Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

[Mcfee]

Most of his comments are self preservation and making him look good.

“We don’t have the quality”

“I’m used to fighting for the big prizes”

“I never lost 4 in 5 before”

“On paper, the squad is weaker than before the transfer window”

“This club changes the coach but the players and results stay the same”

etc etc

It’s exactly like Mourinho. He’s throwing players under the bus and taking little responsibility himself.

I know having a go at players in public will please a lot of the fan base but it’s just gratuitous grandstanding. It does no good. His job is not to tell the whole truth in public, it’s to get the best results for Tottenham. And expecting players, no matter how limited, to perform at their best when their manager is slagging them off in public is not the best way to get results. If he has something like that to say, he should say it in private.

I’ve slept on it but he’s starting to tinkle me off a bit with his public utterances. He’s had 3 months and has spoken about this being a long term job. That’s exactly what it is so he should just get on with it and stop trying to make himself look as good as possible in the press at the club’s expense.

That’s your take on it. Mine would be that the only line that could be seen as “throwing players under the bus” is “we don’t have the quality”. Did he say that last night? I didn’t see it. If anything I thought he was questioning himself rather than hanging players out to dry publicly (which is what Mourinho would do) thereby keeping everyone on board. I will admit though that he needs to rein in the emotional behavior in interviews as all its doing is ratcheting up the pressure.

 

[Lilbaz]

I don't see many managers getting up to do presentations in the workplace and saying "you know what, I'm great but my team isn't good enough."

Imagine your boss did that. You'd hardly turn up bright eyed and bushy tailed the next day.

He didn't though. He was saying the club need to assess me to see if i'm good enough.

 

[Legohamster]

We all know what the obvious is but there is nothing the club or Conte can do about it until the summer. It was obvious to all of us before Conte arrived so he can hardly be surprised.

Nothing can be done about the deadwood until the summer. So Conte's job is to get the best results possible for us. He's not doing that, instead he's just moaning and losing. Players aren't going to respond positively to being told they're brick. That's not them being snowflakes, that's how pretty much every human reacts to this sort of nonsense. Conte needs to wind his neck in and get on with the job which we all knew would be difficult and would be a long term role if he was to have any success.

We have an issue where players just don’t leave because we are an easy pay day, making it clear we are not is laying the ground work for these players to go in the summer.

We’ve had enough of nicey nice approach, it remains to be seen if the fans will accept a change, we saw the flouncing over Alli when Jose tried to get rid of him (he was proved correct)

 

[DeanoAustin]

That’s your take on it. Mine would be that the only line that could be seen as “throwing players under the bus” is “we don’t have the quality”. Did he say that last night? I didn’t see it. If anything I thought he was questioning himself rather than hanging players out to dry publicly (which is what Mourinho would do) thereby keeping everyone on board. I will admit though that he needs to rein in the emotional behavior in interviews as all its doing is ratcheting up the pressure.

"This club changes the coach but the players and results stay the same".

Thats throwing them under the bus, getting onto the bus and reversing it over them.

"We lost 4 in 5. That's never happened to me before."

Thats self preservation.

"We keep going like this and we'll finish 10th, 12th or 13th like we were before I arrived."

The message there is pretty clear. I've improved things but the club is dragging us back down.

The fella is doing nothing but trying to safe face for himself. Id be amazed if Levy doesn't have a word today.

 

[metalgear]

I don't see many managers getting up to do presentations in the workplace and saying "you know what, I'm great but my team isn't good enough."

Imagine your boss did that. You'd hardly turn up bright eyed and bushy tailed the next day.

The real high performing market leading companies I've been at... One wrong sentence at a high profile meeting could cost you your job and nope your boss will be happy to replace you with the next better challenger who is dying for a chance to be in your role.

At companies that just want to go on with business and make sure everyone's a family, yeah bosses are kinder and more forgiving. Family comes first, not winning things.



Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Seen all of Conte’s comments, and I know many were smitten by him (and I’ve no doubt from a motivational point of view he can get a bit extra out of players). But what’s everyone’s thoughts tactically?

I appreciate he is sticking to what he knows but that’s pretty lazy isn’t it. If our only 2 wing backs were me and the kit man, he wouldn’t pick us would he? He’d find a better way.

