• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

Chielini can do one. We showed plenty of fight and gumption at their ground coming back from 2-0 down to finish the game at 2-2 and go to the return leg with an advantage. That showed plenty of fight under pressure. The fact that Allegri outmaneuvered Poch in the return leg is not on the players. And to claim that in the past 20-25 years every single player that has put on a Spurs shirt doesn't want to play under pressure and doesn't want to play under stress is about as OTT as it gets (not to mention statistically improbable).

Players need to be self-motivated and some are more than others, but at the end of the day, it is up to the manager to get them further motivated and focused on the task at hand. And this selfish comment? Apart from Harry and Sonny to a lesser extent, who exactly from our main starters this season is selfish? Davies? Skipp? Emerson? Hojbjerg? Deki? Richie? Dier? Sess? Do Harry and Sonny control the dressing room and set the tone for others with their "selfishness?" (I doubt it.) So I'm struggling to think of who the selfish players are that Conte has called out.

Conte had enough time last season to assess the players' characters and go to the board and say "I need these players out." He started the season with a group of players who should have been the ones that met his criteria. Maybe not the highest quality players, but it's not quality he was calling out in his presser. He was calling out character. So what changed between the start of the season and now? How did such an exalted manager like Conte not manage to get the best out of the group of players he selected to at least beat fudging Sheffield and Forest in the cups? My guess is that it is his rigidity that is at fault. When you do not change your way, but insist on the same tactics game in and game out, tactics that do not work, you will start losing the players. It is not the players' fault that you are not trying to get the best out of them. It is your fault. The players see this and after a while they're just "fudge it." It's a normal cause and effect and to attribute it to anything else is highly disingenuous.

He said all 11 were selfish. Not sure how the players are going to take that. Especially as many will be off on international duty now. Their international team mates asking about it. A week to think and wonder about it.
 
Our problem isn't scoring goals though. Only arsenal and city have scored more. Our problem is conceding. We've conceded more than palace who just sacked their manager. Only 7 teams have conceded more.

Having a clear threat puts the opposition team on the back foot and helps by discouraging them from throwing bodies forward.
And when they do, a fast counter attack is always a way to punish them.

Or let's assume that Conte isn't as stupid or ignorant as fans make him out to be. what do you think is holding conte back from reverting to a proven formula? i mean all the discussion here is about turgid football under Conte but we all know he's done so much better with other teams. There must be a Spurs factor but what is it?
 
Having a clear threat puts the opposition team on the back foot and helps by discouraging them from throwing bodies forward.
And when they do, a fast counter attack is always a way to punish them.

Or let's assume that Conte isn't as stupid or ignorant as fans make him out to be. what do you think is holding conte back from reverting to a proven formula? i mean all the discussion here is about turgid football under Conte but we all know he's done so much better with other teams. There must be a Spurs factor but what is it?

Tbh i think some of it is a nervousness.
Lack of trust in the defence, which means the team sits too deep at times.
We don't transition quickly enough.
Kane and kulu not being the fastest also slows down the counter.
Son going to pot this season. Losing confidence.
Injuries haven't helped either.
Conte seems to do really long video analysis. Which is easier to handle in a one game a week but is crammed in 2.
Players just not enjoying it. The last 10 games conte has been there for games. We've won 3, drawn 2, lost 5.
 
Tbh i think some of it is a nervousness.
Lack of trust in the defence, which means the team sits too deep at times.
We don't transition quickly enough.
Kane and kulu not being the fastest also slows down the counter.
Son going to pot this season. Losing confidence.
Injuries haven't helped either.
Conte seems to do really long video analysis. Which is easier to handle in a one game a week but is crammed in 2.
Players just not enjoying it. The last 10 games conte has been there for games. We've won 3, drawn 2, lost 5.

agree with everything here except that we did play faster last season. a lot more risk taking and losing the ball in attack and utilising Son's strengths.

shame with injuries especially when players seem to be hitting form (romero, royal,skipp, richarlison) - must have put a dent in conte's plans.
 
agree with everything here except that we did play faster last season. a lot more risk taking and losing the ball in attack and utilising Son's strengths.

shame with injuries especially when players seem to be hitting form (romero, royal,skipp, richarlison) - must have put a dent in conte's plans.

