Would you take Conte at United?

[afatzp]

For those think we don't have squad to play Conte's iconic 352 , we exactly has the 3 already: Varane , great sweeper type of player, calm and able to read game and predict danger, great pace to cover; Maguire, Strong DC who likes to press aggressively and win balls by aerial duel, excellent air dominance; Wan Bissaka, athletic and tackle machine, able to man mark, track back and win 1 on 1. That almost a textbook back 3 .

Shaw almost no doubt able to play WB well with his ball-playing skills from wide. For right side, we have Dalot who may thrive with less defensive work as WB ; if he does not work, we could easily buy one from market . Just remember, Conte can make Victor Moses play like a World Class WB ffs , maybe even Rashford can find his place here if he willing to try.

 

[reelworld]

Achieving long term success without planning for short term success is impossible.
I swear people are blinded at how Fergie longevity, as if he's not one of a kind. You take short term success with managers until they can't and find a new one that can. If you're lucky, you get someone who can maintain success for a long period of time. But if you can't, then you keep finding managers who can deliver you short term success.

 

[Ixion]

I don't agree at all that this team is on the verge/ready to win the league or CL. We've never even been in a real title race unless you call being 15 points behind City a race and a fluke win against PSG a couple of years ago doesn't mean it can win the CL. While City, Liverpool and Chelsea have been assembling strong squads we've been padding out our squad with more wingers, temporary forwards, and not investing in CM.

 

[Lentwood]

You don't necessarily HAVE to have managers who stick around for the long-term IF you have the right people and the right structure making football decisions at the club.

The problem with managers like Conte and Jose in the past has been that they want to win TODAY, and that can come at a price. Offer Jose a choice between Sancho and Ivan Perisic, for example, and you feel he would pick the latter. He doesn't have the time or the inclination to coach and develop a player who may or may not come good.

This might win you a trophy, but invariably it becomes unsustainably expensive. Signing 28/29yos means you only really get 2/3 top seasons out of them before you have to start thinking again about replacing them.

We COULD take on a manager like Conte, but the likes of Murtough and Fletcher would have to be clear that there won't be £300m for "quick fix" signings and that they would need to work largely with what we have.

 

[UpWithRivers]

The number 1 reason we have failed is our recruitment of managers. Not the actual managers but the fact that we keep choosing a new manager with a different style of play then saying its a project give them time. Its over and over and over again. Whats more important than the actual manager is to get someone who can take the squad we have and make them winners. Sure there will be transfer windows but that should be to tweak the team and not for mass overhaul over 3 plus seasons. Conte would be a complete change yet again. Its suicidal.

Zidane would be better. He plays a 4-3-3. We can work with that. Ten Haag is also a good option and looks like he could use our current squad. Zidane has the advantage because he can work and deal with the big players. He has worked with Ronaldo, Varane and Pogba. And if this team is to work some big names need to be dropped.

We should forget giving them 3-5 plus years to build. Lets be ruthless. If it isnt working then get someone else in.

 

[Revan]

Sancho?

On the bench, like now. He will be on the bench regardless of formation considering that he is not as good as Rashford or Greenwood.

 

[Caesar2290]

Make Ten Haag an offer he can’t refuse. And dispose over-rated players like Lindelof, AwB, Fred, mctominay. Okay the youngsters who are hungrier like Hannibal, Laird.

Hate to break it to you, but players like Lindelof and Fred aren't going anywhere under Ten Hag.

 

[Jacob]

We put so much focus on longevity and loyalty in management and this is a consequence of the incompetence at executive/director level. If c-level is quality, you could change managers frequently without any profound damage to the club.

 

[LoneStar]

I’m not a Conte fan but I can’t see how thinking long term works out in today’s game? We can get Pep and he can be sacked to and then we build again, so what’s wrong with getting a manager for short term? What we need is a DOF who sticks to a long term plan for the club and we sign a certain type a player which trumps the managers choice unless it makes sense for our clubs criteria. In today’s world a manager can come and go but players stick around….

A lot of people are deluded in thinking that we will get a manager like Fergie who will look after everything, stay at a top level and be here for the long term.

