Antonio Conte

[dax21]

Winning in the EPL is much harder than winning in Serie A.

I actually posted that fact more from a devil's advocate point of view. Obviously I don't agree that Conte has any right to argue that point or much less use it. That being said I heavily disagree. This is the year to break the Juve spell, if nobody does it then Juve will surely reign for another couple of years.

 

[Puma]

I think there have been management failures at multiple levels that stem from the end of season meeting with Conte. Ultimately, those failures have brought us to where we are today and it is important to also say that this post would not be out of place in the respective threads of Stephen Zhang or Giuseppe Marotta.

In terms of management failures they start with Stephen Zhang’s unconditional trust in Conte; failing to allow Conte to leave when he did not want to stay on the at the club (not that Inter had much choice given Conte’s huge wages and Spalletti still being on the books); Zhang/Marotta conceding power of our transfer dealings to Conte and their reluctance to intervene at that stage to stop that from happening; Marotta acquiring the players Conte requested and letting go of others (namely Godin); Conte requesting those players (Kolorov, Vidal and Darmian even though the latter has been pretty good); Conte selecting those players who have made little to no difference to the way the team has performed and who in several games contributed to us losing and dropping vital points.

The last time I watched Inter was against Real Madrid in the Champions League. I stopped watching when we conceded the second goal before half time and I have not watched anything since. What absolutely kills me are the wreckless turn overs in midfield and our propensity to concede entirely preventable and cheap goals. I am tired of seeing us making the same mistakes with there being no rectification of our errors and no desire from our coach to change things around.

I have read numerous articles that compliment Conte’s coaching abilities and say that it is only a matter of time before we come good. But honestly, I do not value him in the same way nor do I think that we are suddenly going to flick a switch and come good. There are two things that are really bothering me right now: the first is that our season is on the brink of collapse. On current form, we will be dumped from the Champions League without so much as a whimper and we are struggling in Serie A. The second is that we supposedly have great playing depth (which I disagree with) but we are well and truly stuck in a hole from which we cannot climb in terms of performance. And that is why I have made this post in Conte’s thread because I feel responsibility for that, despite all the management failures mentioned above, fall squarely on the shoulders of our overpaid coach.

In terms of going forward, there are loose ends from the summer transfer window that need to be tied up. Our management must permit Naingollan to leave. He is overpaid and washed up. Let him play somewhere else. It is not like he is contributing anything. Vecino should be shown the door. Although I think this is unlikely because he will only be ready to play in early December. Eriksen is a problem: regardless of where you stand as an Inter supporter, whether you think it is down to Conte, the system and lack of playing time, or the fact that he has failed to live up to expectations and play to the levels of 2 years ago, Inter should seriously consider letting him go to the highest bidder if an offer comes in. Things are already shit as it is without adding the weekly analysis that come with Eriksen’s subpar performances and Conte's reluctance to let him play.

In terms of our performances from game to game. My only hope is that we can take small steps forward, try and secure a positive result and build some momentum. Keeping a clean sheet and getting three points would be a good place to start.

 

[Universe]

The thrill is gone, Andonio.

[youtube]1Ny7QF60OKo[/youtube]

 

[Sassuolu]

This is a weird season, no real pre season, no normal transfer window and then you add COVID to the mix and every week you're in for a surprise.

Has Conte been stubborn with choices, yes he has, has he made mistakes, yes? But is the team stronger than when he came in? That's a definite yes, I think in every game we dropped points you can see that the game could've turned out differently but we either missed some chances or made a dumb mistake costing us the points. Is this a defence? No, but I think we should be a bit more patient in the circumstances.

 

[Adriano@10]

This is a weird season, no real pre season, no normal transfer window and then you add COVID to the mix and every week you're in for a surprise.

Has Conte been stubborn with choices, yes he has, has he made mistakes, yes? But is the team stronger than when he came in? That's a definite yes, I think in every game we dropped points you can see that the game could've turned out differently but we either missed some chances or made a dumb mistake costing us the points. Is this a defence? No, but I think we should be a bit more patient in the circumstances.