Time to earn your wage, find a better way and stop moaning.

He will sweat there’s that is until they break
I think it’s the right thing as it teaches those that will remain how he wants to play

it really reminds me of Klopp when he joined

 

[metalgear]

Not exactly a sign of us 'breaking' someone.

Breaking their reputations and confidence.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

 

[MKSpur]

I’d like to think it’s emotive ranting rather than trying to distance himself from responsibility.
The window is closed so the job is to get the most out of the resources he has until the end of the season. Then the summer targets can be a deal breaker if he had been promised funds / control on incoming players and doesn’t get them.
If he does go I think we need to ditch the elite proven winner approach, as it’s becoming painfully obvious that elite managers need elite players to deliver in lines with their previous achievements and we don’t have / can’t deliver these.
Perhaps we would be better served going to a Potter or Hassenhuttl, who have proven they can at least get cohesive strategy in place irrespective of player quality (although they may at least have a big say in recruitment to get the type of players they want)

 

[DeanoAustin]

He didn't though. He was saying the club need to assess me to see if i'm good enough.

The general thrust of his public utterances since he arrived is "I'm used to winning, I'm great and Tottenham doesn't have the quality right now."

Even accepting your take on it, do you ever hear any manager in the workplace getting up and saying "my team isn't good enough and maybe I'm not either".

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from it.

 

[DeanoAustin]

The real high performing market leading companies I've been at... One wrong sentence at a high profile meeting could cost you your job and nope your boss will be happy to replace you with the next better challenger who is dying for a chance to be in your role.

At companies that just want to go on with business and make sure everyone's a family, yeah bosses are kinder and more forgiving. Family comes first, not winning things.



Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

And that's fine. The point is that the execution isn't done in public. It'll usually be done behind closed doors with a statement that "x decided to leave to pursue other opportunities. He was great for the company and provided great service."

Dirty linen shouldn't be washed in public.

 

[tynesidespur]

"This club changes the coach but the players and results stay the same".

Thats throwing them under the bus, getting onto the bus and reversing it over them.

"We lost 4 in 5. That's never happened to me before."

Thats self preservation.

"We keep going like this and we'll finish 10th, 12th or 13th like we were before I arrived."

The message there is pretty clear. I've improved things but the club is dragging us back down.

The fella is doing nothing but trying to safe face for himself. Id be amazed if Levy doesn't have a word today.

I think your reading is pretty accurate. It was a very odd outburst to have after you've lost a tight game 1-0. We had enough of the game to take something it wasn't a total down-tools non-performance.

I was fine with his comments to Sky Italy last week but this seems to indicate a deeper malaise or that he's come in, seen the size of the task and now doesn't fancy it.

Levy has really backed himself into a corner if that is the case because if Conte does walk I don't think fans will see it with any sense of perspective. Its going to get ugly very quickly.
I do wonder if that's why the 18 month contract - neither side seem to quite trust the other.
Let's hope it was just an emotional rant and its back to work as normal today.

Another possibility is that he's trying to give a wake up call to the players. You can't just accept losing 4 from 5. You should be on the floor with me and he's now assessing who actually is. He's talked about wanting to 'kill' your opponent, winning every duel - that is the winning mentality. Who actually has it in this squad?

 

[Baleforce]

The general thrust of his public utterances since he arrived is "I'm used to winning, I'm great and Tottenham doesn't have the quality right now."

Even accepting your take on it, do you ever hear any manager in the workplace getting up and saying "my team isn't good enough and maybe I'm not either".

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from it.

More than once I've taken a job and started with "the infrastructure isn't good enough, we need to rip it out and start again".

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

Yeah but he also said plenty questioning his own ability.

He even raised doubts over whether he deserves to take a salary during this period, effectively calling for himself to be fined.

I have often called for players to be fined and sincerely hope that is happening. As I said after the wolves game the errors were so beyond belief that 2-3 players deserved to not be paid for 6-12 months.

Lets hope conte sits the players down this morning and says the entire squad and coaching staff and manager will now not be paid again during the rest of the season, with further errors in the intervening period triggering a further 4 week fine.

