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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

This Levy stuff is just getting silly. He was thrifty whilst we were building a £1bn stadium. Since then our net spend has been around £70m per year, despite two seasons where we weren't in the CL and in which we lost around £165m in revenue due to the pandemic (estimated by Swiss Ramble).

This for sure.

Kulu and Bentancur combined cost less than that. It's about getting the right players, not just throwing money at players.

And this as well.
 
This for sure.



And this as well.

Sometimes I wish I could like posts twice. Then you come around and quote them, kind of gives me the chance.

Of course we would need to spend enough to get the players Conte and Paratici really want, but signing a more expensive player isn't always the right move.

Players that fit the system like a glove, that's what we need - as long as they're also good enough of course.

Can't remember trusting transfer decisions more than with Conte and Paratici making the decisions.
 

That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.
 
That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.
It's all about the coach. The stadium build and the restrictions that brought should have been detrimental. We were the best we have been for 35 years.

The problem is there are literally very few great managers/coaches.
 
That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.
What you've said is true but there were some bad players (bad attitude/application at least). Conte has got rid of them and brought in players with the right attitude and mentality.
Another 2-3 similar players in key positions will hopefully see us push on further.
 
That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.

I agree up to a point. But we've made significant changes to the squad as well.

This season we've seen Romero, Bentancur and Kulusevski make themselves automatic starters as new signings. Skipp played very regularly back from loan and ready for the first team. And Conte still reportedly wants a handful of new signings.

Remove those new (and back from loan) players, have Conte try to instill focus, determination and belief and I'm not sure it would have been a happy outcome.
 
I agree up to a point. But we've made significant changes to the squad as well.

This season we've seen Romero, Bentancur and Kulusevski make themselves automatic starters as new signings. Skipp played very regularly back from loan and ready for the first team. And Conte still reportedly wants a handful of new signings.

Remove those new (and back from loan) players, have Conte try to instill focus, determination and belief and I'm not sure it would have been a happy outcome.


Dele and glc i think were to far down the road of bad habits, lamela to injury prone and well Ndombele was just a waste so nothing conte or anyone could do.
But are we any worse than title winning or fa cup winnwrs Leicester, three times f a cup winners arsenal?
Sevilla won how many ELs?
Are those squads any worse than ours, only place I've ever believed that to be true was in our heads.
Conte finally seems like the man to change that.
He won't see top four as success, that is only the beginning as far as he is concerned, woe betide anyone who settles for less.
 
What you've said is true but there were some bad players (bad attitude/application at least). Conte has got rid of them and brought in players with the right attitude and mentality.
Another 2-3 similar players in key positions will hopefully see us push on further.

Attitude and application make up for a lot, some of ours just don't /didn't have it.
 
That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.


I love this comment above - you're spot on. Good managers get more out of players than ordinary ones - we've had three in the past 10 years or so - Redknapp, Poch and Conte. All got the players out performing their perceived level. Poch got rid of Kaboul etc when he came in, Harry well and truly benched the likes of Bentley and Bent, who were not to his standards off the pitch, and Conte got rid of arguably the hardest ones - Alli, Lo Celso and Ndombele - Alli especially with his tie to the fans.

Bottom line is a well marshalled team with good clear instruction at the level of professional footballer should be able to step up to a higher level of performance if shown how. We've done that in spades. The only other club who turned around so markedly this season is Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
 
That and the athletic article confirm something that I've thought for a while, we don't have bad players, but they lacked focus, determination, belief and a proper leader with a system.
We as a club have not all been pulling in the same direction for quite a while, not really surprising with the stadium build and the turmoil of the pandemic, but hopefully conte is the unifying force that gets us back on course.

Good point and i do agree, i have said on here many times that we (certain players) lack/ed a winnng mentality ( and several folks disagreed that is a vital part of a winning team). Well the proof is in the pudding Conte has managed to get inside the heads of the players and we now seem to be on the way to having that mentality.
 
I do think we get stuck in narratives that play well to the crowd though. Fans love to hear that "Conte came in and he told Dele, Ndombele and GLC what's what and got rid of them and that's why we are where we are".

That's only half the story. He got Davies playing a new role brilliantly. He got Sessegnon finally looking like a player. He turned the much derided Doherty into an integral part of the team. He got Sanchez and Royal both bought into what he was doing even though they weren't regulars. I'd have happily seen Sanchez out the door a long time ago but he was great in the last three games and early on under Conte scored a crucial winner at Watford. Even Winks played a role in the early games - he was excellent in 2-3 games albeit poor in others.

His man management has been excellent from what I can see in terms of getting rid of what he didn't want, re-energising others and bedding in Kulusevski and Bentancur. I have a lot of faith in Conte but the next 12 months will be interesting. He fell out with a lot of players at Chelsea because he's so single minded. Wonder if the same will happen here?
 
