Eh? That's a very strange take. In no way is that referring to anything homophobic and if you believe it is then that says more about you than anything else. I hope you are taking the piss (you must be)I have huge respect for Antonio Conte as a football manager. But his “little gun” comment is homophobic. And it is also against the LGBTQ community as well as body shaming stemming from patriarchy. It's surprising that people are celebrating his comment.
Taking the piss. It's a parody of a tweet from the Andrew Tate vs Greta Thunberg feud.Eh? That's a very strange take. In no way is that referring to anything homophobic and if you believe it is then that says more about you than anything else. I hope you are taking the piss (you must be)
Thank god for thatTaking the piss. It's a parody of a tweet from the Andrew Tate vs Greta Thunberg feud.
From what I can tell the fan base is totally split right now. Some (including myself), feel that we need Levy to back Conte significantly - I'm talking hundreds of millions of quid over the next few transfer windows - and then let him do his thing. Others feel Conte needs to go, it's not working and let's get Poch back.@balaks what’s the talk around Conte now?
I notice he’s not signed the extension so as things stands will be leaving at the end of the season. Is an offer on the table but he is non committing or are the club holding back?
It could be a rough few months if the uncertainty drags, especially when Kane won’t commit either.
Thanks for the detailed reply.From what I can tell the fan base is totally split right now. Some (including myself), feel that we need Levy to back Conte significantly - I'm talking hundreds of millions of quid over the next few transfer windows - and then let him do his thing. Others feel Conte needs to go, it's not working and let's get Poch back.
There are a few issues right now - some long standing and others more acute.
Issues:
Squad does not have nearly enough quality in it - we have far too many average players that wouldn't get into any of our rivals teams (Dier, Sanchez, Sessegnon, Doherty, Moura, Davies to name a few) and some of these are still playing regularly for us.
Some of our key players are in rapid decline and need moved on - Lloris and Son mainly
Conte vs Levy - You bring a manager like Conte in knowing how he works, then you don't sufficiently back him enough to give him the tools he needs. That is where we are right now. From what I hear Joe Lewis (club owner) is close to retiring and his daughter is in line to take over, the talk is she is very ambitious and has been frustrated with Levy and how he has been running things on the football side - this needs sorted. Ideally, again in my opinion, Levy either needs to be moved aside, or given strict instructions to stop fecking about with football decisions. Conte was willing to sign a long term deal with us (according to ITK folks close to the club) but is now stalling as promises once made have been changed. So it's potentially a cross roads for the club - do we stick with Conte, give him hundreds of millions of quid to build a strong squad or do we ditch him, bring in a 'project' manager, give him some young players and hope they can achieve miracles. Personally I say, if we want to be a big club then we need to act like a big club and start spending big.
Conte said last night that for a team to compete for the title you need 14-16 players of the required quality - i'd say right now we have Romero, Kane, Kulusevski, Bentancur and Richarlison at the required standard (Son has fallen off a cliff unfortunately) - that's only 5 players. We are MILES off it.
Bissouma is a decent player but hasn't got going yet for us, Lenglet was a panic loan signing when we couldn't (or wouldnt spend the necessary money) get deals done for our primary CB targets, Perisic is good and Spence hasn't had a sniff yet so you can only assume Conte hasn't yet been impressed with him. Richarlison I think will be a very good signing in the longer term though injuries have made his start with the club difficult. We literally need 2 centre backs, a RWB, a LWB (younger than Perisic), a creative midfielder and a new keeper at a minimum. That's 6 first team players that need brought in - that doesn''t include the need for quality rotation options which we currently also lack in the squad. To me the problem is not Conte, it's that our squad needs such an overhaul that it hardly matters who the manager in, the important thing is that money is spent and spent fact and that the right players are targetted - they need to be of the right quality and that is going to mean spending 70-80 million each rather than 30-40 (although you can still find bargains like Kulusevski and Bentancur so if we can also do that from time to time then great).Thanks for the detailed reply.
It does feel then like you’re at a particular important cross road now and decisions need to be made. It also sounds like there’s a bit of a power struggle going on internally.
I do find it strange you don’t have a decent number 10 or creative hub. I initially thought this was by Contes choice and due to how he sets up but following his comments yesterday he seems to have highlighted this as a problem area. The elephant in the room is does Kane get in the way of a number 10 as well (I think he does).
