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Fabio Paratici - Consultant

Entirely possible. I just struggle to believe, having worked in PR, very much at all is completely fabricated by the media. Stretching the truth maybe, possibly leaked by an agent with an axe to grind, but I don’t think made up out of thin air.

Yeah I’d agree with this. It’s a bit of a worry that it’s the second story in such a short space of time about our management team. It’s definitely coming from a player or players. Just hope it’s someone who is tinkled at not playing rather than a widespread feeling amongst the squad.
 
It's a bit unusual isn't it? DoF on the bench, shouting things that must surely at least be experienced as instructions.

His role at the club is very different to the role of head coach. What do you do as a player is what you think Paratici is saying contradicts what Nuno wants from you. What do you do if you're Nuno in a situation like that.

I'm enjoying the enthusiasm, as long as we're doing well it's not going to be a problem. If/when results go against us perhaps it will cause some issues?
 
It's a bit unusual isn't it? DoF on the bench, shouting things that must surely at least be experienced as instructions.

His role at the club is very different to the role of head coach. What do you do as a player is what you think Paratici is saying contradicts what Nuno wants from you. What do you do if you're Nuno in a situation like that.

I'm enjoying the enthusiasm, as long as we're doing well it's not going to be a problem. If/when results go against us perhaps it will cause some issues?
I think I read they are only on the bench for Covid bubble reasons?
 
It's a bit unusual isn't it? DoF on the bench, shouting things that must surely at least be experienced as instructions.

His role at the club is very different to the role of head coach. What do you do as a player is what you think Paratici is saying contradicts what Nuno wants from you. What do you do if you're Nuno in a situation like that.

I'm enjoying the enthusiasm, as long as we're doing well it's not going to be a problem. If/when results go against us perhaps it will cause some issues?

He doesn't give instructions (you can look at his interactions), it's very much more cheering/cursing the ref/telling the opposition manager to get in box, shut to fudge up. Basically fan stuff.

And as everyone has said, it's based on Covid bubble protocols.
 
He doesn't give instructions (you can look at his interactions), it's very much more cheering/cursing the ref/telling the opposition manager to get in box, shut to fudge up. Basically fan stuff.

And as everyone has said, it's based on Covid bubble protocols.
Sure, on the covid stuff. Not criticism from me towards them or the club for the decisions.

Just perhaps a strange situation to be in. Even "fan stuff" can be experienced as instructions. Paratici is in some ways Nuno's boss, he probably has a lot of say on contracts and potential transfers.

Just a strange dynamic that I could see players react to. But more likely to become an issue if results don't go our way.
 
I doubt they’d be reacting in the same way if they were in the Directors’ box. So no need to do the same from the bench.
 
Yeah I’d agree with this. It’s a bit of a worry that it’s the second story in such a short space of time about our management team. It’s definitely coming from a player or players. Just hope it’s someone who is tinkled at not playing rather than a widespread feeling amongst the squad.

I agree. This coming right after the ‘Nuno is Brent’ story. Same publication.

We clearly have someone with an axe to grind at the club. Maybe it is Charlie trying to enact a very tiny amount of pathetic revenge. It’s also quite jarring as a story because it doesn’t seem to add up to what we see - the players actually do look united and that they are pulling in the same direction. So this just feels odd. Who would want to be dampening the positive feeling after the start we have made?

It doesn’t make much sense. In the same way the Nuno as Brent thing didn’t make much sense to anyone that had actually seen and understood The Office. Which suggests the person leaking is a bit of an idiot. Which suggests maybe Charlie?
 
Looks like we missed out by a few hours, as apparently the interview was only put behind paywall at 3pm!



Paulo Fonseca has revealed he started pre-season plans at Tottenham before his move was torpedoed by managing director Fabio Paratici's demands for more defensive football.

In a wide-ranging interview with Telegraph Sport, Fonseca outlined how close he was to joining Spurs, saying “the agreement was done”, but that the move collapsed due to Paratici wanting a less attack-minded coach.

Nuno Espirito Santo was eventually appointed as Jose Mourinho's successor, with the former Wolves head coach having already been subjected to criticism by supporters for a perceived negative style.

Fonseca insists his attacking instincts - shaped by his time with Shakhtar Donetsk and AS Roma - would have chimed with Tottenham's motto of 'To Dare Is To Do', but admits his move was doomed as soon as Paratici was appointed.

“The agreement was done. We were planning the pre-season and Tottenham wanted an offensive coach. It wasn’t announced but we planned pre-season players. But things changed when the new managing director arrived and we didn’t agree with some ideas and he preferred another coach,” Fonseca said, speaking from his home in Kiev, Ukraine.

“I have some principles. I wanted to be coach of the great teams but I want the right project and a club where the people believe in my ideas, my way to play, and this didn’t happen with the managing director.

