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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

DubSpur said:
Yeah, Liverpools 3 up front and Contes 3 up front at Chelsea sucked and City's 3 up front is totally negative and anti-possession :rolleyes:
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Some have always got to fish for anything, something just to try to prove that they are right.

3 up front works so well with the right players, as do 2, as does 1 and even 0 like barca .... so stupid to think that there is only one way to play the game.
 
Thanks to @Daisuk for posting the podcast, very interesting and I'm getting very excited about Conte's Spurs.
My main takaways from listening to the Inter fan and journalist who did most of the talking and really knew his beans are
• Inter under Conte played the best football he'd ever seen Inter play
• Conte takes players to a whole new level and transforms them
• Conte is great working when his backs to the wall and working with what he's got, not a chequebook manager.
• He thinks we'll sign Kessie from Milan and play a possible midfield 3 of Dele, Ndombele and Kessie. This bit he was very excited about and really felt Conte could get a tune out of Dele and Ndombele, actually not a tune, the way he was talking more like a symphony.
• Intensity. The Inter wingbacks were regularly subbed on 70 minutes because they were fudged, that's how hard Conte expects them to work from minute 1, I think the way way we came flying out of the blocks last night sounds like a taste of what is to come.
• Great man management skills
• Conte is a madman and an obsessive and likened him to an artist.

The more I hear and read the more perfect for Spurs right now Conte seems to be.
He is going to work the players so hard, a new level to Poch even!! They really won't know what's hit them.
I think we're in for an absolute treat, fun exciting, intense and a bit mental, strap yourselves in COYS!!!
 
SpurMeUp said:
It's really hard to discern the best side.

Tanganga Romero Dier - appeals as the foundation. Tanganga has fight and pace, he maybe not as good on the ball as we'd like playing in a 3 but he's decent and the commitment and hunger is there. We are crying out for someone like Toby. Ironic he was here tonight.

Royal Hojbjerg Ndombele Regulion

Moura Kane Son
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I much prefer this one over the other one you mentioned. However, it still has crucial weaknesses that need to be addressed - Dier, an RCB playing on the left of the defense. And that central midfield, without a real deep distributor or defensively disciplined player.

The first is simple enough - given we're playing three center-backs, some of the playmaking will have to be done by one or more of them. Romero seems like a carrier more than a distributor. Tanganga likewise. We need a playmaking center-back in there, who sees the tactical picture on the field and also has the authority and stature to make those passes and command the back line.

Dier fails miserably at just about every one of those, plus as a right-footed player, one flank is basically shut off from passes from deep, since his preference will instinctively be to pass out with his stronger foot as opposed to down the left-hand side.

So, biggest weakness that will have to be addressed in the market. There are players on the market *juuust* within our reach this winter (Romagnoli most prominent among them) - but Dier isn't the answer. On the left, anyway. If he switches over to the right-hand side in place of Tanganga, maybe, but then you'd need a left-footed left center back who is also comfortable drifting out wide, which is a staple of Conte's past sides. So not Romagnoli. who is a bit immobile.

The other is a deep distributor. Every single one of Conte's sides from Juve onwards have had this player - Pirlo at Juve, Daniele De Rossi for Italy, Matic at Chelsea, Brozovic at Inter.

Hojbjerg is *not* that player - he's actually very similar to how Conte apparently was as a player, which is a passionate but limited destroyer. But that needs to be in place, and none of our stable fit the mold. Ndombele is too defensively weak to be that player, and also too tactically indisciplined - possibly unfit as well. Lo Celso actually played that role for PSG for a while, but he's certainly not that player today. Winks....yeah.

The solution is, again, on the market. Brozovic is out of contract in 2022. We should be out there in Milan, negotiating for him *right now* - before he signs a new contract out there or someone else bids for him.

There are more players for this role out there compared to LCB that we could approach in the summer. But the key here is that players Conte has already worked with know his system and will not need as much instruction - the absolutely key is to reduce the amount of time Conte has to spend yelling at the useless bunch we have now.

The fact is, he's an extremely emotional, extremely committed man who absolutely detests losing, and detests errors. He once remarked that he had 24 hours in the day, and allocated 5 to sleep, 3 to his family, and 16 for football. And in that commitment is embedded a philsophy which absolutely drills individual player agency out of players, in favour of a regimented system where everyone has a role to play and knows what everyone else is doing and will be doing at any given time in the game.

There are countless stories from his early days at Siena onwards from everyone from Pirlo to his various chairmen about how much he detests distractions, detests players making errors, detests absent-mindedness or a lack of single-minded focus on constant improvement. The highlight is when, after already winning the title at Juve with games in hand, Buffon and Beppe Marotta, the DoF, interrupted one of the tactical analysis sessions for one of the dead-rubber games to ask if they could take five minutes to discuss winning bonuses for the season behind them.

