Conte | Spurs Manager

What narrative? It’s what Conte does and there’s nothing wrong with pointing it out as it happens.
Jordan up his own ass as usual.

I’m not saying it’s not what Conte does, I’m saying I’m agreeing with Jordan’s take on the media, happens at every club, the media twists things that are said to push what they want. Surely as a United fan you know this.
 
:lol: You should really listen more to what Simon Jordan says.
I did but I stopped listening when he was proven wrong in something (really can’t remember what ) and he kept arguing he wasn’t because contextually this and that. I can’t stand the I’m never wrong attitude.
Plus him picking a fight with Rooney and Derby which looks more ridiculous by the day.
What he’s saying here doesn’t make sense. Imagine we signed Ronaldo in January instead of last summer. The obvious story is Ronaldo will not stand for such a drop in standards and we have seen by his frustrations on the pitch that he hasn’t. Knowing that will happen isn’t building a narrative but understanding what’s about to happen.
 
TV money is still somehow decent for top Serie A clubs, I'd say 60~70% of what PL clubs get.

What kills italian teams is matchday, merchandising and sponsorship revenues which are truly peanuts compared to England.

Also Conte himself hit Inter wallet pretty hard failing to get past CL group stages in both his seasons here.

Not really. €84 M for the champions is not even half what English clubs get.

And I am not sure you're right about the "failing to get past CL gs". You lost 9 M and you got 17 M for going to the EL final. It is not like you were used to getting out of the GS in the years prior to Conte. The second-year is true though. You went out fourth.

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I'm not sure I see your point, the discussion was that Conte spent a lot of money which he evidently did. Conte left before those sales were made, so you can't really add them into a discussion about his net spend at Inter.

Maybe you shouldn't call it his net spend. The decision ultimately belongs to others at the club.

If we are discussing whether his stay at Inter hurt the finances of the clubs, it did not. The players that he asked for and got did not become useless unsellable overpaid players like the ones they were recruiting prior to Marotta/Conte. He left them with a decent team, much better than what they had before.

If we are discussing what he needed to win the scudetto it is true they outspent most of their rivals. But nothing spectacular either. Juventus still had a much higher wage bill (+ transfer amortization) and the other clubs were close behind Inter... At the end, Inter sold for more than they've bought since 2019.

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Simon Jordon as usual talking a lot of truth.



Its definitely true that the media loves to build this kind of narrative for clicks and listens and that they are likely to ignore a lot of context in the pursuit of that narrative. I also agree that the evidence does not point at all (at least so far) to Conte leaving Spurs this summer.

But it can also be true that the evidence still points strongly to a mismatch between Conte's inherently short term competitive agenda and the club's longer term planning. He came out and directly said that the club's vision is to buy young players and develop them, rather than buy ready-made players. In my view, that's a smart vision to have given the state of the club right now. But Conte just isn't the manager to stick around and preside over that longer-term 3-5 year project and nothing he has done suggests that he plans to do so. He has had eight jobs in management and stayed two years or less in seven of them. He signed an 18 month contract. He is living out of a hotel while his wife and daughter are living in Italy.

So the media may be exaggerating and building narrative but they can only do so because there is a strong element of truth to the notion that Conte and the club just don't have the same kinds of goals.
 
What is he supposed to say? The squad is excellent and everything is great? It is as plain as day that the standard of our squad is very low and we are miles off being a top 4 side.

You aren't miles of a top 4 side this season though, at least you weren't a week or so ago. And you have shown you can compete, games against the likes of Liverpool have shown that.

What you need to ask now is why you can raise your game against the likes of Liverpool & City early on this season, but can't against the likes is Wolves & Southampton.
 
The full Sky Sport Italia interview came out today, and it adds a whole lot more context to yesterday's quotes. Basically, Conte wasn't expecting Spurs to take a longer-term route to success, but he's willing to go in this direction and see how both he and the club fares.
Here's the rest of Conte's interview with Sky Italia:


Is Conte currently happy at Spurs?
I am certainly happy with the way we are working, I am happy with the infrastructure that I have found. We are trying to work in an important way to improve from many points of view: football, character, technical and tactical. I think our growth passes through that of every single player. We are doing a lot and I am realising, being inside the situation, that it will take time and patience. There are many young players, even at their first experience in the Premier League, who need to gain experience and increase their level.

