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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

Bullet said:
That's a bit cringe, slow-motion-diving into challenges whilst your players hold back and don't dare embarrass you.
He should keep a level above them, a level of respect, not rolling around on the floor like one of the Ladz.
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Well he's made a half decent career out of it. Sorry have to trust his judgement on this over yours.
 
Bullet said:
That's a bit cringe, slow-motion-diving into challenges whilst your players hold back and don't dare embarrass you.
He should keep a level above them, a level of respect, not rolling around on the floor like one of the Ladz.
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It's a fine line between being one of the lads and becoming David Brent (or Glenn Hoddle). It's also one that changes as you go along. Conte needs to get the squad behind him ASAP, if he hasn't already, so a few cheap tricks to break the ice are probably a good idea. Further along the way, he'll need to keep his authority about him -- will he stop joining in, or is he good enough to maintain both personae?

In the early Poch years I think we saw a young manager, not too far off in age from his senior players, fostering the "all together" mentality. Later on, I think he was more of an authority figure, more aloof. But he'd already gained the respect of his squad by then. Is that why new players didn't seem to gel so well?

Whereas you could never quite imagine Jol and Redknapp being one of the lads. Sure, they'll have a joke and a smile, but I imagine they'd always be clear about who's in charge. Sandra, obviously.

Nuno, for all that he is clearly a decent man, never struck me as being either of the above. For all I know, he may have been a barrel of laughs in training, but I doubt it. For a bunch of senior players who probably still have early-to-mid-Poch in their minds, was he doomed from the start? Not strong enough a personality to make it work?

I'm just rambling, anyway. Are there two types of manager -- "personality" and "authoritarian"? Are the great managers both? Is it a natural progression as a manager gets older, which has to be managed -- perhaps that was Mourinho's problem, having crossed the line into authoritarian and being too much of a massive clown shoe to dial it back.
 
alekaras said:
I think these stats can be a bit misleading. One of the reasons we didn't run more under Nuno also has to be our style of play, so the Conte effect is really that his style of play requires more running by its very nature.
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Under Nuno we appeared to plod while under Conte we seem to be showing more urgency, so no, I do not think the stats are misleading at all. We are getting fitter and working harder, the stats are reflecting the change. Even though we only drew with Everton we covered more ground and worker harder than we were previously
 
NaijaSpurs said:
Under Nuno we appeared to plod while under Conte we seem to be showing more urgency, so no, I do not think the stats are misleading at all. We are getting fitter and working harder, the stats are reflecting the change. Even though we only drew with Everton we covered more ground and worker harder than we were previously
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Also, don't underestimate the importance of a plan. If players don't have a solid system they won't know which runs to make. This may manifest itself as FRAAB* at the start, but it eventually turns into a bunch of players scared to commit in case they do something wrong and get pilloried for it.

* I never bought into Harry's FRAAB, by the way. There was definitely attacking shape to that team, even with all the individual creativity on show.
 
As an individual there is nothing better than feeling you've contributed, made a difference. BUT in a team game the collective feeling is just as powerful, seeing everyone switched on, pulling for each other, covering for each other, saving your arse. It can provide an uplift to even the weakest players in your team...a well oiled machine. Plus the overall enjoyment is so much stronger (including for us fans) it's by definition, a group achievement.
 
NaijaSpurs said:
Under Nuno we appeared to plod while under Conte we seem to be showing more urgency, so no, I do not think the stats are misleading at all. We are getting fitter and working harder, the stats are reflecting the change. Even though we only drew with Everton we covered more ground and worker harder than we were previously
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I actually think you both could be right. We often looked lethargic under Nuno, running like we had lead in our boots. But it definitely could be a style of play thing as well. The reason I say this is because I remember seeing that running table and noted that Chelsea were 17th in the running table which i thought was bizarre considering they're top of the league. Must be their style of play, can't really comment though as i don't watch their games.
 
RunTMC said:
I actually think you both could be right. We often looked lethargic under Nuno, running like we had lead in our boots. But it definitely could be a style of play thing as well. The reason I say this is because I remember seeing that running table and noted that Chelsea were 17th in the running table which i thought was bizarre considering they're top of the league. Must be their style of play, can't really comment though as i don't watch their games.
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Running stats is just another meaningless stat because not every teams strategy is to just run all day. Then there is the fact that if you dominate the ball you will be running less etc I remember seeing that running stats table, and the likes of Leeds along with a couple of other poor teams were at the top of the table - so what does that tell you? We covered more ground than Leeds in the first half yet were quite clearly second best. It’s great that Conte is getting us fitter and covering more ground seems to be involved in his style. But using ground covered as evidence of better performance in comparison to another team or a previous regime is just plain wrong….
 
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