Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

[billyiddo]

Bissouma is the weak link in the 2
But we can’t play a 2 man attack with sonny playing so poorly

He's not playing well granted and looks poor individually and to temper any accusations of just hating on PEH he certainly looks worse atm than him, but he's coming in to a poorly performaning side and in the position of the pitch that is not functioning well, the one constant in all of our poor midfield performances is that one half is PEH and that is across multiple managers now. I just think he doesn't pair well or provide a good balance as a partner in a CM2. Maybe Biss wouldn't either but i want to see Bentancur + 1 and right now I'm sick of the sight of Hojbjerg pointing around while we get over run game after game- it's not working.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

He's not playing well granted and looks poor individually and to temper any accusations of just hating on PEH he certainly looks worse atm than him, but he's coming in to a poorly performaning side and in the position of the pitch that is not functioning well, the one constant in all of our poor midfield performances is that one half is PEH and that is across multiple managers now.

I’d play PEH every day of the week over Bissouma from what I’ve seen in a spurs shirt
Biss let’s players run past him way too often and his passing is so weak
He is much, much better than what we have seen but he needs to start showing it

 

[Raziel]

I’d play PEH every day of the week over Bissouma from what I’ve seen in a spurs shirt
Biss let’s players run past him way too often and his passing is so weak
He is much, much better than what we have seen but he needs to start showing it

Bissouma had a bad day at office today. My issue is unless we plan to have prime Modric in midfield, playing 2 is always putting the pressure on our players, we are always outnumbered, any midfielder is going to struggle in that situation game in, game out.

If you have real quality in the WB's, you can compensate, but realistically we don't, add in if we have injuries up front (Deki, Richarlison and Lucas out), why play up front and not in midfield? Gil on the wrong side? christ play him as a wide midfielder and push Son more central.

 

[billyiddo]

I’d play PEH every day of the week over Bissouma from what I’ve seen in a spurs shirt
Biss let’s players run past him way too often and his passing is so weak
He is much, much better than what we have seen but he needs to start showing it

You may be right but for me central midfield is as much about the partnership as it is about the individual abilities/performances - that's why I'm loathe to write off Bissouma atm as i think whoever partners PEH is on to a loser.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Bissouma had a bad day at office today. My issue is unless we plan to have prime Modric in midfield, playing 2 is always putting the pressure on our players, we are always outnumbered, any midfielder is going to struggle in that situation game in, game out.

If you have real quality in the WB's, you can compensate, but realistically we don't, add in if we have injuries up front (Deki, Richarlison and Lucas out), why play up front and not in midfield? Gil on the wrong side? christ play him as a wide midfielder and push Son more central.

If we Have to play a 3 to compensate we need a lot more goals from somewhere. Our issue is also the lack of real passing quality with the two today
But today wasn’t about being outnumbered…. It was about a lack of desire to track the man

 

[Bedfordspurs]

You may be right but for me central midfield is as much about the partnership as it is about the individual abilities/performances - that's why I'm loathe to write off Bissouma atm as i think whoever partners PEH is on to a loser.

We cant write him off
I remember dembele looking average before he settled in and realised who he was
But, he needs to take some accountability for his game, and work much harder

 

[DeanoAustin]

Mate someone two weeks back said the first half issues was a fallacy to churn a rhetoric and had people backing it, so there have been people defending it, there actually still is.

He doesn't, the teams don't change formation or personal in those games. Our come backs have worked despite not making changes, maybe verbally at HT but def not subs.....again its been a pattern of his games that he doesn't make early subs

2 nil down makes 4 changes from 80 - 88 mins....laughable

I’ll give you two examples and they looked like nothing subs.

He brought Davies v Marseilles at 0-0. He made a run for the first goal that opened the space up for the cross that Richarlison scored.

Last week he brought Sanchez on for Tanganga. Looked a nothing sub. But you watch it back. Sanchez made a huge difference.

It’s not just verbal. And he’s working with very little right now.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I’ll give you two examples and they looked like nothing subs.

He brought Davies v Marseilles at 0-0. He made a run for the first goal that opened the space up for the cross that Richarlison scored.

Last week he brought Sanchez on for Tanganga. Looked a nothing sub. But you watch it back. Sanchez made a huge difference.

It’s not just verbal. And he’s working with very little right now.

