Daniel Levy is a footballing genius. If you need proof, ask Daniel Levy. I can see Levy employing Conte, no matter the cost, just to save his arse. When things are going pear shaped, he'll get the cheque book out, which he won't do when we're within touching distance of success. Once the dissenting voices are silenced, he'll **** him off by failing to deliver on his promises. It's crucial to be one step ahead of the lynch mob. Given one 1 League Cup win in 20 years, his almost unscathed survival is close to miraculous.
I almost feel sorry for Nuno. Getting rid may have been the right decision for the club and after Sunday I’m convinced that he wasn’t going to turn it around. But he was dealt a **** hand. Could have played it better, but he’s a decent man who seems like he became the fall guy for years of indecision and poor management from Levy on the footballing side of the club. Conte is a statement, and shows Paratici’s influence if he does come, because Levy couldn’t get him on-side on his own in the summer. He has a massive job in his hands though because the most concerning thing is Kane seems checked out. There’s plenty of players at the club who have played 3atb before so I’m hopeful that it won’t be too much of an adjustment.
Here's a bit more from Italian football journalist Nima Tavallaey, on the rumours that Antonio Conte is being lined up as the new Tottenham manager. "If the rumours are right that he's only signing an 18 month contract, to me that's the strangest thing out of all of this. "It seems as if both parties are going into this agreement holding their noses and not really wanting to commit which I find really strange but one that we do know about Antonio Conte it's this, when he commits to a job for five minutes, five years, five months he gives 110% and he demands 110%. "He's going to shake life into that club from the bottom up, he doesn't mess about to be perfectly honest."
You seen his interview with Thierry Henry? Some of those players (Dele Alli especially) are in for a rude awakening if Conte comes.
There's already suggestions he wants three or four players in January Brozovic, Kessie, and Alvarez please!
He needs to be backed by the club, both for incoming and outgoing transfers. Our inability to shift players has been as big a problem over the years as our patchy record in signings.
Once again the Levy out brigade find their collective voice just like the Roman games, screaming for the kill. let's ignore the facts of the matter we don't need them we will make our own facts to fit our mindset. These arguments have been rehearsed time and time again so there is little point in going over them all again, the Levy out brigade will not listen anyway. Suffice it to say that Levy has for sure made many poor footballing decisions most clubs suffer the same, but now we have a Director of Football for what, the third time? So clearly Levy recognises his own shortcomings in this area. So far the DOF's have managed to prove that they too can make poor football decisions. The nature of pro football will always include poor decisions and mistakes on players (it is the norm) Our current DOF has IMO improved our defence and then employed the wrong manager but it's early days and the error has been acknowledged so lets see where we go from here.
Assuming that... a.) Conte gets over the line b.) He sticks to his 352 ...it will soon be obvious that our squad's been very well built in some areas for that system, but very poorly not just for that system but also 433 CBs: perfectly fine, with Romero, Tanganga, Dier, Davies, Rodon and Sanchez all capable of playing in this system WBs: perfectly fine, as Reguilon and Emerson can play in this role, and Sessegnon could if he's ever...what's the opposite of injured? CMs: ...and here's the problem, because while we could certainly muddle through with Hojbjerg, Skipp and Lo Celso, after that we have Winks and Ndombele and...nobody, so not only does that show a lack of depth in various roles FW: reasonably fine with Son and this bloke who looks like Harry Kane, but a lack of depth unless we fancy playing Lo Celso in the VDV role, throwing Scarlett in at the deep end, or thinking Poch was onto something when playing Lucas up front in 2019-20 It also has to be asked where some players would fit: Dele is the most obvious name to mention, but think about our various wingers and where they'd fit. Bergwijn and Lucas have been used as emergency forwards in the past but I doubt that's a longterm plan, Gil is another (although Nuno did experiment with him in a central role), and I think it's safe to say that Jack Clarke's rapidly heading towards Tommy Forecast status
Yeah I struggle to see where some players fit. Bergwijn probably the most obvious casualty. Others will be attitude-based. Gil might also be in trouble. I think Lucas will be fine, he’s shown his versatility. Good attitude but probably won’t start.
Considering he tended to play a pairing of Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez up top last season, that probably does give some leeway to Bergwijn and Gil, although Son is the obvious first-choice (in other words, Clarke's only chance of staying is if our HG balance gets even worse) Lucas, meanwhile, may well end up redeployed as a RWB - and would still be preferable than Doherty there...
If they don’t fit then get them sold asap No point persisting with square pegs in round holes. Time to be brutal and ruthless.
These players need a good kicking up the arse, then wake up or move on. Conte may be the man to do the job, he doesn't come over as a shrinking violet.
Wasn’t it Laturo Martinez? Either way it’s a classic pairing in many ways. Someone to play off and someone with more mobility.