From the outside it does feel as though Conte has been backed so far. Big signings last January then plenty of new bodies arrived in the summer. Were the wrong players targeted (no mention of Bissouma, Lenglet, Perisic and Spence) or were the club not going for who Conte wanted?
It all feels a bit all over the place really and I get the sense Conte may well be off.
Haven’t gone to bed yet and I’m already having nightmares about us going for this lunatic instead of ETH
Bissouma is a decent player but hasn't got going yet for us, Lenglet was a panic loan signing when we couldn't (or wouldnt spend the necessary money) get deals done for our primary CB targets, Perisic is good and Spence hasn't had a sniff yet so you can only assume Conte hasn't yet been impressed with him. Richarlison I think will be a very good signing in the longer term though injuries have made his start with the club difficult. We literally need 2 centre backs, a RWB, a LWB (younger than Perisic), a creative midfielder and a new keeper at a minimum. That's 6 first team players that need brought in - that doesn''t include the need for quality rotation options which we currently also lack in the squad. To me the problem is not Conte, it's that our squad needs such an overhaul that it hardly matters who the manager in, the important thing is that money is spent and spent fact and that the right players are targetted - they need to be of the right quality and that is going to mean spending 70-80 million each rather than 30-40 (although you can still find bargains like Kulusevski and Bentancur so if we can also do that from time to time then great).
For what they had already Bissouma was a very odd signing bar adding some depth.
Why didn't they make more of an attempt to get Eriksen back on a free? He proved himself back in the premier league and was already in London and settled and had also proved himself under Conte (eventually) at Inter.
That's the sort of player with guile they're badly missing given how anonymous Bryan Gil was today. Him signing for Man. United will be a difference maker for top 4.
Yep he’s commenting now on not enough being spent and as the dropped points rack up his highlighting of that will only get louder. It’s true though you need to be spending and spending these days in every single window to keep up. Same for us after a huge summer…we need another 200m spent to get to the top for sure. And even then it’s no guarantee.Looks like he’s gonna implode sooner or later.
I'm not saying Conte is blameless at all however what I don't want to see is another manager coming in and the same problems happening over and over again because Levy doesn't give his managers backing in the transfer market. Things need to change behind the scenes as well as on the pitch. It's been like this for years.Sorry mate. We were in this same cycle blaming the players/team. Conte is Mourinho 3.0 and his style of football will make all Spurs players look average. Just too reactive and negative. Spurs have had a terrible season.they are even lucky to be 5th now, they should have been 8/9 at best.
Just read @balaks posts on here defending his horrendous brand of football.
Are you trying to tell us something about yourself?I have huge respect for Antonio Conte as a football manager. But his “little gun” comment is homophobic. And it is also against the LGBTQ community as well as body shaming stemming from patriarchy. It's surprising that people are celebrating his comment.
Judging by the posters on their main forum they've completely turned on him.My god this cnut hasn’t shut up with this kinda stuff since he joined them. How do Spurs fans stomach him?
It would have been annoying the first time he did it, but he must be up to half a dozen times saying this exact same bollocks.Judging by the posters on their main forum they've completely turned on him.
He also comes across as a manager that has no problem agitating his own fan base.
It's pretty clear he is done managing Tottenham, and is now doing a full Mourinho to get himself fired for a nice pay day.
Would love some perspective from resident Spurs fans on here how they see it. But his recent comments in press conferences would make my blood boil being a Spurs fan.
that would be an awful thing to happen.We need 6 European cup places coming from the PL now. The league is just far too strong compared to everyone else so 4 doesn’t do it anymore.
Why? We could have upto 7 sides in the CL next season anyways so maybe get used to at least 5.that would be an awful thing to happen.
Six winners in 30 years suggests you are talking out your holeWhy? We could have upto 7 sides in the CL next season anyways so maybe get used to at least 5.
It’s only right. Our league is so successful it blows everything else out of the water so we need more sides in the Champions League which is more than fair now.
English football is light years ahead of anything on the continent in terms of what people want to watch not only in the top division but when comparing any level of football all the way down the ladder.
Conte really made a mistake in going at Tottenham. He should've waited for a better team to manage if he wanted to win something or at least try.
I'm seeing Tottenham line up and beside 4-5 rest are all average players.
Whats worse is that few of the best players are all Juventus rejects! and Juventus been shit for years.
I mean Romero,Bentancur and Kulusesvki...
the other good ones being Kane,Son and almost retired Perisic.