Sanchez was great last week when he came on
He under lapped in the way conte wants his CBS to do
Davies made this runs today but wasn’t found very much
Romero just runs whenever he wants and ends up in attack
That can work well of the midfield fill in, but they would need to be 1 in front of the other closing space rather than what we have seen lately which is side by side shuttling and no pressure on the oppos

 

[Raziel]

If we Have to play a 3 to compensate we need a lot more goals from somewhere. Our issue is also the lack of real passing quality with the two today
But today wasn’t about being outnumbered…. It was about a lack of desire to track the man

Yes, but this comes back to Conte

- He doesn't want a "creative" player
- By giving up the extra man in midfield it creates a whole set of problems (less protection, less control, less passing routes through midfield)
- We don't need a lot more goals from somewhere, we have two golden boot winners in the side plus Richarlison/Deki, plus Perisic, Bentancur, PEH, Doherty are all capable of chipping in

I think Conte is doing the same as Jose, he's so very specific about exactly what he wants a player to do in every situation, he's killing the team, people overthink, they move too slowly, they lose whatever little creativity they do have.

 

[Grays_1890]

I’ll give you two examples and they looked like nothing subs.

He brought Davies v Marseilles at 0-0. He made a run for the first goal that opened the space up for the cross that Richarlison scored.

Last week he brought Sanchez on for Tanganga. Looked a nothing sub. But you watch it back. Sanchez made a huge difference.

It’s not just verbal. And he’s working with very little right now.

I've had a gleg through the squads tonight mate and literally all our come backs are without making a sub bar a couple.

In other games like Forrest, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Liverpool, United etc we make none till we are 2 down and out the game

I was at the NLD and it was crying out for changes and we made none, then Emerson makes it impossible, we go 3-1 down, makes 5 changes on 75th mins or something ridiculous

Today 2 down before he makes changes

I have sympathy with lack of options but like I've said all season, he has doubled down to prove points IMO. Spence should be getting more than 2 mins at the end when his pace from WB could have been an asset chasing for example.

It's all over the shop TBH mate, literally none of it makes sense

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yes, but this comes back to Conte

- He doesn't want a "creative" player
- By giving up the extra man in midfield it creates a whole set of problems (less protection, less control, less passing routes through midfield)
- We don't need a lot more goals from somewhere, we have two golden boot winners in the side plus Richarlison/Deki, plus Perisic, Bentancur, PEH, Doherty are all capable of chipping in

I think Conte is doing the same as Jose, he's so very specific about exactly what he wants a player to do in every situation, he's killing the team, people overthink, they move too slowly, they lose whatever little creativity they do have.

Two ex golden boot winners
Son isn’t scoring
Perisic has t hit the target for us once yet
Kulu out and not a prolific scorer
Moura…. Dead and brick and no goals
Richarlison… injured and not scored much yet

you can’t play deki in a 3-5-2 IMO
If you okay him central he would be getting the ball in the busiest place on the park
We need more than Kane scoring in attack for us to work in any conte system IMO

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I've had a gleg through the squads tonight mate and literally all our come backs are without making a sub bar a couple.

In other games like Forrest, Saudi Sportswashing Outfit, Liverpool, United etc we make none till we are 2 down and out the game

I was at the NLD and it was crying out for changes and we made none, then Emerson makes it impossible, we go 3-1 down, makes 5 changes on 75th mins or something ridiculous

Today 2 down before he makes changes

It's all over the shop TBH mate, literally none of it makes sense

It makes sense
He doesn’t like subs
Poch didn’t either
They see the break up in play it gives teams and see them negatively

 

[Grays_1890]

It makes sense
He doesn’t like subs
Poch didn’t either
They see the break up in play it gives teams and see them negatively

Embarrassing when you can see how bad some games have been and how deep he has been willing to go before making a change. Not sure it helps with morale for what people complain is a sparce squad either.

And anyway, the proofs in the flan....its not working too well regardless.

Rigid systems, rigid selections, rigid changes....compounded by other issues. He needs to be more flexible

Anyway, time to tuck in, been an enjoyable debate despite another less than enjoyable Spurs days

 

[Raziel]

Two ex golden boot winners
Son isn’t scoring
Perisic has t hit the target for us once yet
Kulu out and not a prolific scorer
Moura…. Dead and brick and no goals
Richarlison… injured and not scored much yet

you can’t play deki in a 3-5-2 IMO
If you okay him central he would be getting the ball in the busiest place on the park
We need more than Kane scoring in attack for us to work in any conte system IMO

Nothing you said wrong there, except my opinion is they are not scoring because of the tactics, not the players, e.g.

- Son isn't playing well with Perisic behind him
- Kane today sat up high, in the center the vast majority of the time, yet when the midfield had the chance to pass to him (or Gil) in central positions, they always chose wide (even when it made no sense), has to be orders (so we effectively took our best passer out of the game)
- I'm not saying play Kulu in 3-5-2, but if you don't have him, why play what is effectively 5-2-3?

