It just feels on the cards. Whether it be in 8 months or so when Conte’s (initial) deal ends or in a few years, it’s almost inevitable he’ll manage us again. If I were still a betting man I’d have about £200 on him being Spurs manager before the end of the 25/26 season.
I think there’s the issues in the high pressure games, which Conte talked about after the game tonight. Some of that is individual mistakes (plenty in the game today, and the Chelsea and Arsenal games) and some of that is how he has been setting the team up and managing games. His overreliance on certain players that culminated in the performances of Højbjerg and Bentancur tonight is another issue. Yes there have been problems with injury and players adapting, in midfield and other areas, but Conte also hasn’t played his hand as well as a coach of his reputation should have, which I think is an opinion many share. I think we’re seeing issues already with his management of the squad, which is still a little lopsided and affected by injury, but it’s a fine line and he’s currently falling the wrong side of it.
No way you're getting rid of Conte. He got you into the CL, you're top of your group, and you're 3rd in the PL. Does seem a bit of an overreaction tbh.
So do you believe the performances of the final third of last season was "emergent behaviour" (all Conte did was select the starting XIs and gave no instructions to them other than win) ??
Our concern stems from the fact that we haven't really got going this season. The optimism of a positive and for once well organised summer window has all but faded as the life has honestly been sucked out of the fans by the turgid football we are playing almost every game in every competition. It is frightening that we seem to be an injury or suspension to Kulusevski away from playing like we're newly promoted from the Championship. A manager with Conte's experience in charge of the players he has, has to be much more pragmatic and better able to adapt to changing circumstances and changing oppositions. We are very, very predictable and whilst it is the case that we possess enough individual quality to beat the weaker teams, up against better opposition we will be (and are being) found out time and again. Part of the problems are of Conte's own making. Certain players (Dier, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Son) look absolutely knackered because they play every game, while other players - of proven PL quality (Bissouma, Skipp, Doherty) look short of match sharpness because by contrast they never play. None of us are entirely sure what the plan is at the moment, other than sitting around waiting for Kulusevski to return from injury. I and many others I know see Paratici as deserving of more credit for where we are. This season, the feeling is that we are where we are despite Conte, not because of him.
Spurs getting top 4 was massively down to his management, he deserved huge credit for that. But this season, he’s made a lot of mistakes.
I have a soft spot for him. We Played some great football, had a team I loved watching and had a great connection with the fans. But we also played some terrible football at the end of his time (apart from that CL run) for virtually all of 2019 in the cups and league. He also seriously screwed our squad up and set us back 2 years by spending around £140m plus on Clarke, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon. Genuinely do not want him back. Felt the same about pleat...his 1987 football exploits were really tarnished by his stint after Hoddle in 2003/04
Yet if he leaves them out (rests them) and you lose the world class manager fan base will be screaming about why he dropped them Managers have plenty of information on player fitness/fatigue levels, far more than the fan base has. Sometimes you just have to admit that on certain days your players were just not up to it against the opposition. Conte is far from stupid and i would think he knows a bit more than supporters who only see players for 90 mins twice (or at present thrice) a week.
That’s why it’s so surprising that they looked like they did today. They looked out on their feet. We know Bissouma is still adapting and Skipp has been recovering from a difficult injury but there have definitely been opportunities to rest the first choice two during games that haven’t been taken. Make no bones about it, United were better today than they have been probably for most of the season. Fred in particular had an immense game and while I think Bruno was overhyped from his first run of games at United, you can’t give him too many chances of the type he scored from today because he’ll do that to you. They deserved to win that game based on the relative performance of each team, no doubting that.
Personally I doubt he ever will to be honest. This reeks of ‘AVB - Paulinho’ in which we’ve signed a player known for specific qualities and are asking them to change their whole game. Makes no sense. We should’ve just signed someone like Ndidi. Said it before but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Bissouma ask to leave in the summer.
There were definitely moments from Bissouma where you could see why we signed him, but they were few and far between. PNP touched on the main issue earlier which was that the 3 in midfield all looked confused as to what each other's roles were. They alternated between playing far too close to each other and too far apart to create any meaningful passage of play. I would imagine one of Hojbjerg or Bentancur were meant to push higher up the pitch and press United, but neither of them had the legs to do it having played for the last 129 games in a row. Weirdly Bentancur had a bit of a second wind in the final minutes before he was taken off and had started chasing down the United back line, forcing errors and winning us possession in good areas but obviously the game was long gone. Unlike Paulinho, who was totally unproven in the PL, we have seen Bissouma in action for years and at a solid team. He knows the league and clearly has the quality to succeed here. I think his poor performance stemmed more from a chronic lack of match sharpness - which is on Conte, and a lack of understanding of his role vis-a-vis his fellow CMs, which again is on Conte.
For me, it’s this. Everything is short term at a Spurs. There is nothing in Conte’s decision making that suggests he’s developing the team with the bigger picture at the forefront at the forefront of his mind. He’s playing the same players constantly. He’s not bringing on subs early enough to give the fringe players opportunities to develop. He’s not appearing to adapt the tactics as appropriate against opponents. He will play the same way, whether we are at home against a weaker team or away to a top team. Don’t get me wrong. He’s obviously doing something right as we are still in a good position. But he’s doing a fair bit wrong, which in itself is not a problem providing he’s willing to learn and adapt. But he’s not and this is why I’m slowly falling out of favour with him.
A lack of game time is definitely part of his issue but Conte’s said himself that Bissouma needs to work on the defensive aspects of his game and to understand what he needs to do tactically. The Bissouma that was controlling the Brighton midfield in a possession based system is being asked to essentially anchor the team in a defensive counter attacking system and it’s not suiting him. That role is better suited to Skipp so we might as well just give him more minutes, sign someone like Ndidi who also fits that and say “thanks but best of luck” to Bissouma and sell him at first offer, because he’s being wasted here and it’s helping no one, him or us.
Last night demonstrated what I was bemoaning throughout the summer no actual top notch defender to partner Romero will cost us both their goals were from positions I expect top quality defences to command and that we needed that attack minded midfielder to link it for us up top. If only Harry Kane could get onto the end of his own passes. The fact that he drops back to do this demonstrates the need for our team to have a quality attacker in the middle of the park and for Conte to allow this demonstrates that he knows the team needs this…so why not chase this during the transfer window? All I heard was that Conte attacks through the wings but Kanes game suggests otherwise Anyway…I wasn’t too excited about the window for that reason and additions definitely made but not quite enough where it mattered most…always like that for us. just left grasping forever at what could be with a little bit extra drive in the window. because I dont believe we had anything to change that game…our best was already playing and we had nothing to change it. Formations, early subs blah blah…nothing was going to change the dynamic of last nights game. one broken Kulusevski shouldn’t put us up **** creek tbh but it does because natural creativity came from Kulu and we need it in this team so we are missing it big time.