 

[DeanoAustin]

I think your reading is pretty accurate. It was a very odd outburst to have after you've lost a tight game 1-0. We had enough of the game to take something it wasn't a total down-tools non-performance.

I was fine with his comments to Sky Italy last week but this seems to indicate a deeper malaise or that he's come in, seen the size of the task and now doesn't fancy it.

Levy has really backed himself into a corner if that is the case because if Conte does walk I don't think fans will see it with any sense of perspective. Its going to get ugly very quickly.
I do wonder if that's why the 18 month contract - neither side seem to quite trust the other.
Let's hope it was just an emotional rant and its back to work as normal today.

Another possibility is that he's trying to give a wake up call to the players. You can't just accept losing 4 from 5. You should be on the floor with me and he's now assessing who actually is. He's talked about wanting to 'kill' your opponent, winning every duel - that is the winning mentality. Who actually has it in this squad?

I sincerely hope it is an emotional rant and he learns to rein it in. But he seemed pretty definite that there would be some sort of meeting.

I hope he stays and I expect him to stay. He's a top, top coach and I like him. It just feels to me that this is a bit more pivotal than a bit of a diva moment. And you're spot on, out of everyone, Levy cannot afford for this to go so wrong, so quickly.

 

[Lilbaz]

The general thrust of his public utterances since he arrived is "I'm used to winning, I'm great and Tottenham doesn't have the quality right now."

Even accepting your take on it, do you ever hear any manager in the workplace getting up and saying "my team isn't good enough and maybe I'm not either".

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from it.

This isn't any other workplace though. We watched the performances live on tv. We know they weren't good enough.

Should he say it? No. He looks like he's sulking.

 

[glasgowspur]

We all know what the obvious is but there is nothing the club or Conte can do about it until the summer. It was obvious to all of us before Conte arrived so he can hardly be surprised.

Nothing can be done about the deadwood until the summer. So Conte's job is to get the best results possible for us. He's not doing that, instead he's just moaning and losing. Players aren't going to respond positively to being told they're brick. That's not them being snowflakes, that's how pretty much every human reacts to this sort of nonsense. Conte needs to wind his neck in and get on with the job which we all knew would be difficult and would be a long term role if he was to have any success.

He's preparing the way for some fans favourites to be sold.
There’s two reactions to being told you're not good enough, wither or go out and prove him wrong.
Guess which one our players chose.

"This club changes the coach but the players and results stay the same".

Thats throwing them under the bus, getting onto the bus and reversing it over them.

"We lost 4 in 5. That's never happened to me before."

Thats self preservation.

"We keep going like this and we'll finish 10th, 12th or 13th like we were before I arrived."

The message there is pretty clear. I've improved things but the club is dragging us back down.

The fella is doing nothing but trying to safe face for himself. Id be amazed if Levy doesn't have a word today.

It would only be throwing them under a bus if it wasn't true.
As we are now on our fourth or fifth manager in as many seasons I'd say its more true than not.

 

[glasgowspur]

I sincerely hope it is an emotional rant and he learns to rein it in. But he seemed pretty definite that there would be some sort of meeting.

I hope he stays and I expect him to stay. He's a top, top coach and I like him. It just feels to me that this is a bit more pivotal than a bit of a diva moment. And you're spot on, out of everyone, Levy cannot afford for this to go so wrong, so quickly.

It is pivotal, we need to get this right, i just think there are some who won't like what we need to do to sort it.

 

[Dicko]

If he's gonna act like that after every game it's gonna be a tough watch for the rest of the season. Every time we drop points (which might be quite often) he's gonna get drilled in the press conferences about whether he can succeed or if he will leave etc.

 

[glasgowspur]

If he's gonna act like that after every game it's gonna be a tough watch for the rest of the season. Every time we drop points (which might be quite often) he's gonna get drilled in the press conferences about whether he can succeed or if he will leave etc.

He's creating that narrative himself, if he couldn't handle it he wouldn't do it.
He's not stupid, everything he does he does for a reason.

 

[Lilbaz]

If he's gonna act like that after every game it's gonna be a tough watch for the rest of the season. Every time we drop points (which might be quite often) he's gonna get drilled in the press conferences about whether he can succeed or if he will leave etc.

Ignore the press conferences if we lose.