The defence was better last season aswell. Lloris did well enough to get a 2 year contract extension. We've already conceded the same amount of goals as we did for the whole of last season.
 
Having a clear threat puts the opposition team on the back foot and helps by discouraging them from throwing bodies forward.
And when they do, a fast counter attack is always a way to punish them.

Or let's assume that Conte isn't as stupid or ignorant as fans make him out to be. what do you think is holding conte back from reverting to a proven formula? i mean all the discussion here is about turgid football under Conte but we all know he's done so much better with other teams. There must be a Spurs factor but what is it?
Has he really done so much better with other teams? I don't have the stats from his Juve and Sienna years, but the titles he won with Chelsea and Inter were more the result of having been lucky than having set up a team that outperformed other teams week in and week out.

In my opinion, Conte is a great manager when all the stars align for him. I think with Spurs he has been found out. Watch his next couple of managerial appointments and mark my words. If he doesn't take over a team with unlimited cash, he is not going to win another title.
 
Has he really done so much better with other teams? I don't have the stats from his Juve and Sienna years, but the titles he won with Chelsea and Inter were more the result of having been lucky than having set up a team that outperformed other teams week in and week out.

In my opinion, Conte is a great manager when all the stars align for him. I think with Spurs he has been found out. Watch his next couple of managerial appointments and mark my words. If he doesn't take over a team with unlimited cash, he is not going to win another title.

Juve hadn't won the league in a decade and finished midtable before he took them over. Inter hadn't won the league in 9 years. Bari were in relegation places in serie b. He kept them up and promoted them the next season. He is undoubtedly a good manager. But it's not working as he says.
 
The thing i don't get is conte backpeddling saying he didn't criticise the owner. Why? It's not like him to be shy of criticising an owner of a club he's at. Especially one where his contract finishes in 2 months.

In some weird fudged up way, does he want to stay?
 
The thing i don't get is conte backpeddling saying he didn't criticise the owner. Why? It's not like him to be shy of criticising an owner of a club he's at. Especially one where his contract finishes in 2 months.

In some weird fudged up way, does he want to stay?

Allow me.

It's because he's showing his arse-covering coward skills now.

I expected this 'brave and bold Antonio' to speak up the moment he got nothing he wanted. Until the World Cup break, he'd done nothing but say he was happy with the squad/players and that he understood the way the club operated. Again, whether people are happy with ENIC or not isn't the debate when we're talking about Conte's rant. We're looking at his rant (calculated BTW) and the ONLY conclusion to draw is that it was cowardly. Which dovetails with this reported 'backpedaling'. Seriously, what a clown shoe!
 
His rant criticising the owners is surely bound to be written into his contract as a sackable offence, meaning he risks forfeiting his pay-off.

Hence the backpedalling.
 
Personally I genuinely think he wasn’t trying to criticise the owners. He was saying that in the last 20 years the fans/media always blame the owners and the managers, but never the players. And that it’s the same now.

And I genuinely think he was saying all of this as a last ditch attempt to change the mentality of the team. Leadership by provocation and challenge, tough love etc.

I don’t agree with his assessment, and as an attempt to motivate the players I don’t think it’ll work. But I honestly think it was an attempted nuclear option to change the team’s mentality, nothing more.
 
Personally I genuinely think he wasn’t trying to criticise the owners. He was saying that in the last 20 years the fans/media always blame the owners and the managers, but never the players. And that it’s the same now.

And I genuinely think he was saying all of this as a last ditch attempt to change the mentality of the team. Leadership by provocation and challenge, tough love etc.

I don’t agree with his assessment, and as an attempt to motivate the players I don’t think it’ll work. But I honestly think it was an attempted nuclear option to change the team’s mentality, nothing more.

Listened to the rant, i dont think Conte is the answer but i do agree with everything he has said. For too long at this club have we down-tooled for a manager, did it under Poch, did it under Mourinho, under Conte etc etc.. There is no other explanation other then the players for the sometimes lazy effort that appears, yet against the likes of city the effort is there.
 