Kind of agree on the circumstances but what pisses me off so bad is that the team is better than under spallo and arguably also better than last year. Yet we re in the exact same position of probably fluking out of CL in the group stages despite having the easiest group since our return to CL.
We gave conte more than we gave any coach before him in terms of power and money, yet after being here 1 season we look very similar to how we looked in spallos second season.
It s not like our players are much more confident or competent with contes style neither do we have a plan B .
In my books thats just not enough.

 

[Il Drago]

Inter Manager Antonio Conte: “I Want To Stay At Inter For Many Years”

Inter manager Antonio Conte has revealed that he hopes to stay at Inter for many years among many other things as part of an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph.

“I think that football is always evolving and it is important that the coach is ready to find new solutions and watch other coaches, and if they have a new idea, steal it from him,” he explained in the interview which appeared on the online edition of The Telegraph.

“I’m happy because I played with three centre backs before I arrived in England and it was not a problem, but I remember very well when Louis van Gaal tried it with Manchester United, there was a lot of criticism against him.”

Conte then went on to sing the praises of Inter striker Romelu Lukaku, who joined Inter the same Summer that Conte became manager of the club.

“Romelu is an incredible player and has a lot of room to improve. In a year at Inter he has improved a lot because he wants to learn and I think I’m a teacher. He can continue to improve to become one of the best strikers in the world.”

The former Juventus and Italian national team manager then went on to reflect on his first season in charge of Inter, in which he led Inter to a second place finish and the Europa League final, which they lost 3-2 to Sevilla

“Honestly, last season I think we did something amazing because finishing a point behind Juventus, playing in the semi final of the Coppa Italia and then playing the Europa League final, I think it was a great season.

“Our project is only at the beginning and we are creating the basis and the foundation, to give this club the possibility to remain at the highest level and be competitive to try to win something every season.”

Conte then went on to discuss the expectations on his shoulders and how things have differed from him at Inter compared to when he took charge at Juventus and Chelsea where he enjoyed instant success.

“I know that the expectations on myself are very high and, for this reason, many times when we don’t win I get criticised a lot.

“On the other hand, having this expectation means that people consider me good at my job. It is important to create a solid foundation and be prepared, then win.

“Sometimes you come in and do an amazing job. It happened with Juventus and it also happened with Chelsea but I arrived at Inter 10 years after the club had won and when you don’t win for 10 years, it means that you have to change many, many things and you have to have time to do it.”

In conclusion the 51-year-old tactician was asked about both his short term and long term future.

“I have this season and another year of contract with Inter and I started a project here and, frankly, I want to continue this project and stay for many years because we are building the foundations.

“Definitely, in my future, I want to go back to England to have another experience because I really enjoyed my stay there and the atmosphere in England.

“For me and for my family, I would like to go back to England one day because we had an incredible experience and we want to continue to have another experience in England.”

I take two things from this interview.

1) Conte is trying to oversell his achievements in his first season at Inter

2) Conte has no intention of leaving Inter anytime soon and if the management want him gone he won't make it easy for them

 

[brehme1989]

It is job hunting. Just compare with a couple of days ago in italian media where he downplayed the situation.

Good luck finding something.

 

[Adriano@10]

Hey look we have a proven winner who thinks finishing ahead of napoli and losing an EL final are successes so glad we have a proven winner at the helm.
Also was it in this interview where he claimed he had Lukaku and Vandijk lined up to join chelsea but one prefered klopp and the other mou over him?

 

[Il Drago]

Hey look we have a proven winner who thinks finishing ahead of napoli and losing an EL final are successes so glad we have a proven winner at the helm.
Also was it in this interview where he claimed he had Lukaku and Vandijk lined up to join chelsea but one prefered klopp and the other mou over him?

And we aren't even talking about Sarri's Napoli. We finished ahead of a Napoli side that collapsed so badly they had to fire Ancelotti and replace him with Gattuso.

Yeah. It's the same interview.