Conte exploded. He literally wrested Marotta out of the room and then stripped the paint off the walls with how much he yelled at Buffon, accusing him of not caring about winning and saying he'd make the other 'dimwits' in the squad complacent because of it.

That's how he is. Nothing left to chance. No errors.

And the longer he is exposed to our lot ,who are by turns incompetent, useless, cheap, bargain-bin, poorly led and poorly-motivated - the more his emotions will get the better of him. I am legitimately concerned that he will just quit at one point if forced to work with this lot alone through January.

Thus, we need to be buying players he already knows. Both to address the gaps in your lineup, and to give him players he's worked with before so, quite frankly, he doesn't blow a gasket trying to coach the incompetence out of the lot we have now.
 
DubaiSpur said:
I much prefer this one over the other one you mentioned. However, it still has crucial weaknesses that need to be addressed - Dier, an RCB playing on the left of the defense. And that central midfield, without a real deep distributor or defensively disciplined player.

The first is simple enough - given we're playing three center-backs, some of the playmaking will have to be done by one or more of them. Romero seems like a carrier more than a distributor. Tanganga likewise. We need a playmaking center-back in there, who sees the tactical picture on the field and also has the authority and stature to make those passes and command the back line.

Dier fails miserably at just about every one of those, plus as a right-footed player, one flank is basically shut off from passes from deep, since his preference will instinctively be to pass out with his stronger foot as opposed to down the left-hand side.

So, biggest weakness that will have to be addressed in the market. There are players on the market *juuust* within our reach this winter (Romagnoli most prominent among them) - but Dier isn't the answer. On the left, anyway. If he switches over to the right-hand side in place of Tanganga, maybe, but then you'd need a left-footed left center back who is also comfortable drifting out wide, which is a staple of Conte's past sides. So not Romagnoli. who is a bit immobile.

The other is a deep distributor. Every single one of Conte's sides from Juve onwards have had this player - Pirlo at Juve, Daniele De Rossi for Italy, Matic at Chelsea, Brozovic at Inter.

Hojbjerg is *not* that player - he's actually very similar to how Conte apparently was as a player, which is a passionate but limited destroyer. But that needs to be in place, and none of our stable fit the mold. Ndombele is too defensively weak to be that player, and also too tactically indisciplined - possibly unfit as well. Lo Celso actually played that role for PSG for a while, but he's certainly not that player today. Winks....yeah.

The solution is, again, on the market. Brozovic is out of contract in 2022. We should be out there in Milan, negotiating for him *right now* - before he signs a new contract out there or someone else bids for him.

There are more players for this role out there compared to LCB that we could approach in the summer. But the key here is that players Conte has already worked with know his system and will not need as much instruction - the absolutely key is to reduce the amount of time Conte has to spend yelling at the useless bunch we have now.

The fact is, he's an extremely emotional, extremely committed man who absolutely detests losing, and detests errors. He once remarked that he had 24 hours in the day, and allocated 5 to sleep, 3 to his family, and 16 for football. And in that commitment is embedded a philsophy which absolutely drills individual player agency out of players, in favour of a regimented system where everyone has a role to play and knows what everyone else is doing and will be doing at any given time in the game.

There are countless stories from his early days at Siena onwards from everyone from Pirlo to his various chairmen about how much he detests distractions, detests players making errors, detests absent-mindedness or a lack of single-minded focus on constant improvement. The highlight is when, after already winning the title at Juve with games in hand, Buffon and Beppe Marotta, the DoF, interrupted one of the tactical analysis sessions for one of the dead-rubber games to ask if they could take five minutes to discuss winning bonuses for the season behind them.

Conte exploded. He literally wrested Marotta out of the room and then stripped the paint off the walls with how much he yelled at Buffon, accusing him of not caring about winning and saying he'd make the other 'dimwits' in the squad complacent because of it.

That's how he is. Nothing left to chance. No errors.

And the longer he is exposed to our lot ,who are by turns incompetent, useless, cheap, bargain-bin, poorly led and poorly-motivated - the more his emotions will get the better of him. I am legitimately concerned that he will just quit at one point if forced to work with this lot alone through January.

Thus, we need to be buying players he already knows. Both to address the gaps in your lineup, and to give him players he's worked with before so, quite frankly, he doesn't blow a gasket trying to coach the incompetence out of the lot we have now.
Click to expand...

Brozovic and Romagnoli you'd expect would instantly have a huge impact on this side. Add Kessie and it could be quite a big lift.

Conte is not sugar coating anything. And I'm glad. There is a LOT of work to do, the squad seems imbalanced with a real lack of technically proficient players. With an uplift in fitness and tactics, it can raise our level by quite some distance. Adding genuine quality goes without saying. The future is bright but we really do need patience. That means we may see some horrible performances and errors for the time being still.
 
diego_maradona said:
Brozovic and Romagnoli you'd expect would instantly have a huge impact on this side. Add Kessie and it could be quite a big lift.