He also said that the club's current situation "doesn’t scare me at all," and he then stated that he has a better understanding of how the club currently works (i.e. the quotes from yesterday about not signing established players and looking to instantly improve the team). On Spurs missing any January transfer opportunities:
No, I think Tottenham did what they could at the time. The club, for what it was, did its best. It is very difficult to get two players like Bentancur and Kulusevski to sign in January who, I repeat, are the ideal prospect for Tottenham. Because Tottenham is looking for young players, to be developed, not ready players.
 
You aren't miles of a top 4 side this season though, at least you weren't a week or so ago. And you have shown you can compete, games against the likes of Liverpool have shown that.

What you need to ask now is why you can raise your game against the likes of Liverpool & City early on this season, but can't against the likes is Wolves & Southampton.

The reason is because our squad is paper thin and we have lost Dier (who has become our most important defender and organiser at the back) and Skipp (who at 21 has become a very important player for us) which has meant in the last few games our defence and midfield has basically collapsed totally with the opposition literally walking through our midfield without any resistance and our defence basically throwing in 1 or 2 goals per game. We have three fit central midfielders - with two of them not being good enough for a top side (Winks and Hojberg) and Bentancur is new to the league however has shown himself already to be a class above those other two.

If we had everyone fit then certainly we could give most teams a decent game - but losing just two players recently has shown just how poor the overall standard of our squad is compared to our rivals.
 
He's like the Pogba of managers. You know that he's world class but there's just too much baggage. When things are not going well, you just wanna get rid.
 
The full Sky Sport Italia interview came out today, and it adds a whole lot more context to yesterday's quotes. Basically, Conte wasn't expecting Spurs to take a longer-term route to success, but he's willing to go in this direction and see how both he and the club fares.

Are you telling me the media picked out of context quotes to build a narrative out of? I am STUNNED.
 
If we had everyone fit then certainly we could give most teams a decent game - but losing just two players recently has shown just how poor the overall standard of our squad is compared to our rivals.

I can see the argument that nobody quite has the same skill set as Dier in the center of defense but is the difference between Skipp and Hojbjerg or Bentancur really that significant? What does Skipp bring that they don't?
 
I can see the argument that nobody quite has the same skill set as Dier in the center of defense but is the difference between Skipp and Hojbjerg or Bentancur really that significant? What does Skipp bring that they don't?

Skipp has been excellent for us - he is not the finished article of course and has improvement to make mainly in the attacking third but he is our most dynamic midfielder (he was only 20 at the start of this season). In the 14 league games Skipp has started this season, Spurs have won 10, drawn one and lost three. The drop off in our midfield since the lad got injured has been really stark.
 
I’m not saying it’s not what Conte does, I’m saying I’m agreeing with Jordan’s take on the media, happens at every club, the media twists things that are said to push what they want. Surely as a United fan you know this.
They wouldn't be able to twist anything if Conte didn't give them the ammunition and/or didn't have a track record of this, you don't see these type of reports coming out of teams managed by Ancelotti.

TV money is still somehow decent for top Serie A clubs, I'd say 60~70% of what PL clubs get.

What kills italian teams is matchday, merchandising and sponsorship revenues which are truly peanuts compared to England.

Also Conte himself hit Inter wallet pretty hard failing to get past CL group stages in both his seasons here.
Fair enough that's more than i realized.

Re his UCL record it's a huge black mark against him. That said we weren't too bad under him against Barca (Messi was just Messi) but his record in the competition with you guys and Juve (combined with how his successor's did/are doing) isn't a good look atall, that combined with how toxic he can get politically is probably why the Real's/Bayern's/United's don't go near him.
 
Skipp has been excellent for us - he is not the finished article of course and has improvement to make mainly in the attacking third but he is our most dynamic midfielder (he was only 20 at the start of this season). In the 14 league games Skipp has started this season, Spurs have won 10, drawn one and lost three. The drop off in our midfield since the lad got injured has been really stark.

Interesting, sounds very promising. I'll try to watch him more closely next time I see Spurs.
 
Interesting, sounds very promising. I'll try to watch him more closely next time I see Spurs.

He was absolutely brilliant for Norwich last season too and has instantly walked into our side from the start of this season. He is going to be an England regular if he continues to improve.
 
