Too quick to judge? Dele has been ‘out of form’ for years and struggled under 3 managers now. Ndombele and Lo Celso are in their third season and also failed to impress under several managers. If none of the three have improved dramatically by January then I don’t think it would be hasty to sell any/all of them.
What I'm saying is that we, fans, have no idea who Conte is going to see as a hidden gem and work into his plans significantly. You may think Dele is done for example, Conte may disagree, we don't know. We are not the ultimate judges of these things, so yes it's too early for us to judge. Dele, at his best, is a scorer of goals from midfield, quite rare for us at least, a finisher. Conte might make a difference with his methods and bring him, plus a few others, back to top form.
I’ll take a bag of chips for Dele in January to be honest, bag of chips and a sausage in batter for Lo Celso too. Hard to see what even Conte can do for those two, one’s been horrific for three years and the other just looks lost and out of place. Ndombele has a chance of making it under Conte but that’s providing he improves his fitness levels by about 300% because puffing out your arse after 20 mins ain’t gonna cut it. He’s the only midfielder genuinely capable of playing a defence-splitting pass on a semi-regular basis but if he’s asking for an oxygen tank 2-3 times a game then he’ll miss those moments to create stuff.
Possibly, they’ve got a couple of months anyway to improve but I’d be very surprised if the two (Dele&Lo Celso) impress him enough to be kept.
Completely forgot about Moses...and it's very true. @Dier Hard is praying it won't be Winks that is suddenly turned around
I think most of us have low expectations about a lot of players. If Conte can turn Dele around I hope to a man (and woman) we would celebrate it. I certainly have fond memories of the player he was. 2 goals v Chelsea, that goal v Palace. He has made a mark for our club.
That really is a lovely goal. Shows what they are capable of - against a poor opposition. Can they do it again against a better side?
It is a good goal but that is solely down to Lucas. The give and go was superb. Before that it was going nowhere. If the same pass went to Winks it goes back to Dier.
It's possible ( I know you won't think so) but if he can get Winks passing into a more positive way then he can play a role in the middle. The negative backward passing was tolerated and even encouraged by our three previous managers who perhaps preferred possession to the risky forward ball. Conte is Italian he will build a good defence but he will always look for the positive FAST ball forward.
I do think that’s wishful thinking but football does throw up surprises. Whilst managers may implement styles and encourage certain things from a team and its players, the players themselves will still always have a style of play of their own that will be noticeable to some degree. For me, Winks just isn’t the playmaker fans had hoped when he was younger. If you compare his style of passing to Ndombele’s or Modric’s or Eriksen’s, there’s a completely different attitude to forward passing from those three and him. Eriksen could volley a peanut into a squirrel’s mouth blindfolded, Modric could hit passes that I didn’t even see possible from the stands whilst Ndombele can play it nicely between the lines when he isn’t gasping for breath, at best I’d say Winks can hit an over the top ball that will occasionally hit his teammate (see his pass the other night to Emerson for example). There are just levels to forward passing and creativity in my opinion and Winks sits at one of the lowest areas of it, to the point where it’s not even or rarely creative.
Love that analogy of Eriksen - " could volley a peanut into a squirrel’s mouth blindfolded " Brilliant...