Conte is not sugar coating anything. And I'm glad. There is a LOT of work to do, the squad seems imbalanced with a real lack of technically proficient players. With an uplift in fitness and tactics, it can raise our level by quite some distance. Adding genuine quality goes without saying. The future is bright but we really do need patience. That means we may see some horrible performances and errors for the time being still.
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The bring back pochettino romanticism fans will be the first to sit waiting for the hiccups.
 
Gazza said:
The bring back pochettino romanticism fans will be the first to sit waiting for the hiccups.
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I am one of those. Will always be. But at this point, whether Poch is back or Conte is in charge, the exact same hiccups will happen in the exact same way.

This is the squad we have - the most unfit in the league, the least capable of holding the ball under any sort of press, the worst passers, the least motivated, the most feckless and lazy. Conte has come straight out and said it, in slightly more diplomatic terms.

That this destruction has happened in so short a period is astounding - everything Poch had built, gone.

And to go back to the sort of team we were in 2016-2017, where we obliterated everyone and feared no-one...that will take a lot of work, and a lot of time.

I will not be at all surprised if we drop points on the weekend, btw. And I expect this easy run folks are saying we have to be tougher than people realize, because this squad will burn themselves out in the first 30-45m of games, and then lose game control - as we saw against Vitesse. Once that happens, any team, from Burnley to Norwich, will fancy their chances.

To change that will require intense training of fitness and game management, which itself is a process of many months - so if we finish the season roughly where we are now, don't be surprised.
 
diego_maradona said:
Brozovic and Romagnoli you'd expect would instantly have a huge impact on this side. Add Kessie and it could be quite a big lift.

Conte is not sugar coating anything. And I'm glad. There is a LOT of work to do, the squad seems imbalanced with a real lack of technically proficient players. With an uplift in fitness and tactics, it can raise our level by quite some distance. Adding genuine quality goes without saying. The future is bright but we really do need patience. That means we may see some horrible performances and errors for the time being still.
Click to expand...
Brozovic is set to sign a contract extension with Inter any day now, so I wouldn't count on him. Kessie will have a lot of teams looking at him, so will not be an easy get and Milan has offered him quite a lucrative contract to resign.
 
DubaiSpur said:
I am one of those. Will always be. But at this point, whether Poch is back or Conte is in charge, the exact same hiccups will happen in the exact same way.

This is the squad we have - the most unfit in the league, the least capable of holding the ball under any sort of press, the worst passers, the least motivated, the most feckless and lazy. Conte has come straight out and said it, in slightly more diplomatic terms.

That this destruction has happened in so short a period is astounding - everything Poch had built, gone.

And to go back to the sort of team we were in 2016-2017, where we obliterated everyone and feared no-one...that will take a lot of work, and a lot of time.

I will not be at all surprised if we drop points on the weekend, btw. And I expect this easy run folks are saying we have to be tougher than people realize, because this squad will burn themselves out in the first 30-45m of games, and then lose game control - as we saw against Vitesse. Once that happens, any team, from Burnley to Norwich, will fancy their chances.

To change that will require intense training of fitness and game management, which itself is a process of many months - so if we finish the season roughly where we are now, don't be surprised.
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I don't think the team will burn itself out in the first 30-45 minutes. If they do that, then Conte is not the manager he's cranked up to be. I think Conte knows the fitness limitations and will make sure that the explosiveness is balanced and timed so we're not limping around for the second half of matches. Once the fitness levels are up to snuff, we will see more sustained periods of explosiveness.

I'm pretty sure Conte will not start them out the way he would have, had he had a full pre-season. If we drop points it will probably be because during our explosive periods within games we don't manage to score, more than anything else. Since those periods will be shorter in the first few games, there are more chances points will be dropped. But to suggest that Conte will send them out and tell them to run wild from the kickoff until they drop is probably not accurate. Don't go by the Vitesse match. That was the first game and the players were all gung ho. The next games will be different. I'm expecting to see an initial 10-15 minutes of high octane football, followed by 20-25 mins in a more defensive shape, followed by another 5-10 mins of higher energy to close out the half. Rinse and repeat in the second half.
 
alekaras said:
Brozovic is set to sign a contract extension with Inter any day now, so I wouldn't count on him. Kessie will have a lot of teams looking at him, so will not be an easy get and Milan has offered him quite a lucrative contract to resign.
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I thought that was not the case with Brozovic saying "Let's see" when asked if he was about to sign a contract.
 
Gazza said:
The bring back pochettino romanticism fans will be the first to sit waiting for the hiccups.
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I am a Poch fan, but didn’t believe in bringing him back - not yet anyway. I am behind Conte now with the reservations I outlined in previous posts. Also I do wish he hadnt managed Chelsea previously. The suits he wears reminds me of him running up the touch line and diving into Chelsea fans which used to irritate me. Mind you I was one of those who really liked Jose until he went full idiot.
 
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