The lack of flexibility/adaptability is killing us
- We could have played 4 at back today, could have played 3 in midfield (or 4), could have played 2 upfront
- Instead we played same old, same old without the only personnel who have made it work in 12+ months and got same old, same old result ..

 

[Raziel]

I have sympathy with lack of options but like I've said all season, he has doubled down to prove points IMO. Spence should be getting more than 2 mins at the end when his pace from WB could have been an asset chasing for example.

It's all over the shop TBH mate, literally none of it makes sense

This is one of his big flaws, Spence, Sarr & Gill could have been a lot more for us today if they had some playing time under their belt in first half of season.

You can't bitch about lack of depth when you are actually making the situation worse by not developing any depth options

I really don't understand what he is trying to do, does this guy really think there is only one way to play football? wtf did we not go to 4 at the back chasing in last few minutes?

 

[Grays_1890]

This is one of his big flaws, Spence, Sarr & Gill could have been a lot more for us today if they had some playing time under their belt in first half of season.

You can't bitch about lack of depth when you are actually making the situation worse by not developing any depth options

I really don't understand what he is trying to do, does this guy really think there is only one way to play football? wtf did we not go to 4 at the back chasing in last few minutes?

Always has been too rigid and too strong headed. Chelsea players literally went on strike to get him to change his tactics before they won the league, he had to literally be forced to change at Inter and play an creative midfielder in Eriksen and they run away with the league.

It has to be him or nothing, it's far too rigid a view for my money, no club should give the keys to the city without it being two way and him also investing in the vision for youth and the future which is healthier than paying someone a huge salary for them only to be able to work with certain players in a certain system

 

[SubZero]

I think Conte is doing the same as Jose, he's so very specific about exactly what he wants a player to do in every situation, he's killing the team, people overthink, they move too slowly, they lose whatever little creativity they do have.

I really do think you've hit the tickle my balls with a feather here. There was a situation today with Bissouma holding with Doherty on a wide run and two players outside the middle, ready to attack the box. It was textbook. And there was a QE2-sized opening out wide. But Bissouma held, Doherty ran back and started on another run, still no ball. Bissouma MUST have seen both the runs and the opening, but it was like he was waiting for some other formation to form. So it ended in a Sissoko-type sideways passout which amounted to nothing. It was bizarre.

 

[tommysvr]

A few thoughts running threw my head.

- Lots of justifiable criticism of Levy, and in a perfect world we could find new and better owners. But what sort of owner do we want? Do we want a Glazer family? Todd Boehly type? Saudi Arabia/Qatar? A Mike Ashley? Venkys? There’s so much risk in that path, and for me it’s better the devil you know. I’d rather be where we are, seemingly permanently on the brink of challenging for the title and finishing 8th, than where Saudi Sportswashing Machine are. Or where Blackburn are.

- I’d be happy to give Conte another 18 months to get this sorted, and only judge at the end of that time. But he needs to commit to the same time frame. At the moment, he’s asking for money whilst not giving any guarantees. You can’t have it both ways.

- If he does stay, he needs to be way more flexible. Can this Villa game be the equivalent of Arsenal away when he was at Chelsea? Can he see that forcing everything into this formation may not be the answer for this team?

- If he does go, we are in desperate need of a back to basics approach. No more big name manager, trying to win things now. It’s not working. Get in someone who can commit to developing young players, playing entertaining football whilst understanding we’re not at the big boys table and may never be. This may take us back to the days of losing our best players again, but it’s probably where we’re belong on the food chain.

- The next manager for me should be Ange Postecoglu.

 

[kb 1984]

Ange is the guy I would choose attractive attacking football
He has been successful at every club he been at. Still don't no how he won the Asian cup with that team.
Problem is some of our fanbase won't be happy with his appointment & he will not be given the time he will need to implement his ideas. Some will want a manager who will bring instant success & a big name

 

[metalgear]

getting to the root of the problem, some big issues i have with Enic/Levy:

- Don't get Conte if you can't back him. We've done this Mourinho once and didn't learn - they are winners and won't be happy working like a novice coach.

- Stadium is built, non football revenue is steadily rising. Outside of the recent cash injection - there has not been an increase in regular, sustainable transfer budget and wages?

- Hugely overbudgetd stadium build. Yes we have good finance but someone has to pay for the hugely inflated costs (more than double). Enic has to take responsiblity for this and making the football side of things suffer (the 3 zero spend transfer windows). Anywhere else and the CFO will likely be sacked. Or is it an elite old-boys club who continue to get big salaries while increasing ticket prices for fans?