Rest of the team is so average that it's no wonder they're so out of top4.
I mean it was a miracle for them reaching top4 last year.
Conte is leaving 100% in the summer.
I wonder where he'll go next? prolly Liverpool? NewCastle if they promise to throw money at whoever he tells them to?
uhm Kulusesvki got sold because Chiesa is a much better player. Just unlucky acl injury but with both healthy and fit I would never choose Kulu over Chiesa.This is all based on hindsight.
Conte did try wait for another club, he rejected Spurs and they got Nuno. There was also no other top club going to come in for him. Conte is not a top manager anymore. Top teams do not want to play pragmatic football.
In respects to Juve rejects, I am pretty sure Kulu and Romero get in the current Juve team. A team that has no wingers, I bet you 3 months ago you would have also called Rabiot a Juve reject but now is a starter.
Many Spurs fans were happy with their summer, they got Bissouma which Arsenal and alot of United fans were crying about not getting, same with Djed Spence.
Spurs have also backed Conte more than any other manager, it is a managers job to improve players, unfortunately, Conte is not capable of that.
uhm Kulusesvki got sold because Chiesa is a much better player. Just unlucky acl injury but with both healthy and fit I would never choose Kulu over Chiesa.
Romero got sold when he didn't have space as a starter as Agnelli said on last stock holders meeting. So maybe yeah he'd be pairing up with Bremer giving that Bonucci is retiring/injured.
When Conte left Inter no big team was looking for a manager beside United that choose another "let's try our luck manager" for God know the reason. Maybe Conte has a bad name in the circles? like when he got rejected by Real Madrid players when he was close to the job?
Anyway he refused in summer to bend over in winter.
I would've hold up a bit more to see if any bigger team manager position was freeing up.
By the way imagine this
youtu.be/dxer4GwV1sc
with Conte head photoshopped on it.
"
Con le mani, con le mani, con le mani
Ciao ciao
Con i piedi, con i piedi, con i piedi
Ciao ciao
E con la testa, con il petto, con il cuore
Ciao ciao
E con le gambe, con il culo, coi miei occhi
Ciao (ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao)
"
there is no chance he is staying
I agree on the second bitI think if they drop points to Palace tonight, he asks Levy to buy this window Levy tells him no and he walks.
What I don't understand about managers like Conte or Mourinho is why they decide to get so rigid and selfish over time.When you back a manager/head coach, he should be backed on the basis of a vision on how he wants to play the game imo. And in Conte's case that vision revolves around setting the team up to react, rather than the proactive, attacking approach we see at clubs with a vision.
If I was a Spurs fan, I'd want Conte gone, and instead of bringing Pochettino in, I'd want the club to try and snare Roberto de Zerbi from Brighton. Roberto de Zerbi is a head coach with a clear and defined way of implementing a proactive attacking style. And it's that proactive, attacking style, which will give you the best chance of creating something longer term, whilst also giving the fans the chance to watch some attractive football in a highly intense possession based system that looks to provoke mistakes in the opponent's half.
Now Tottenham isn't a winning side so yeah but all the previous teams he managed won a championship or close to.What I don't understand about managers like Conte or Mourinho is why they decide to get so rigid and selfish over time.
As a United fan, Mourinho is the case study. Why would a manager who knows what it's like to have top teams with top players choose to become so reactive and conservative both tactically but also in regards to squad building. Given the amount of credit they come with, they would have the room to try things and evolve, the credit with the head of their clubs to bring in transfers and the respect of the dressing room. Yet instead of using the opportunities they have been granted, they choose to stay mercenary like in their approach. Spend massive amounts on players without truly researching to know if they work or don't work; whilst expecting no consequence and not even being patient enough to recoup from sales. Conte had the window to spend and improve the squad, he didn't use it. Now he's throwing his toys out of the pram.
People talk about backing these managers, but when players like Perisic or other really short term, system specific players are demanded for at a relatively high cost, you have to question whether these managers actually care about the long term futures of the clubs they are working at. Mourinho, for example, had a chance to set a legacy for himself at Man United, a club that were willing to make him a Fergie like figure, yet when given the opportunity to build a squad, he showed how limited his long term vision was with both his transfers and his demands. These managers almost seems dissociated from the club, they have their own ego driven agendas and If things don't look to be going their way, in order to preserve their legacies throw any and everything under the bus.