Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

[Grays_1890]

Glad he clarified that he won't kill himself...

 

[Diamond Lights]

saw his interview, doesn't change the facts.

He can harp on about how hard he's working, he's leaving end of this season so why are we wasting time.

 

[paxtonwolf]

...0-1 defeat incoming

 

[Goatleaf]

Just watched the interview. Stunning - about the first time he got out of clamp mode and actually expressed himself in an honest and open way. I still think he'll go at the end of the season and I still hate the Conteball he has depressed us all with but GHod help me I found myself warming to him - slightly.

 

[Grays_1890]

Just watched the interview. Stunning - about the first time he got out of clamp mode and actually expressed himself in an honest and open way. I still think he'll go at the end of the season and I still hate the Conteball he has depressed us all with but GHod help me I found myself warming to him - slightly.

Exactly the same, once we got past the delusion to of "he was not having a pop at me"....I don't know if he actually has shocked himself into caring with fear of the sack, but he actually seemed to care

 

[Hashegotthesackyet?]

is he still here?

 

[Dicko]

If the form picks up and we make top 4 by some miracle do you think Levy will want him to stay?

Edit. I know its improbable

 

[Mr Gogolak]

Most puzzling thing about Conte's and Mourinho's appointments is that they're what could be considered as 'last mile managers'. They're the kind of guys you want to hire if your team is good enough to win the league or the Champions League but can't get there for some reason. However, we've never been in that position. They're not really poor managers per se, they're just not what we needed at all. Ironically, the Champions League final seems to have turned more heads in the boardroom than it did in the stands.

It could have made sense to appoint either one of them in 2016, when we finished second behind Leceister (and even that is arguable) but right now, it doesn't make much sense. Conte's appoint is proving to be even more ill-advised than Mourinho because lessons should have been learnt.

It's quite obvious that neither enjoy working with decent/average players and having an uneven playing fields with the best teams in the league didn't suit them either. I wonder who we will go for once he's put out of his misery. Assuming we don't go back to Pochettino, hopefully, we'll start looking for someone with a lower profile but also with characteristics more suited to our current squad. Won't be an easy task...

 

[elltrev]

Most puzzling thing about Conte's and Mourinho's appointments is that they're what could be considered as 'last mile managers'. They're the kind of guys you want to hire if your team is good enough to win the league or the Champions League but can't get there for some reason. However, we've never been in that position. They're not really poor managers per se, they're just not what we needed at all. Ironically, the Champions League final seems to have turned more heads in the boardroom than it did in the stands.

It could have made sense to appoint either one of them in 2016, when we finished second behind Leceister (and even that is arguable) but right now, it doesn't make much sense. Conte's appoint is proving to be even more ill-advised than Mourinho because lessons should have been learnt.

It's quite obvious that neither enjoy working with decent/average players and having an uneven playing fields with the best teams in the league didn't suit them either. I wonder who we will go for once he's put out of his misery. Assuming we don't go back to Pochettino, hopefully, we'll start looking for someone with a lower profile but also with characteristics more suited to our current squad. Won't be an easy task...

I see what you’re saying, but to be fair the other pre/post-Nuno options didn’t seem great. I think it was a coup to get Conte at the time, and he had a very positive first season. Things haven’t gone as well this season, but that could be partly due to bereavements and illness taking their toll on him. It just feels a bit revisionist / hindsight-y to me to say that one of the world’s top managers was a bad hire at the time.

 

[lurker of old]

We were in a hole with Nuno and anyone half-decent would have been welcomed. I'm sure we all felt great that a top manager was coming in. If we had known how rigid his style can be, would we have been so positive? Despite last season's amazing run, to get 4th, can anyone deny that playing 2 in the middle in the PL, is asking for trouble against some teams (including our noisy neighbours in red).

 

[We are Tottenham]

One of the guys I played with as a teenager was absolutely convinced he'd make it to the very top of the game. He turned out to have a decent career at the top level in Croatia but he probably thinks he should have won the World Cup or that Croatia would have won if they'd call him up. Maybe it's different from one country to the next and it certainly changes from one generation to the next but I was truly amazed at how some of these guys thought they were bullet-proof. This guy's compass was that he was the absolute best football player of his time and I know for a fact that others had exactly the same mindset.

It's also the only way to make sense of some of the behind-the-scene clashes that are reported every season. For instance, what's the point of blasting Conte in the media if you're Richarlison? It's not very clever, is it? If you compare that to your everyday job, nobody would be dumb enough to go to the coffee machine and shout at the top of the their lungs 'my boss is a dingdong'. Same thing happened during the World Cup with a guy (in the France team, maybe) whose wife kept posting angry messages on social media because her man wasn't playing. That's hardly going to help but these guys, they work differently. I strongly believe they're closer to politicians than what most people think.

I can understand Richarlison's situation.He has not had that much playing time since he arrived.

You have have to think your good if you want to achieve anything! and Richarlison looks a decent player
to me but he's maybe doubting his worth at the club by not having enough time to play at his best.
Alternatively he's upset because his injuries has contibuted to his lack of form.
There's a lot of luck in life..maybe the guy you knew was a really good player and he was down on his luck!
Sometimes to make it... you have to be in the right place at the right time.
I,m not sure what this has to with Richarlison? but he did win the best goal in the World cup..

