So take all of that as granted, and assume Spurs finish PL top 4. With all the above as is, do you believe Conte is in the right physical/mental state to reset and go again ?? IMHO he is not. Therefore the very best we can hope for is that professional pride drives him to get that top 4 finish "by hook or by crook" , and then go home to Italy with his head held high.
You are right, of course. I had ment to write down 180mins in the first place... don't really know why I only wrote 90. Must be an age thing. However, from where I was, it looked to me like Spurs could've played for a further 360mins and still wouldn't have scored.
With the mighty Notts Forest coming to town,maybe it's time for Conte to play about 8 defenders to try sneak a 0-0 draw. I'm not kidding!
I swear if I hear about the Rennes coach whose main qualification is playing FM, which costs Rennes £22k a match one more time...
I and many others on here clearly understood and stated that Levy and Conte were a poor pairing and that Levy would have to loosen the purse strings and buy Conte the players he wanted/needed to play his football or things would fall apart between them. Unfortunately, we're run just the same as always...and Levy and Conte are not seeing the same vision, or anything like it. We didn't spend the £150m. In the accounts £53m is still untouched. That could have bought us the quality CB we desperately needed (and still do), nor did we buy another upgrade in that position and RWB out of the sale of players who we only got out on loan. Conteball needs a solid back line and dynamic, progressive wing backs. We got Spence and Lenglet...the first against Conte's wishes, the second as a late fill in who looks just that. I very much doubted that Levy would be stupid enough to repeat the Mourinho experience by employing a trophy manager and giving him players he wouldn't use. I was wrong...we've done exactly the same thing and produced the same results. Ridiculous nonsense on our part, which I believe has led to Conte picking line-ups to indicate his displeasure. He's a vindictive so and so...even more than Mourinho. Was I wrong about his coaching abilities....Yes, guilty as charged. I happen to think a certain amount of it is that he just doesn't give a **** about the job anymore and we're not getting his best, like we did last season...but Arteta and ten Hag are clearly way ahead of him this season.
Brunel, at the time we were all delighted to be getting a highly regarded “elite” manager, and it was definitely mentioned by many (even through the excitement and perhaps rose tinted glasses) that this would be an interesting match up (Levy v conte). Many of us commented on how we thought levy would have to change his approach, and we had our concerns about how this would work. We may not have used the wording to the affect of of “recipe for disaster” or “leave on a sour note”, as that’d have been incredibly pessimistic before the bloke had even had a chance. But ultimately many had deep concerns and voiced this in their own way. This outcome is not at all surprising to many of us. I remember fans saying things like “last roll of the dice for Levy”, “levy’s gonna have no where to hide”, “conte’s a cheque book manager, he’s not going to be backed”, which essentially translates to exactly what you say.
To go off on a tangent a bit, how can a manager have such an appalling record in the CL and be regarded as "elite"? I had no idea it was this bad. Interesting (but not surprised) that the so-called pundits/experts failed to mention it. I'd also suggest that a true elite manager can get the best out of the tools he has to work with, rather than spend hundreds of millions on players that meet their exact requirements. Isn't that why many people call Guardiola "Fraudiola"? [NB not criticising you Roo, just using your point to make mine.]
It’s a fair point, and in terms of CL results, it’s certainly a disappointing record. I guess it’s the fact he’s won trophies recently, at most, if not all clubs he’s worked at. Not enough credit goes to the coaches who do an amazing job with whatever the tools at their disposal. - especially if they can then replicate that elsewhere adapting and adjusting where necessary.
That's cos the bloke picking them is shockingly bad at doing it tbf. Hoddle...poor Pleat...bizarre Santini...short lived! Jol...Great job chosen by Arnesen not Levy Ramos...errrrr Redknapp...Great AVB...really? Sherwood...seriously? Pochettino...Great JM...WTF Nuno....zzzzzzzzzzz Conte...needed a long term appointment which he was never going to be. Just 3 managers that took us forwards ... that's all on Levy
He's generally won the league when his team has an immense resource advantage. Then he buggers off when the club can't keep up with his ludicrous transfer requests. Won the league three times with Juve, who then won it a further 6 times after he left. Won it with Inter, then got sacked. Won it with Chelsea, then got sacked. He spends heavily, but also inflates wage bills enormously. At Inter he signed Lukaku, Hakimi, Barella and Eriksen, but also a bunch of old veterans. Godin, Ashley Young, Kolarov, Vidal, Victor Moses and Alexis Sanchez, for example. His four most expensive signings at Chelsea were basically all flops, too. Morata, Bakayoko, Batshuayi and Drinkwater all died on their collective arse. His cheaper signings (Rudiger, Alonso, Giroud) and already established players dug him out. He's an expensive and temporary manager. He also plays ****ing dull football most of the time.
I wasn't overly enamoured of the appointment originally, but that was more general scepticism from the previous 2 years managerial ****show. However, the positive finish to the season, achieving a CL place, allied to some expectation of incoming players / departure of dead wood etc did raise my hopes for this year. What a mistake! I just have lost all faith in Contes ability to turn this around on the pitch and Levy's ability to support a coach and deliver any 'success' beyond a bulging bank balance. I don't like the style we are playing, regardless of results that have somehow kept us around Top 4. It's soul-destroying. And to see the mismanagement of talented young players is infuriating. That's on Conte. A CL place for next season is a pipe-dream now. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we drop 3 or 4 places over the coming weeks and maybe that's the best outcome: a domestic season to regroup. It didn't do your lot any harm!
If you look at the pattern since Ramos, it effectively goes : good + manager has some longevity, followed by bad + manager is short-term On that basis, you could contend that where Levy has really messed up was on Nuno (and he should have gone "all in" to get someone who fitted the "good" part of the pattern) .
Is it time Levy put us in charge? vote on tactics, team selections, subs etc. We know more than some of these mugs. I don’t mind taking training once in a while.