I expected this 'brave and bold Antonio' to speak up the moment he got nothing he wanted. Until the World Cup break, he'd done nothing but say he was happy with the squad/players and that he understood the way the club operated. Again, whether people are happy with ENIC or not isn't the debate when we're talking about Conte's rant. We're looking at his rant (calculated BTW) and the ONLY conclusion to draw is that it was cowardly. Which dovetails with this reported 'backpedaling'. Seriously, what a clown shoe!

From day 1 this guy's PR has been the same
1. I'm here to help lowly Tottenham, they should be thankful
2. Gap is sooooo big, I've told club, any success would be a huge achievement, something never done before
3. Any failure is anyone but my fault

To the current situation
- He obviously wants out, part of it seems personal (I sympathize to the extent I can), part of it is probably the realization he isn't good enough
- He wants to get paid out
- His rant probably strayed into some demonstratable firing offense in his contract hence he has to back down to keep the money

The issue is some segment of our fanbase (due to their hate of Levy/ENIC) latch on to every word and don't think for a second
- Spurs today is not the Spurs of Poch, or the Spurs of Harry or the Spurs of Jol or the Spurs of Hoddle. This is why it's hard to have a real conversation about the success/failure of ENIC, it's a club who's position, buying power has changed considerably over the years. Hence it's not relevant to say who we did or didn't buy in a winter for Harry (we have bought Conte -> Bentancur, Deki and Porro in winter windows), so the 20 year comment is flimflam
- Conte has been backed and the squad has been refreshed, his failure to leverage that doesn't change that statement a bit
- Paratichi's buys have been borderline remarkable, I struggle to find one miss (again, to point above, makes long term comparison's hard)

Which comes to the final point that makes all of Conte's points fall down
- If his rant was why we couldn't win a final or the PL, it might stand up
- Fact is his rant was about why a supposedly elite manager can't beat Southampton, Villa, Wolves, Leicester (win those four and we are in 2nd) and Forest, Sheffield in the cups

The guy isn't good enough for this level (perhaps 5 years ago, perhaps in a demonstrably better squad that the opposition, perhaps with "exactly" his squad)
- Poor tactics, constant midfield overrun, playing out of form players for way to long, weird/late/brick subs, 5 at the back and conceding more goals than bottom 6 clubs, slow tedious football, failure to see what is working and stick with, zero development of anyone outside his immediate starting 11, player regression, list goes on.

You can want ENIC out, but this idea that Conte is anything but a fudging failure is hilarious, just imagine if he was managing that Southampton side against us? what would his talk track be?
 
Allow me.

It's because he's showing his arse-covering coward skills now.

I expected this 'brave and bold Antonio' to speak up the moment he got nothing he wanted. Until the World Cup break, he'd done nothing but say he was happy with the squad/players and that he understood the way the club operated. Again, whether people are happy with ENIC or not isn't the debate when we're talking about Conte's rant. We're looking at his rant (calculated BTW) and the ONLY conclusion to draw is that it was cowardly. Which dovetails with this reported 'backpedaling'. Seriously, what a clown shoe!
Or maybe he didn’t want to upset the apple cart while it looked like we still might get something out of the season?
 
Juve hadn't won the league in a decade and finished midtable before he took them over. Inter hadn't won the league in 9 years. Bari were in relegation places in serie b. He kept them up and promoted them the next season. He is undoubtedly a good manager. But it's not working as he says.
As I said, I do not have the stats from his Juve days. I'm just looking at those from his Chelsea and Inter days and they don't tell the story of dominant teams, but rather ones with a significant element of luck. But since he is undoubtedly a good manager, as you say, why can't he do with Spurs what he did at Bari or Siena? I doubt he got all the players he wanted there. He had to do with what he had. Maybe if we had gotten the earlier version of Conte, the results would have been different. That was a more adaptable Conte, who may have gotten the best out of this squad. Even the Chelsea Conte adapted. But it seems to me that, after the success he has had, he has become entrenched in his tactics and approach and is unwilling to budge. His success has gotten to his head and that's never a good thing, nor what Spurs need.
 
Back