 

[Baleforce]

What video did you watch? no idea what you and @LemonadeMoney are talking about

I just looked at the first 35 goals in that video, not a single one of the first 35 were Son with his back completely to goal (with a defender on him) which is how he's been asked to play this season and was how he received the ball multiple times again Milan. 30 were Son facing the opposition goal, typically already running, 5 were questionable, him a little sideways, more shaping his body and typically he was in open space .. couldn't be arsed to watch the rest, it's very clear the main years of their partnership have nothing to do with Son receiving a ball with his back to goal (and it doesn't work because his first touch is often a bit brick, something you get away with when you knock it down in front of you in the direction you are running)

It is the tactics, along with probably some fatigue and a lack of confidence that bricky tactics fudging with your natural playstyle brings ..

do not agree with this statement

 

[Grays_1890]

I see what you’re saying, but to be fair the other pre/post-Nuno options didn’t seem great. I think it was a coup to get Conte at the time, and he had a very positive first season. Things haven’t gone as well this season, but that could be partly due to bereavements and illness taking their toll on him. It just feels a bit revisionist / hindsight-y to me to say that one of the world’s top managers was a bad hire at the time.

All of this is true and I loved him last season

I think what happens with ready made managers, with hindsight, is they have done the harder yards on their way up its ready made or not. Jose once famously said that he had no time for developing youth players at Man United when asked about bringing someone through.

I think all in all, great impact manager, long term and with the clubs current culture, not a good long term fit

 

[Mikey10]

Just watched the interview. Stunning - about the first time he got out of clamp mode and actually expressed himself in an honest and open way. I still think he'll go at the end of the season and I still hate the Conteball he has depressed us all with but GHod help me I found myself warming to him - slightly.

I’d have warmed to him a lot more if he’d have signed a contract to give the impression that he is actually committed.

 

[Raziel]

Most puzzling thing about Conte's and Mourinho's appointments is that they're what could be considered as 'last mile managers'. They're the kind of guys you want to hire if your team is good enough to win the league or the Champions League but can't get there for some reason. However, we've never been in that position. They're not really poor managers per se, they're just not what we needed at all. Ironically, the Champions League final seems to have turned more heads in the boardroom than it did in the stands.

It could have made sense to appoint either one of them in 2016, when we finished second behind Leceister (and even that is arguable) but right now, it doesn't make much sense. Conte's appoint is proving to be even more ill-advised than Mourinho because lessons should have been learnt.

It's quite obvious that neither enjoy working with decent/average players and having an uneven playing fields with the best teams in the league didn't suit them either. I wonder who we will go for once he's put out of his misery. Assuming we don't go back to Pochettino, hopefully, we'll start looking for someone with a lower profile but also with characteristics more suited to our current squad. Won't be an easy task...

Not that hard to see the logic

- Club wants the no trophy monkey off their back
- Stadium was coming online, there would be more money to spend
- Jose got handicapped to start by Covid cutting the available money
- Both ultimately have proved the game has largely passed them by, and their tactics without a perfect team to follow are horrendous

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

I loved it when Conte said, "he's right, his season has been brick, he has scored zero goals in the Premier league." Richarlison needs to shut his mouth. he has been a fudging passenger and could only make a case to be included because Son has also been brick. Glad Conte put him in his box. I don't like Richarlison, I think he's overrated and I did not want to sign him. Especially for 50 million quid. ,

 

[Mcfee]

I’d have warmed to him a lot more if he’d have signed a contract to give the impression that he is actually committed.

It sounded like both parties felt the 18 month contract was mutually beneficial but in hindsight all it did was create uncertainty.

 

[Raziel]

I loved it when Conte said, "he's right, his season has been brick, he has scored zero goals in the Premier league." Richarlison needs to shut his mouth. he has been a fudging passenger and could only make a case to be included because Son has also been brick. Glad Conte put him in his box. I don't like Richarlison, I think he's overrated and I did not want to sign him. Especially for 50 million quid. ,

And who you think made us pay £60M for a backup striker? 100% Conte, just like Bissouma, just like Perisic, just like Porro and the fudger will still moan about how many fudging years it will take him to compete with Villa & Wolves

Richarlison was right, the team wasn't working, Son is struggling, Perisic the same, change the side to include Richi and Davies at WB and the team looks as good as it has all season and wins a few games, what does Conte do? change it back, we look like brick and lose, what does he do next match? still not revert to what worked .. we can see it, the players can see it ..

 

[Mr Gogolak]

I see what you’re saying, but to be fair the other pre/post-Nuno options didn’t seem great. I think it was a coup to get Conte at the time, and he had a very positive first season. Things haven’t gone as well this season, but that could be partly due to bereavements and illness taking their toll on him. It just feels a bit revisionist / hindsight-y to me to say that one of the world’s top managers was a bad hire at the time.

It's completely a case of speaking in hindsight, I agree, particularly with Mourinho. I also agree that the situation was dire after Espirito Santo but that's a debacle of our own making. Also, I would expect (perhaps wrongly) a much higher level of consideration from the board when the time comes to appoint a new manager than I would from an average fan, ie me.

Also, it's never black and white: Levy did back Conte on the transfer market, like he never backed anyone else before. But, at the end of the day, when you compare Inter's squad with the rest of the title contenders in Italy, the gap wasn't as big as it is with us. I couldn't be bothered to check that in details when he was appointed and, as you rightly mention, I was just as happy as the next guy when we signed him. So, I'm certainly not saying I would have got it right or whatever - just that, when you think a little more about it and when you take a look back at the last three years, they probably weren't the best options for us, even if they had the highest profiles of all the available managers.

I'd add that circumstances didn't help in Conte's case but, at the end of the day, I'm sure every manager who's failed could point out a million little things that didn't go their way.

 

[Raziel]

I'd add that circumstances didn't help in Conte's case but, at the end of the day, I'm sure every manager who's failed could point out a million little things that didn't go their way.

Several of them, including Conte & Jose are fudging professionals at doing it