 

[Adriano@10]

And we aren't even talking about Sarri's Napoli. We finished ahead of a Napoli side that collapsed so badly they had to fire Ancelotti and replace him with Gattuso.

Yeah. It's the same interview.

Dont quite get how hey i had lukaku and vandijk lined up but they both rather played for other coaches is a good thing for him.....

 

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

The thrill is gone, Andonio.

[youtube]1Ny7QF60OKo[/youtube]

Conte = BB
Calcio = 'the thrill'
Inter = bad-hearted woman

 

[NeonBlade]

I’m just mortified. We could have had a new coach installed after the Atalanta game and he’d have a 2 week crash course with the squad. We just keep wasting opportunities to get rid of this guy.

 

[Universe]

“I Want To Stay At Inter For Many Years”

Good one mate.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Yeah those are odd words given it was few months ago he was about to walk away but asked for too much severance pay.

I mean odd words in terms of logic. Of course he just wants to set the narrative in advance to be in a favourable position at the end of the season.

I really hope we start winning soon because this lame duck Conte, happy with almost every result is also very infuriating to watch. Temper tantrums last season were hilarious but this restricted Conte with almost no emotion is just horrible. It's as if it doesn't matter to him how we do result-wise.

Or do they all (Marotta, Zhang, Conte) have the same vision of long project and Marotta was honest with his top 4 finish aspirations?

 

[magnesium]

We should stick Conte, and buy more Italian players.

Bastoni, Barella, Ranocchia, D'ambrosio, and Sensi are become very good players under Conte.

Even Darmian become very good player, it seems Italians ready to die for Conte, unlike some mercenaries.

 

[NimAraya]

Or do they all (Marotta, Zhang, Conte) have the same vision of long project and Marotta was honest with his top 4 finish aspirations?

If what we're seeing at Inter are the signs of a long term project then Inter has given the long term project a new meaning. Getting rid of Zaniolo for a washed up drunk, signing the likes of Vidal, Kolarov, Darmian and Young and trying to sign the likes of Dzeko and Giroud, signing Eriksen who doesnt fit in the coach plan, playing a WF as a WB, replacing an aged world class CB with an aged has been FB who cant play CB, and watching the shit show that we see every week, well Im not sure what the club is thinking, but this is anything but long term project.

 

[Il Drago]

Or do they all (Marotta, Zhang, Conte) have the same vision of long project and Marotta was honest with his top 4 finish aspirations?

What kind of a long term project can you have when almost half of your squad is consisted of experienced players? At the end of the season we're going to have:

Handanovic (37)
Ranocchia (33)
Kolarov (36)
D'Ambrosio (33)
Darmian (32)
Vidal (34)
Young (36)
Nainggolan (33)
Perisic (32)
Alexis (33)

We will need to replace them either in 2021 or 2022. And this list doesn't even include players who could leave the club for one reason or another (e.g. Vecino, Brozovic, Eriksen). The squad is going to need a serious rebuild in the next 1-2 seasons. What we see from coach and management isn't a vision of a long term project that will bear fruits in the future. What we see is all the parties are trying to coexist at least till the end of the season simply because they can't afford a separation.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Zaniolo was before Conte, actually it was before Marotta too. I understand the veteran signings in the sense that we need the experience so young guns can learn from them. But we have indeed added quite a lot of them recently within 1,5 years.

We also have Barella, Bastoni (Conte told he must be kept), Skriniar, Sensi, Lautaro, Hakimi. Those must be the building blocks for our future.

 

[dax21]

That theory is all nice and well until you realize that the young blood has been running circles around these old proven veterans.

 

[Sawyer]

I’m just mortified. We could have had a new coach installed after the Atalanta game and he’d have a 2 week crash course with the squad. We just keep wasting opportunities to get rid of this guy.

Do you realise the financial implications of just getting rid of Conte? You really think its a case of just sack X and get in Y? This isn't football manager mate, its a lot more complex than that.

I think a lot of people forget 2nd place finish, Europa final last season.

We are 7 games into the Serie A season, we also can easily qualify for the CL knock out stages.. So why don't we all be supporters and support?