What we need is a DoF who knows their stuff and are ruthless in hiring and firing managers. As long as we keep hiring similar managers that work with similar players, we would be good. There's this myth that a 'progressive' manager will settle the squad in season 1, challenge for the title in S2, and then go on to dominate for the next 5 years. That's never happening.

The expectations for every single United manager should be to win the league and other trophies immediately. Look at teams like RM where Ole would have been fired long ago.

 

[norm87cro]

Just voted OLEOUT but Conte and long term should not go in the same sentence

 

[Barthez]

Don’t want Conte anywhere within 20 miles of this club. That appointment would be so dam depressing.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Two year contract. Make it happen.

 

[dasty]

Every single top club in the world are ruthless and will change their manager if necessary and demands results immediately. Somehow our fan base thinks that we are oh so fecking special that we shouldn't do that?

All these talks about planning for the future is complete bollocks as well. What future is there if we are fecked now? Does giving Ole a few more years means he will magically become SAF 2.0? You don't plan for the future without caring about what happens now, that is not called planning, that is called fecking dreaming.

We need someone to come in and immediately make us a powerhouse again and Conte is a great candidate for it. None of this rubbish "long term planning" anymore.

 

[pacifictheme]

We'll get conte, bumble about playing shite football for two seasons until it all goes wrong and City will be managed by ten hag then and we'll all be going oh why didn't we get him.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

I would welcome a guy like Conte with open arms. He's the calibre of manager we should have.

 

[Mcking]

I'd rather we got a caretaker and wait to get Ten Hag in the summer, Conte's football is negative and dull and he's a temperamental fanny, on top of that his system requires wingbacks that we don't have and would mean Sancho and Mason on the bench most of the time.

Conte has already demonstrated the ability to successfully implement formations with players playing in positions they were previously not too familiar with. I'm sure he will find a way to make our squad work, and they'd still get plenty of games if they are good enough.

Sancho already warms the bench most games, and Greenwood has to be the most workshy 20 year old footballer I've ever seen. If we were really going to be concerned about their game time, then we shouldn't have touched Ronaldo. With Ronaldo already here, we've got to maximize our squad, and giving a feck about how that affects Greenwood and Sancho should not be a part of it.

 

[Danish Wizard]

Get a good director of football in.
Decide how Manchester United should play, and keep this in the future, so we don't have to start over / change everything when a manager stops or is sacked. Then just find a manager that fits into the profile, and the philosophy of the club.

I would go with Marc Overmars as new director of football, get Erik ten Hag as manager. And then build for the long term. Yes, we need change, and we need to act now.!

 

[Scholsey2004]

IMO, we shouldn't gamble like that. What we really need is a short term fix and see how we go from there. Offer Conte a short to medium term contract and let him bring winning football back again and instill that winner's mentality. And the board should be wiser this time to prematurely offer contract extensions. Prior to Conte's contract expiration, the board can then evaluate his achievements and squad harmony and see where we go from there. If Conte doesn't show any intentions to remain at the club, we can always hire the next one after that. I'm not really a fan of gambling on the next breakout or flavour of the month manager. Not discrediting Ten Haag but what if he can't adapt to PL football? Then our club will still be stuck in the abyss. Heck, even Ole could've been considered a breakout candidate following his Molde achievements.

The problem with that is if you bring in a manager with a short term mentality then he'll want ready made playing solutions. We've got some very valuable young players right now who need developing. That has yo be part of the thinking and on that basis i'm not sure Conte is who i'd want.

 

[Mcking]

I

Ah yes Conte.

Let's leave 5 out of Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno, Sancho and Lingard on the bench so we can play more of our shit defenders and defensive midfielders at the same time.

Then when that doesn't work, let's give him another 300m to spend on players that only make sense in his system, so when he fecks off 6 months later after someone pisses in his hair glue or whatever, we'll have a load more overpaid players on fresh contracts for the next name off the block to come in and weed through.

Conte can easily accommodate four of those in his formation. Solskjaer's formation accommodates four of them too, and a 433 accommodates no more than four of them as well.

