Plenty have made the exact same criticism, both in this match thread and for the Southampton match, as well as highlight the times we need an extra person in central midfield when we get overrun as we did by Brighton in the second half Is the dugout going to be crowded then?
I wrote about this a few weeks back. What Conte is doing is exactly the same as what Poch did in 2014/15 when our results up until appx Dec were also wildly inconsistent and there were a fair few even questioning his long term future. Poch brought with him the 4231 system that had served him well at Soton and stuck to it, rotating through CB, CM and attacking players like there was no tomorrow. It started to click midway through the season although there were still plenty of bumps along the road including a stalemate at Burnley, a defeat to Palace and that bizarre 3-0 drubbing against Stoke. Had we won those games we'd have finished 4th. Poch also didn't really have the personnel but by insisting on a system he trusted and knew intricately, he could also see with clarity which players he had inherited who could be relied on to play that system and which needed to be ditched and replaced. The club gave him carte blanche to do that in the summer and what followed was one of our most successful and cost effective windows in our history. Toby and Son instantly improved the first team while Wimmer and Trippier instantly improved the bench. Meanwhile as many as 7 or 8 senior players were moved on - often at a loss. There is no question the same is needed this summer. Whether Levy will bite that bullet again remains to be seen but come May, I expect the list of players who need to go if Conte stays to include at least 2 CBs, Royal, Sess, Doherty, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Lucas, Winks and Bergwijn. I doubt we'll move on all 10, but to my mind all of those players have question marks against them right now as none of them really fit his preferred system and none of them have the raw talent necessary to justify keeping them around. This is the scale of the rebuild that is needed. The painful rebuild that Poch warned us about over 3 years ago and that we have contributed to making even more painful by trying to brush the mess under the carpet. I disagree with people blaming Conte for the bigger picture of our problems. He is well within his rights to play a system that he knows inside out and that has made him one of the most decorated managers in recent history. The club was well aware of this before they hired him, so he is also well within his rights to demand that the club provide him with the players who suit his system. Again - whether we do this or again go for a cheap quick fix remains to be seen. It is one thing demanding that Mourinho change his preferred system to accommodate the likes of Gareth Bale. It is another thing entirely to demand Conte changes his system for bang average dross like Doherty and Sessegnon. We haven't benefited at all from 4 managers in 3 years. We have a patchwork squad suited to 3 completely different systems, there is no singular vision unifying the whole club and there hasn't been one since 2015. Until that is fixed, we will continue merrily applying plasters to wounds that need surgery under anaesthetic.
Agree, by sticking to his system he can find out which players he can rely on. Unfortunately there isn’t many players in that squad that are good enough. Maybe he’s been too honest and emotional in front of the cameras but I don’t see why anyone would be critical of him for that. I think he walks at the end of the season if he’s not allowed to make wholesale changes but will stay if the board back him
So why play him in a system that basically requires him to do so? We don't have any proper wide-playing wingbacks in the squad. Who's he even supposed to be crossing it to, anyway? Kane drops deep all the time, Son drifts wide and none of our midfielders get into the box regularly. People are talking about the mentality of the squad, but I didn't see an issue there yesterday. Nobody was strolling about or had their head go down when we conceded. The tactics and system didn't suit our players or the opponent we were up against. I'll even give Conte a pass for the poor first half, as Bentancur injured himself in a freak slip. We came out well from the break, but the subs were just weird and we lost all shape. The whole frontline descended into a mess, as we threw numbers in with little thought.
The team have lost 4 in 5 league games, crisis mode is here. I don’t get the surprise of some that the manager is upset and annoyed by results. His system and methods have won him titles everywhere he’s been, he comes to Spurs and they don’t work? That tells me the problem isn’t the manager. Also he isn’t here to finish top 6 and be happy. He wants to see constant improvement.
And yet he's getting worse results than Espirito Santo and Ryan Mason. He hasn't won titles everywhere, either. He flopped miserably at Atalanta, for example. He's used a variety of different formations throughout his career, but now he appears to be stuck on one. It's clearly not working.
Well if he’s the problem then the next manager should have no issues getting success from this amazing set of players
I haven't been happy with one of our transfer windows for years. It's still possible to get performances from a squad that's far from perfect, though. Sean Dyche did it last night.
I do believe conte is too rigid in his system when we don’t have the right players. i also believe he’s a bit emotional and temperamental which isn’t a good thing. I also don’t understand his contrasting views on Sunday and yesterday. Levy must be banging his head against the wall. Bang harder please.
All he had to say was something on the lines of : This was a good result. It should prove to the squad that if they apply and believe in themselves, and remain focused all game, this is the result they will achieve.
Yes, he did. He lost four out of the last five by not doing it, though. No thanks. Wouldn't mind seeing what he'd do away from Turf Moor, though. Might just be a very good fit for each other or he could push on with greater resources.
What was so different about the City game is that you counterattacked them and were allowed in run in behind frequently. Your best players got plenty of the ball and made it count. The defence stood firm, sitting deep and staying compact . How often do defences play themselves into form when they are under pressure for long periods? So there’s simple game plan - sit deep, invite the other team forward and hit them on the counter with Kane and Son.
And Burnley were never going to commit that many people forward and get stretched that badly. Perhaps if they'd have gone behind or really been chasing the game late on, but not otherwise. So what was our plan to break them down? Who was supposed to be running the game? Where was the killer ball going to come from? How were we intending to defeat their organised defence? I didn't know before the game and I didn't feel particularly enlightened afterwards, either.
Son in particular is just a nightmare for City to defend against because they push their full backs so high up the pitch it's effectively only 1 (2 max) players you have to beat if their midfield gets bypassed.