Are you telling me the media picked out of context quotes to build a narrative out of? I am STUNNED.
I'd still be wary of how this goes, to be fair. Conte has never been in a team that's willing to focus on developing young talent over buying established players. For now, Conte has some good, established players to work with, but if/when they start to leave/wane, then Conte's tone may change.
 
I'd still be wary of how this goes, to be fair. Conte has never been in a team that's willing to focus on developing young talent over buying established players. For now, Conte has some good, established players to work with, but if/when they start to leave/wane, then Conte's tone may change.

Just because he hasn't necessarily been in this position before doesn't mean that he didn't know the situation before he agreed to come or that he isn't prepared to work in these conditions. The fact is he would have known the situation, he still agreed to come and has clearly been promised a lot of cash in the summer to start to rebuild a side. Maybe he sees this as a new and interesting challenge? I've no idea but I can't believe any of this has come as a shock to him.
 
Just because he hasn't necessarily been in this position before doesn't mean that he didn't know the situation before he agreed to come or that he isn't prepared to work in these conditions. The fact is he would have known the situation, he still agreed to come and has clearly been promised a lot of cash in the summer to start to rebuild a side. Maybe he sees this as a new and interesting challenge? I've no idea but I can't believe any of this has come as a shock to him.
You're right; he wouldn't come in if he didn't know about how Levy worked in advance. However, he mentioned in multiple press conferences in the past about how this team needs more work than he initially anticipated. I find it fair to say that he was ready for a more incremental squad improvement whilst thinking that Spurs were a better team in his eyes. Those press conferences started off this media scrutiny, which has now led up to this recent Sky Sport Italia interview.
 
167 million net spend over two years is a lot? Doesn't seem like a lot to me especially for a big club like Inter.

How many clubs all over Europe had a bigger spend in those 2 seasons with Covid ravaging and zero matchday income
 
He's smart as a coach but seems to be thick in general. Saying this stuff doesn't really get him anywhere with Levy but he could lose his own players if they see his constant whinging . He's damaging his own reputation saying stuff like this.

Also PL teams are familiar with the back 3/5 system he always uses, it was a novelty during his first stint with Chelsea.
 
Its definitely true that the media loves to build this kind of narrative for clicks and listens and that they are likely to ignore a lot of context in the pursuit of that narrative. I also agree that the evidence does not point at all (at least so far) to Conte leaving Spurs this summer.

But it can also be true that the evidence still points strongly to a mismatch between Conte's inherently short term competitive agenda and the club's longer term planning. He came out and directly said that the club's vision is to buy young players and develop them, rather than buy ready-made players. In my view, that's a smart vision to have given the state of the club right now. But Conte just isn't the manager to stick around and preside over that longer-term 3-5 year project and nothing he has done suggests that he plans to do so. He has had eight jobs in management and stayed two years or less in seven of them. He signed an 18 month contract. He is living out of a hotel while his wife and daughter are living in Italy.

So the media may be exaggerating and building narrative but they can only do so because there is a strong element of truth to the notion that Conte and the club just don't have the same kinds of goals.

Agreed, I am 100% certain if Conte feels shafted in the summer he will leave before a ball
Is kicked.
 
The full Sky Sport Italia interview came out today, and it adds a whole lot more context to yesterday's quotes. Basically, Conte wasn't expecting Spurs to take a longer-term route to success, but he's willing to go in this direction and see how both he and the club fares.
He wasn't expecting it despite them signing Gil (20), Emerson (22), Romero (23) and Sarr (18) last summer?
 
He wasn't expecting it despite them signing Gil (20), Emerson (22), Romero (23) and Sarr (18) last summer?
He accepted those signings, absolutely, but it's clear that he was initially expecting more based on this quote:
This is the vision and the philosophy of the club. It is inevitable that if you want to grow quicker and if you want to be competitive more rapidly, you need players with a lot of experience, because they also raise the experience level of the overall team.

But I repeat, I have realised now that this is the vision of the club.

As he clarified later on, he's happy to commit to this direction and build his team up with a more young squad to start off with.
 
He wasn't expecting it despite them signing Gil (20), Emerson (22), Romero (23) and Sarr (18) last summer?

He accepted those signings, absolutely, but it's clear that he was initially expecting more based on this quote:


As he clarified later on, he's happy to commit to this direction and build his team up with a more young squad to start off with.

What do you mean? Conte wasn’t here for any summer signings.
 