One common misconception by football fans is that the more attackers, the better attacking football. How could you watch football for more than a few years and actually believe that? A manager worth his salt could use 6 defenders, 3 midfielders and a striker and still score goals.

 

[Mcking]

I am certainly not anti Italian but Conte is a bad fit for us

A- He's as toxic as Mou is
B- Conte utilize a 3-5-2/5-3-2 system which would lead to yet another radical overhaul of our team.
C- Conte simply can't settle down.

We need a manager whose philosophy fits the current side. That means a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation. Zidane and Ten Hag are better options then Conte.

A 433 doesn't fit this squad any better than a 3-5-2.

 

[roonster09]

I


Conte can easily accommodate four of those in his formation. Solskjaer's formation accommodates four of them too, and a 433 accommodates no more than four of them as well.

One common misconception by football fans is that the more attackers, the better attacking football. How could you watch football for more than a few years and actually believe that? A manager worth his salt could use 6 defenders, 3 midfielders and a striker and still score goals.

How can he accommodate 4 attackers? Who will play as wingback, or will Bruno play as CM?

 

[Mcking]

How can he accommodate 4 attackers? Who will play as wingback, or will Bruno play as CM?

One of them as wing back, Bruno as AM, and two as the forwards.

 

[Dan_F]

2 titles and CL.

Thanks for the analysis. We tried a manager who won one of those titles, why would Conte be any different?

 

[Real Name]

Thanks for the analysis. We tried a manager who won one of those titles, why would Conte be any different?

So what's the solution then in your opinion?

 

[Chaky_Best]

This guy is absolutely is at the extreme opposite of Ole's management and tbh I said I don't want him, but do we have any better choice than a Jose 2.0 ?

I think it's whether we hire an interim manager until end of season and see what's going on with Poch or Ten Hag, or we hire Conte and offers him 2/3 years contract.

But man, seeing 3/5/2 with Conte will "kill" so many players that are not suited to his system, leading us to re invest again on players we will want to get rid once he leaves.

 

[devilish]

A 433 doesn't fit this squad any better than a 3-5-2.

4-3-3 allow us to play the likes of Sancho and Rashford in their natural roles. It also allow space for the likes of Elanga and Diallo as well. We have too much talent on the flanks to throw it away.

 

[Bobcat]

Ole needs replacing, but not Conte please.

Bit torn right now. On one hand, the smart thing to do is probably to let Ole see out the season and then spend time on identifying and making arrangements with a good long term manager (Ten Haag, Rose etc) but at the same time, it really looks to me like Ole has lost the dressing room, and in those cases you need to make changes ASAP because it only festers and gets worse and worse

At this rate, we will probably crash out of the CL group and not qualify for CL next year either, which not only means this season is fecked. It also fecks up next season to some extent

 

[roonster09]

One of them as wing back, Bruno as AM, and two as the forwards.

Which player? The last winger who was capable of playing wingback was Valencia and Young. None of our players have work rate or defensive ability to play as wingback.

 

[sun_tzu]

Would conte ditch his three at the back philosophy?

If not then we would massively struggle this season as we simply don't have players well suited... then next season will no doubt be introducing new players to fit the system... Time to adjust etc

2023/2024 perhaps we could be genuine title challengers but with conte probably ready to leave after that as he always seems to move on pretty quick leaving us with probably another style transition to manage.

I'd prefer him to keeping ole to the end of the season but longer term I am not sure he's the right fit... personally I'd prefer ten hag or Zidane.

Have noticed a few articles from "sources" bigging up ronaldos role in the dressing room.... wouldn't rule out ronaldo as player manager in the interim (I think it will be a disaster) so I hope they have a new manager lined up before they let ole go

 

[#07]

This guy is absolutely is at the extreme opposite of Ole's management and tbh I said I don't want him, but do we have any better choice than a Jose 2.0 ?

I think it's whether we hire an interim manager until end of season and see what's going on with Poch or Ten Hag, or we hire Conte and offers him 2/3 years contract.

But man, seeing 3/5/2 with Conte will "kill" so many players that are not suited to his system, leading us to re invest again on players we will want to get rid once he leaves.

Honestly, no, not with our squad.

People dreaming of a new coach that comes in and makes us play like Liverpool or City need to get real. Wan-Bissaka aint never going to be great with the ball at his feet. Maguire is never going to be great when expected to cover ground. Shaw, for all his positivity in attack, will always lose his marker. Lindelof is lacking all kinds of physicality and awareness.

Any progressive style of football would require an almost entirely different defence. One that can play a high line, deal with mobility and physicality. Only Varane is well tooled for this.

So any manager, including Ole, looking at our squad should set up for the counter attack. That's before even considering whether pressing is smart idea with our players (its F'N NOT!)

Conte would be far better equipped to manage the squad we have than Ten Hag or Pochettino. My major objection to him was his love of 352. However, when you see how tactically naive Ole has been (and insists on being with talk of 424 and being on the front foot), its got to the point where I just want to see someone sensibly coaching this group. Conte would at least do that.

 

[Rocksy]

Some of the views on Conte here seem to be...

a) he's Italian so he defensive (no bad thing anyway)
b) he's got a bit of a difficult personality so that means he's the same as Mourinho and is football must also be the same
c) he doesn't play wingers and only plays 3-5-2

A) Well, he can really coach a defence. As Tuchel has done at Chelsea. However, his teams score loads of goals and he's worked with and improved lots of the best attackers in the world. Hazard rated him as the best and most detailed attacking coach he'd had.

B) He's just not that similar to Mourinho. He is demanding but that's because he's a winner. On his first time meeting the players at Juventus he said to them. "You think you did well last year but I didn't come here for that shit." He'll want United to get back to the top and winning quickly. Not trying to buy time for himself and write off trophies like Ole.

C) He's played 4-2-4 for large chunks of his career. His front 3 at Chelsea was Pedro, Costa, Hazard.

He's a flexible modern coach who gets real results. Not done a lot in the Champions League but he's never had a team who were ready to really go far in it. Fair enough if you want Ten Haag. He might be better for you but there's some nonsense on here about Conte.

 

[Mcking]

Which player? The last winger who was capable of playing wingback was Valencia and Young. None of our players have work rate or defensive ability to play as wingback.

Maybe Rashford, or something may have to give. If I'm to pick one manager to make it work though, I'd pick Conte.

 

[roonster09]

Maybe Rashford, or something may have to give. If I'm to pick one manager to make it work though, I'd pick Conte.

Not sure about Rashford but if we hire Conte he will find someone who can play that role and he won't be afraid to bench any player.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Some of the views on Conte here seem to be...

a) he's Italian so he defensive (no bad thing anyway)
b) he's got a bit of a difficult personality so that means he's the same as Mourinho and is football must also be the same
c) he doesn't play wingers and only plays 3-5-2

A) Well, he can really coach a defence. As Tuchel has done at Chelsea. However, his teams score loads of goals and he's worked with and improved lots of the best attackers in the world. Hazard rated him as the best and most detailed attacking coach he'd had.

B) He's just not that similar to Mourinho. He is demanding but that's because he's a winner. On his first time meeting the players at Juventus he said to them. "You think you did well last year but I didn't come here for that shit." He'll want United to get back to the top and winning quickly. Not trying to buy time for himself and write off trophies like Ole.

C) He's played 4-2-4 for large chunks of his career. His front 3 at Chelsea was Pedro, Costa, Hazard.

He's a flexible modern coach who gets real results. Not done a lot in the Champions League but he's never had a team who were ready to really go far in it. Fair enough if you want Ten Haag. He might be better for you but there's some nonsense on here about Conte.

Agree with most of what you said, but Conte will be a massive change for the club.

Not only for his difficult personality, but especially for the players he will asks.

Ole spent 450M on players to (presumably) play his way, and my fear is that Conte will come and ask 250M again to spend on players suited to his system, and in 3 years we will hire a new manager playing 4-3-3 and we'll have deadwood to get rid again.

I am for having a better manager, and to me, Conte is near the very best in the world. But it really depends on how he sees the team, and what he wants to do.

Let's be precise, out of our first team, who can fit in his system ?

