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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

Raziel said:
The reason the truth is somewhere in-between is because Conte has had no plan to integrate these guys, so they haven't had the game time to get to a point where we can rely on them. It's zero co-incidence that them having a few pre-season friendlies and a couple of games has equaled good performances.

Gil, Sarr & Skipp have been good enough to play our last two PL games, I'm really not sure why you think they would be out of their depth against Pompey?

Dier, Davies, Kane, Son, Bissouma are all likely to play (week off after), add in probably Sanchez, Sess, I really don't see how playing Skipp, Sarr, Gil and Spence is winging it.
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Yes, it's true it often doesn't feel like Conte has had a plan to integrate the likes of Sarr, Gil etc.
Hasn't helped when the seniors have been playing crap (better for young/sub players to join a well-functioning cohesive team) but there's also games that we've been comfortable where you could have given 20 minutes here or there nearer the end.

Hopefully we will see a mix of young and old, first team and second string vs Portsmouth then have a good week to prepare for the NLD.
Let's hope Conte is actually going to try and give himself more options as the weeks go by. At the least it gives the team some verve and fizz to have these youngsters play as well as opportunities to give senior players a rest.
 
Raziel said:
I'd be tempted to cotton wool Romero, Kulu (maybe give him 15 mins at end if he's recovered), and rest Perisic

Forster, Sess, Davies, Dier, Sanchez, Doherty/Spence, Bissouma, Skipp/Sarr, Gil, Kane, Son with Romero, Perisic, Kulu on the bench should be more than enough for Pompey at home.
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I mostly agree with that. It’s annoying to have to play the same front 3, but having 3 injured forwards means we have basically no option. Unless White or Devine can play as a wide forward to give Son a break ? Having said that, Kane’s the one we really need to rest and we can only do that with Richy.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
I think the problem Conte has is he implies he's not really interested in these players. Whether that's intentional or miscommunication is hard to tell. Yes, he sets a high bar and perhaps he feels he needs too, to give himself guarantees that his very specific system/tactics get carried out to the letter.

But now they are 'trusted' but has this moment come along just because of circumstances (ie injuries/susp)? Theres now also no chance of any of this lot going on loan according to AC.

I don't know if this helps Spence, I'd like to think it might flex ACs thinking around him.

The other point you'd think Conte would like.. is young players take instruction better (ie they don't think they know best) and when you're asking for insane training regimes, a youngster will suck it up easier.
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I suppose with Spence he is unfortunate in that there are two senior pros ahead of him - had we moved on one of the other two he'd have got more of a look in i guess but with 2 senior players Conte is always going to trust them first
 
Raziel said:
I'd be tempted to cotton wool Romero, Kulu (maybe give him 15 mins at end if he's recovered), and rest Perisic

Forster, Sess, Davies, Dier, Sanchez, Doherty/Spence, Bissouma, Skipp/Sarr, Gil, Kane, Son with Romero, Perisic, Kulu on the bench should be more than enough for Pompey at home.
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I'd be very scared to start Kane personally; i'd want him on the bench with the others and play Son up front on his own with maybe Gill and another supporting...
Bissouma, Sarr and Skipp as a middle 3 i'd be happy with too.
 
Grays_1890 said:
No I agree, I am not saying we should go all youth at Pompey, my complaints have been about slower integration when we had better strength around to be able to, I have been consistent on that view. The reason it seems all or nothing now is purely due to the fact we have to expose them not fan calls, but I will not say sorry for enjoying Sarr and Gil last night, its good to see regardless. My view on Spence and I maintain it, is that it would have been good to see him last night but thats been and gone.

Skipp was a first choice high performing player last year so he is not as risky TBH but I would expect maybe him and PEH against Pompey with Sarr coming in early if games done which would be great, same with Spence but I imagine thats wishful. GIl should start anyway, effectively same as last night TBH
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I wasn't disagreeing with you, i was emphasising your point.
Or at least trying to, badly it seems.
 
glorygloryeze said:
Loved the effort put in yesterday. That (and the clean sheet) was almost more enjoyable than the result.
Almost.

Great to see Kane and Son back the in the goals. Great to see Lloris, Dier and co hold out long enough for Harry, Gill and Perisic to break through the Palace defensive ranks early in the second half - it's amazing what a goal can do to the dynamic of a game eh?

Gil was really disappointing and a big weak spot in the first half: any passes to him was basically where our passing moved went to die. He upped his game in the second half big time and was just about involved in all the goals IIRC. That pass for Kane's second goal was Kulu-like (or have we been so starved of slide-rule passes in the box that i'm getting giddy with that?). Definitely a player that benefits when we are on the front foot, though when HE keeps the ball and makes things happen (i.e. passing well to colleagues in space keeping hold of the ball before an easy pass to release it is available) he allows us to be on the front foot..

Was disappointed in Skipp i have to say, hopefully just rustiness but it was chalk and cheese when Sarr came on, though i guess it's easier to come on at 2-0 rather than other situations when we are in a tight spot or losing. But still, Sarr was very good.

Great to see Conte use more of the younger players but i hope he can similarly mix and match vs Portsmouth.
The effort out in shows that the players are certainly not downing tools etc.

Great win, great second half. Now hopefully it's onwards from here.
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I thought perisic and gil were the bright spots of the first half, the rest let them down.
When the rest did what they were supposed to we looked good.
That's how I saw at it.
 
glasgowspur said:
I thought perisic and gil were the bright spots of the first half, the rest let them down.
When the rest did what they were supposed to we looked good.
That's how I saw at it.
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Perisic yes, Gil was awful. Lost the ball countless times either because he was easily bullied off it or because his passing was woeful.
Both were excellent in the second half. Imagine when Perisic gets his scoring boots on??
 
Raziel said:
The reason the truth is somewhere in-between is because Conte has had no plan to integrate these guys, so they haven't had the game time to get to a point where we can rely on them. It's zero co-incidence that them having a few pre-season friendlies and a couple of games has equaled good performances.

Gil, Sarr & Skipp have been good enough to play our last two PL games, I'm really not sure why you think they would be out of their depth against Pompey?

Dier, Davies, Kane, Son, Bissouma are all likely to play (week off after), add in probably Sanchez, Sess, I really don't see how playing Skipp, Sarr, Gil and Spence is winging it.
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I don't know what kind of form Portsmouth are in or where they are in the table but i don't think I'd like to leave our last realistic chance on a trophy for the season on four youngsters with very limited game time.
 
glorygloryeze said:
Perisic yes, Gil was awful. Lost the ball countless times either because he was easily bullied off it or because his passing was woeful.
Both were excellent in the second half. Imagine when Perisic gets his scoring boots on??
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To me he lost the ball because he had no one around or making any kind of movement.
Opinions eh!
 
glasgowspur said:
To me he lost the ball because he had no one around or making any kind of movement.
Opinions eh!
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No, often lost it because he took a touch too many or he literally would be brushed off the ball. Often those times an easy pass to someone else was on. In the latter part of the half we got sucked into being deeper so that certainly didn't help...
 
glorygloryeze said:
No, often lost it because he took a touch too many or he literally would be brushed off the ball. Often those times an easy pass to someone else was on. In the latter part of the half we got sucked into being deeper so that certainly didn't help...
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Again i respectfully disagree. He lost the ball because there wasn't a pass on, and when he did pass it whoever he passed it to made a muck of it. Doherty was particularly guilty of this.
I will concede the physical side of it, instead of bulking up he should learn the proper way to fall to attract the refs attention.
 
He probably could benefit from bulking up a bit. And the way we play we often ask our forward players to do useful things under quite a bit of pressure receiving the ball facing away from goal. Kulusevski is really good in those situations.

It's not the end all be all tough. What matters is how often he does useful things vs. how many times he loses the ball or does less useful things.

If he can use his skill, energy and vision to do more useful things it's fine if he gets bullied off the ball a couple of times a game imo.

He's barely played this season. He's barely played for us under Conte and really in the Premier League in general. Give him some time to get used to things and he may very well improve even without bulking up.
 
billyiddo said:
I suppose with Spence he is unfortunate in that there are two senior pros ahead of him - had we moved on one of the other two he'd have got more of a look in i guess but with 2 senior players Conte is always going to trust them first
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I agree, though at the same time that was a decision that was made after (or before) signing Spence. I don't think there were real attempts at selling Doherty or Emerson?

I think that showed that Conte didn't really trust Spence. Had he really trusted Spence highly we would have tried to arrange the squad to where he was one of two options?

When there were injuries Conte even used Perisic at RWB at times iirc.

We can speculate about Conte's intentions, why he doesn't trust Spence more. But ultimately he doesn't trust Spence yet. He has trusted other young (and younger) players more here and at previous clubs. It's not like Spence it's 18 either, he's 22.

Ultimately it's down to Spence to do enough to make Conte trust him. In training, if he goes on loan, when he gets minutes however limited. Show Conte that he can and will deliver what Conte wants from him.

What Conte wants to see from Spence is impossible to know from the outside. Hopefully Spence himself has a very clear idea of what Conte wants from him.
 
braineclipse said:
He probably could benefit from bulking up a bit. And the way we play we often ask our forward players to do useful things under quite a bit of pressure receiving the ball facing away from goal. Kulusevski is really good in those situations.

It's not the end all be all tough. What matters is how often he does useful things vs. how many times he loses the ball or does less useful things.

If he can use his skill, energy and vision to do more useful things it's fine if he gets bullied off the ball a couple of times a game imo.

He's barely played this season. He's barely played for us under Conte and really in the Premier League in general. Give him some time to get used to things and he may very well improve even without bulking up.
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Second-half at Palace, besides the game shape suiting him, I felt Gil simply played football as opposed to trying too hard to impress every single time he had the ball. Very encouraging...
 
thfcsteff said:
Second-half at Palace, besides the game shape suiting him, I felt Gil simply played football as opposed to trying too hard to impress every single time he had the ball. Very encouraging...
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His second half was chalk and cheese compared to his (quite frankly) horrific first half.
I'd love him to push on and prove Conte (and other doubters like me) wrong about not being physically suited to the PL...
 
glorygloryeze said:
His second half was chalk and cheese compared to his (quite frankly) horrific first half.
I'd love him to push on and prove Conte (and other doubters like me) wrong about not being physically suited to the PL...
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His first half was representative of Spurs TBF, good first 20 mins, neat and tidy and then dire for 25. That's not defending him as people know I think he is going to be awesome because that 25 mins was dire.
 
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