You're right; he wouldn't come in if he didn't know about how Levy worked in advance. However, he mentioned in multiple press conferences in the past about how this team needs more work than he initially anticipated. I find it fair to say that he was ready for a more incremental squad improvement whilst thinking that Spurs were a better team in his eyes. Those press conferences started off this media scrutiny, which has now led up to this recent Sky Sport Italia interview.
Where has he said it's more work than he anticipated? He hasn't said that at all to my knowledge.
 
Where has he said it's more work than he anticipated? He hasn't said that at all to my knowledge.
I'm basing it off of what he said in this press conference:


The rest of Conte's words can be found here:


Have you completed your evaluation of your players?
Yes I think so. Not I think, I'm sure 100 per cent. I made the evaluation after two months of work with my players. For sure now the situation is more clear than before.

Will you now have a meeting with Fabio Paratici and Daniel Levy about who you want to sign and sell?
I am waiting to have a meeting with the club and then also to give my opinion about the squad and what I think about our situation. For sure I am waiting for a meeting.

Do you believe you need to add players in the January transfer window to challenge for the top four?
For sure. After only two weeks, I said we need to improve the quality of the squad and for sure we need to improve the quality of this squad. I was sure after seven days, ten days, two weeks about this. Then I made evaluations to understand which players I could count on and which players I can’t.

For sure, the squad needs to improve quality but in an important way. Before we think about a place in the UEFA or Conference League because in this League the level is very high. Now we’re in the middle and we have to think to build something important. For this reason, I ask for patience and time because now the gap is very large and we need to work a lot, and also to try to build. And also improve the quality of the squad.


You're right, he didn't exactly say something to the effect of the squad not being as good as he hoped, but he did clearly talk about wanting to improve on this squad in January. After this conference, he also disclosed his meetings with Paratici and Levy about his plans for the team. Then came the recent press conference where he accepted that his plan will take more time to realise given the club's current direction. As you stated earlier, this summer will determine whether Spurs will let Conte build his team or not.
 
He has maybe one or two bad games per season but generally he is a top class shot stopper and very reliable - he has got better and better in the last few years and he is generally very dependable. We would really struggle to get a better keeper which is why I (and all Spurs fans) where delighted to see him sign a new contract recently. He is also our captain.

This made me laugh, serious Glaston-vibes. Lloris is prone to errors and that is why he has never been at a top club, he just doesn’t have the extra magic or consistency in him. Also prone to clangers in important games, which makes it even more serious of a problem. All PL keepers are great shot stoppers, Lloris certainly isn’t high above anyone else if at all and would be easily replaced.
 
They're still building their team around someone who has given an in depth interview on television about how he doesn't want to play for them, and then literally tried to refuse to play for them.

Until that's resolved I don't really get what Conte can do other than try to make the best of a fecked up situation. He can't drop Kane because there's no one else and the team isn't good enough to do without, and he can't build a team around someone who underperforms and doesn't want to be there either. He'll probably walk if he doesn't get what he wants from Levy in the summer, although maybe that's the sort of pressure Tottenham need to kick them into sorting things out.

One thing that infuriates me watching Spurs is how Kane still gets to take every freekick vaguely in shooting range. He must have the worst freekick conversion rate of any footballer to have taken more than about 3 in their career. His ego can't be that fragile that you can't just tell him he's shite at it.
 
"Not getting 100m each window". Are you mad? He got 15 million in his first window...
This is a guy that won Serie A with the likes of Darmian and Lukaku, because he didn't have an actual budget to buy top players.

He's nothing like Mourinho. If he left Spurs I'd love to have him.
Cmon he's a bit like him.
 
First class knobhead, this fella. The clamour to sign him up here was wrong back in September and it’d still be wrong now.

Good coach, no doubt about that, but not even close to what’s needed here at the moment.

Taking on the Spurs job was stupid and that was obvious at the time, too.
 
Conte has a much better squad than his predecessor. Definitely has much better depth. The starting eleven Conte is a bit more stronger, but Conte has better talent to choose from the bench which with his predecessor, if one of their talent got injured, they had the likes of llorente, Edward's, winks, skipp, and other very average selection to choose from.
Lloris = lloris
Tripper > royal
Verthogen > Sanchez
Alderweireld = Romero
Rose < regullion
Sissoko < hodjberg
Dembele = bentacur
Son = son
Lucas = Lucas
Lamela < begwein
Kane = kane
:lol: