there, done that sort of thing).

Until we are able to bring those players in, we may have to accept finishing outside the CL places this season. There are a lot good teams going for the 4 places. I think we should give Conte the time to build his team.
 
Robspur12 said:
I think this record is masking some big problems, problems which really only become apparent when we play the decent, high pressing teams. I accept Conte needs more time to bring in better players, especially at the back to enable us to beat the press. I really believe we need a creative player in midfield. Conte has had such a player when in charge of Chelsea and Inter. Otherwise we rely on Kane dropping deep to create something. I have no idea why he didn't bring in Eriksen, perhaps he didn't want to come? ( Been there, done that sort of thing).

Until we are able to bring those players in, we may have to accept finishing outside the CL places this season. There are a lot good teams going for the 4 places. I think we should give Conte the time to build his team.
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That's what I imagine was likely the case. Can't really blame any player for wanting to play for a club as big as Man Utd are, especially as they had finally gone out and actually got themselves a decent manager in.
 
Finney Is Back said:
That's what I imagine was likely the case. Can't really blame any player for wanting to play for a club as big as Man Utd are, especially as they had finally gone out and actually got themselves a decent manager in.
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and the fact Eriksen's agent wanted something ridiculous like £20m in fees
 
DeanoAustin said:
Aren’t we ahead of them?
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In the league placings, yes, but in terms of performances I think it’s a lot less clear cut. I mean, they’ve beaten us and taken a point against both Manchester clubs. Their squad us weaker so theoretically it shouldn’t even be close but it is thanks to Eddie Howe’s great work. They are solid defensively, not conceding many chances or goals and yet all that with what ought to be a weaker team.
 
El Guepardo said:
In the league placings, yes, but in terms of performances I think it’s a lot less clear cut. I mean, they’ve beaten us and taken a point against both Manchester clubs. Their squad us weaker so theoretically it shouldn’t even be close but it is thanks to Eddie Howe’s great work. They are solid defensively, not conceding many chances or goals and yet all that with what ought to be a weaker team.
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They deserved the draws they got
Yesterday their best result the way they played was a draw too. But hey if we can give away a a goal and a ref can have a mare with his own understanding of how he previously refereed games it can happen
 
glorygloryeze said:
I imagine Conte didn't really want Eriksen enough for us to make a big push tbh
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We made an offer but was a final offer as the club did not want to be embroiled in a bidding war, the offer on the table was based on what they felt was viable based on age, risk etc. Thats why his agent said "we have not heard from Spurs in 8 weeks" because it was a take it or leave it. Man U came in and we refused to go back in
 
Grays_1890 said:
We made an offer but was a final offer as the club did not want to be embroiled in a bidding war, the offer on the table was based on what they felt was viable based on age, risk etc. Thats why his agent said "we have not heard from Spurs in 8 weeks" because it was a take it or leave it. Man U came in and we refused to go back in
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I know someone from Martin schoots family though work (I work for a big Copenhagen company) . It was a huge up front payment that we refused to pay. United were happy to as they say it as sensible business
i Was also told by a guy I know at Brentford that there was only one club he would leave them for, and that was us. That was last season
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Not when they are young and inexperienced they don’t
They take time to develop
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They do if they are good enough. Varane was 21 in that final. Carvaja 24, Koke 22, Courtois 22. All started and all younger than Toby was. Toby wasn't an inexperienced player. He'd had years of CL football. He just wasn't able to dislodge Athetico's admittedly excellent CB pairing, but his talent was known.

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Bishop said:
They do if they are good enough. Varane was 21 in that final. Carvaja 24, Koke 22, Courtois 22. All started and all younger than Toby was. Toby wasn't an inexperienced player. He'd had years of CL football. He just wasn't able to dislodge Athetico's admittedly excellent CB pairing, but his talent was known.

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So he was a talented, capable player?
Im asking because some people think Poch made him into a much better player
I’d argue he was already quality and playing with better players meant he could shine more (and more experience too)
 
he won three titles in a row at Ajax, he was always a quality player

under Poch he was a key part of a confident side playing well
 
Finney Is Back said:
That's what I imagine was likely the case. Can't really blame any player for wanting to play for a club as big as Man Utd are, especially as they had finally gone out and actually got themselves a decent manager in.
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and they pay much more than we do. surely that is going to mean something to most players. i mean wages not transfer and agent fees, which we seem to have no issues spending big on.
 
glorygloryeze said:
I would have played Bissouma instead of PEH or Bentancur at times, sometimes for rotation for Bentancur, sometimes because PEH needs to feel when he doesn't perform well there are actually other options to take his place.
I would have played Spence in last 20 minutes of matches that we were winning comfortably AND where we had every other position settled. This way we would have a chance to see a) how he performs with others and b) give us a chance to see someone who is likely better than Emerson going forward; the fact our attacks often die on his side is killing us.
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So really it's two players for starting roles. Spence for the rather occasional situation where we're comfortably ahead.

With those two Bissouma has been clearly inferior to Bentancur and PEH so far this season. Conte has talked about him needing time to learn the system. Rotation easily could have cost us.

Playing Son through poor form is a decent enough option with someone as good as Son imo. I can see going the other way with that, but hardly clear cut.

Meanwhile Conte has rotated Lenglet for Davies, Perisic and Sessegnon, Kulusevski and Richarlison.

For me at least the difference between what Conte has done and what you would have wanted us rather small.

We were excellent last season when we only had a game a week. Our squad was very limited behind the starting 11. This season we've had significant injuries to Lucas, Skipp, Kulusevski, Romero, probably can count Doherty in that as well. Bissouma got his preseason cut by covid.

Going to two games a week with this squad was always an uphill struggle and we probably needed more of the new lads to settle in quickly and a bit of luck with injuries.

I think I can see at least some of the reasoning with Conte's decisions. I think they're fine.
 
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