“It’s what the chairman and the sporting director (Steve Hitchen) asked for. To build a team who can play attractive and offensive football and I was ready for that. I cannot be a different way. All my teams will have these intentions. In Rome or Shakhtar in the Champions League against the biggest teams, I’m not sending out my teams to defend near their own box.”

Fonseca, 48, has stuck to his attacking principles from when he started as a coach in the Portuguese lower divisions before working his way up and making his name at Paços Ferreira where he reached the Champions League and gave a debut to a slight 17-year-old called Diogo Jota.

Others who have improved under his guidance included Willy Boly, then Fred when the pair worked together at Shakhtar Donetsk.

By the time Fonseca arrived at Roma, Henrikh Mkhitaryan saw a comparison to Thomas Tuchel, who he worked with at Borussia Dortmund. “He is similar,” Mkhitaryan said of Fonseca, “he tries to put the players in the right position, to give them the freedom to enjoy the way they play.” The improvement of players under Fonseca is underpinned by his attacking football.

“All players want to have the ball,” he said. “They want to dominate. They want to participate. They don’t want to run to recover the ball. They don’t want to run without the ball and defend. The best way to defend is to have the ball.

“We have an obligation with supporters to create a spectacle, a good show. That is the obligation of the coach. I want to win every game but just winning is not enough for me. I have to be offensive and dominate the games and have an offensive midfield and show courage in the game. These are things which will die with me.

“It happened so many times when I got home after winning a game and my wife asked ‘why are you unhappy?’ And it is because I didn’t win the way I wanted to. It is not enough. I have to create a good show for the people who pay the tickets and love football. At least I try. I cannot be a coach in another way.”

What is likely to have appealed to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was Fonseca’s diplomacy at Roma. He worked during a period of uncertainty at the club when the Friedkin Group secured a takeover and he worked without a technical director for a large part of his time in the Italian capital, getting the club to the semi-finals of the Europa League last season.

“It cannot be the coach creating the problems. The coach solves the problems and I believe when you defend the club with your heart, things become easier. It is a question of principles of life. When I am at a club I have to defend them with all my heart and think first about the club and players before myself,” he said.

During the time of the semi-final defeat to Manchester United, Roma had approached Mourinho to take over at the end of the season.

“In some countries maybe it is not normal but it is normal in places like Germany for an announcement six or eight months before when they are working with other clubs. I already knew Tiago Pinto was appointing Jose Mourinho. It was a clear process for me. Jose had a great attitude with me. He called me and spoke and there was no problem,” he said.

When it is suggested to Fonseca that a phone call would have been a chance for Mourinho to recommend the Spurs job, he breaks into laughter. They did not speak about Spurs but it was clear they were suited. Even in that United defeat, they had continued to attack and at 7-4 on aggregate sensed nerves in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team. Eventually it ended 8-5.

He has been close to coming to England before. In 2018 he spoke with Everton when they eventually signed Marco Silva. At the time Fonseca had a contract with Shakhtar. West Ham United were also interested.

“I honestly believe this will happen one day and is one of my ambitions to coach in England one day,” he said. “I haven’t done it yet so cannot say my way of coaching is perfect for England. But there is more open teams, teams trying to win, of course more intensity but also space to develop my game.”
 
I don't understand - Levy clearly said in summer we are going back to becoming an attacking team, and then hires an italian DoF who clearly has the defensive mindset, scraps Hitchens list and we end up with Jose 2.0 based on his time at Valencia, which was still a counter attacking team.
 
I don't understand - Levy clearly said in summer we are going back to becoming an attacking team, and then hires an italian DoF who clearly has the defensive mindset, scraps Hitchens list and we end up with Jose 2.0 based on his time at Valencia, which was still a counter attacking team.
Assuming that Fonseca's account is accurate, or accurate enough.

I think of getting back to being an attacking team as a process, one that can include strengthening the defensive areas too. If our defenders keep letting us down a plan to attack more would leave us going nowhere and bring a lot of frustration.

Not sure Paratici necessarily has a defensive mindset, what are you basing that on?

Most on here agreed that CB was the first priority this summer and we needed to invest in someone that at least could be expected to make a solid impact this season.

With Aurier wanting out, perhaps rather desperately and Doherty having a rather poor season last year another right back was also quite high on the list for posters on here and perhaps for Paratici as well.

If Fonseca wanted most of our money to be spent on attacking players, while Paratici saw that we needed to spend most of our money on defenders to get anywhere that's a major disagreement to start off a DoF - head coach relationship.

Levy trusting the DoF he put in place seems to me like the best choice available in a situation like that.
 
Y'all believing Fonseca? Lol!

People come on. Look at Paratici's body of work at Juventus. I am ignoring Fonseca's comments.
 
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