I do think we get stuck in narratives that play well to the crowd though. Fans love to hear that "Conte came in and he told Dele, Ndombele and GLC what's what and got rid of them and that's why we are where we are".

That's only half the story. He got Davies playing a new role brilliantly. He got Sessegnon finally looking like a player. He turned the much derided Doherty into an integral part of the team. He got Sanchez and Royal both bought into what he was doing even though they weren't regulars. I'd have happily seen Sanchez out the door a long time ago but he was great in the last three games and early on under Conte scored a crucial winner at Watford. Even Winks played a role in the early games - he was excellent in 2-3 games albeit poor in others.

His man management has been excellent from what I can see in terms of getting rid of what he didn't want, re-energising others and bedding in Kulusevski and Bentancur. I have a lot of faith in Conte but the next 12 months will be interesting. He fell out with a lot of players at Chelsea because he's so single minded. Wonder if the same will happen here?


I've often thought it goes deeper than just players, it's in the club.
That's what I think poch and jose came up against.
Jan, lamela and rose for me were players that got it and under conte would have been undropable. A combination of the talent, hunger, tactical discipline and that we will never be beaten attitude.
But then we also had guys like Dembele, talent oozing out of him but not the drive to make the best of it.
Or winks and mason, the only difference between them and Henderson is belief in themselves, willingness to put everything on the line to win.
 
I do think we get stuck in narratives that play well to the crowd though. Fans love to hear that "Conte came in and he told Dele, Ndombele and GLC what's what and got rid of them and that's why we are where we are".

That's only half the story. He got Davies playing a new role brilliantly. He got Sessegnon finally looking like a player. He turned the much derided Doherty into an integral part of the team. He got Sanchez and Royal both bought into what he was doing even though they weren't regulars. I'd have happily seen Sanchez out the door a long time ago but he was great in the last three games and early on under Conte scored a crucial winner at Watford. Even Winks played a role in the early games - he was excellent in 2-3 games albeit poor in others.

His man management has been excellent from what I can see in terms of getting rid of what he didn't want, re-energising others and bedding in Kulusevski and Bentancur. I have a lot of faith in Conte but the next 12 months will be interesting. He fell out with a lot of players at Chelsea because he's so single minded. Wonder if the same will happen here?

He's operating from a different starting position and with a different player mindset to that at Chelsea though.
Conte really did arrive from a position of strength, as the 'expert' who will show players what to do to reach success they have not reached before, to carry Spurs to a place they've not been before. Hence the disbelief and sniping about how it won't last when Levy got him in.
At Chelsea, they were used a to a procession of big name managers and to winning things already.
Our guys haven't really won anything, certainly not at our club, and have seen Conte lift us quickly from an apparent death spiral.
That earns him even more credence when he keeps telling them to do things his way if they want to be winners.
 
He's operating from a different starting position and with a different player mindset to that at Chelsea though.
Conte really did arrive from a position of strength, as the 'expert' who will show players what to do to reach success they have not reached before, to carry Spurs to a place they've not been before. Hence the disbelief and sniping about how it won't last when Levy got him in.
At Chelsea, they were used a to a procession of big name managers and to winning things already.
Our guys haven't really won anything, certainly not at our club, and have seen Conte lift us quickly from an apparent death spiral.
That earns him even more credence when he keeps telling them to do things his way if they want to be winners.

Absolutely this. We could potentially be his perfect club where he can wield as much control on football matters as he has ever had.

There is always that bagging doubt that there is a high cost, high turnover that cannot be sustained but we have tried lots of other approaches and it's only fitting that IF we are truly ambitious to shake us our Spurzy/bottler tags then we try this way.

ANTONIOOO, ANTONIOOOO
ANTONIO, ANTONIO,
ANTONIOOOOOO...
 
Dele and glc i think were to far down the road of bad habits, lamela to injury prone and well Ndombele was just a waste so nothing conte or anyone could do.
But are we any worse than title winning or fa cup winnwrs Leicester, three times f a cup winners arsenal?
Sevilla won how many ELs?
Are those squads any worse than ours, only place I've ever believed that to be true was in our heads.
Conte finally seems like the man to change that.
He won't see top four as success, that is only the beginning as far as he is concerned, woe betide anyone who settles for less.

Worse than them in terms of individual quality, probably not.

Worse then them, again if removing those four players that are new (or back from loan) this season in terms of fitting together into a cohesive tactical system most definitely. Bentancur, Skipp, Kulusevski and Romero have been really good, in part as individuals, but also in part because they fit into the system really well.

Without them we wouldn't have options to make the squad into a functional team to the same degree. And the mentality would be really difficult to instill.

You need good enough players, that fit into a cohesive system well enough to really start building the mentality that we've also lacked.
 
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