3412

De Gea

XXXXXX
Maguire
Varane

XXXXXX
XXXXXX
Pogba (has only 6 months to his contract)
Shaw/Telles

Bruno

Ronaldo/Cavani (also has 6 months left on his contract)
Rashford

So my point is that Conte will come, will ask guarantees on 3/4 new, expensive players, specialized in his system, and will let players like Sancho on the bench, because they re not suited to his system.

BUT, I dont care anymore about managers, I just want my players to play football and not be humiliated by Pool, Leicester or Villa, so why not Conte.

 

[Devil may care]

Conte has already demonstrated the ability to successfully implement formations with players playing in positions they were previously not too familiar with. I'm sure he will find a way to make our squad work, and they'd still get plenty of games if they are good enough.

Sancho already warms the bench most games, and Greenwood has to be the most workshy 20 year old footballer I've ever seen. If we were really going to be concerned about their game time, then we shouldn't have touched Ronaldo. With Ronaldo already here, we've got to maximize our squad, and giving a feck about how that affects Greenwood and Sancho should not be a part of it.

Sancho being on the bench, Greenwood not being great off the ball and buying Ronaldo to stop City getting him are all symptoms of the issues, there's no plan. With a good coach Mason could progress his all round and any good coach would have gotten Sancho inbedded by now, we aren't converting them to wingbacks, on top of that it doesn't alter the fact Conte is a nob and his football is shitty, i want to see get a progressive manager to develop players that have long term in them, not chase the unlikely hope of shithousing our way to a title with 1 last season of Ronaldo against the juggernauts above us.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Agree with most of what you said, but Conte will be a massive change for the club.

Not only for his difficult personality, but especially for the players he will asks.

Ole spent 450M on players to (presumably) play his way, and my fear is that Conte will come and ask 250M again to spend on players suited to his system, and in 3 years we will hire a new manager playing 4-3-3 and we'll have deadwood to get rid again.

I am for having a better manager, and to me, Conte is near the very best in the world. But it really depends on how he sees the team, and what he wants to do.

Let's be precise, out of our first team, who can fit in his system ?

3412

De Gea

XXXXXX
Maguire
Varane

XXXXXX
XXXXXX
Pogba (has only 6 months to his contract)
Shaw/Telles

Bruno

Ronaldo/Cavani (also has 6 months left on his contract)
Rashford

So my point is that Conte will come, will ask guarantees on 3/4 new, expensive players, specialized in his system, and will let players like Sancho on the bench, because they re not suited to his system.

BUT, I dont care anymore about managers, I just want my players to play football and not be humiliated by Pool, Leicester or Villa, so why not Conte.

He played a 3-4-3 with Chelsea so

DDG

Varane
Maguire
Shaw (has done well at 3atb before)

XXXX
Bruno
XXXX
Telles

Rashford
Ronaldo
Sancho

So he'd need just a DM and a right back which is pretty much the positions everyone says should be upgraded on no matter the formation. I'm not concerned about how Conte fits our players 9r his style of play. My concern with Conte is that he wants alot of authority on transfers and we don't do well with coaches like that at all

 

[mancan92]

Yes a manager who struggles to get out of the CL group stages playing shite football and self destructs in two years time.

We could only be so lucky.

Talk about an absolutely pedantic point. What is your point? Would you be ok winning the league but going out of the group stages of the CL? Cause I would happily have that.

 

[DutchCruijff]

Would conte ditch his three at the back philosophy?

If not then we would massively struggle this season as we simply don't have players well suited... then next season will no doubt be introducing new players to fit the system... Time to adjust etc

Why? Have you seen our defence this season? 3 ATB is precisely what we need right now. Would support Pogba's lack of defensive capabilities in the middle too. As well as the fact that AWB offers nothing going forward.

In a 352, the two CFs suits both Ronaldo AND Greenwood.

There's nothing about 343/352 that doesn't suit us except from needing a RWB - though it would be ideally suited for Dalot.

 

[Longlivekeano]

At this stage, I’d even take Eddie howe as manager

 

[Godfather]

Voted yes weeks ago. Nothing's changed. Of course I would. That he can be a cnut is a positive at this stage