Just RE this Conte v Eriksen debate:
Is it true that Conte's "hazing" of Eriksen somehow contributed to his motivation, and that behind the scenes he adjusted both his attitude and tactical application to better serve the team? Possibly. Personally I think that's a hard thing to prove or disprove so I don't feel it's the correct question to ask. If people want to assert that though, I won't disagree.
I would ask another question though, which, to me, seems the accurate question to ask: do those of you arguing this, honestly believe that Conte gave Eriksen a legitimately fair shot to begin with, and that we as a club, did as much as possible (or reasonable) to ensure the success of this sizeable investment?
For me the answer is a resounding no. And again, this trumps any possible outcome from the initial question asked. Even if Eriksen came here with a diva attitude (again, impossible to prove and highly unlikely given his history of professionalism and his quiet personality), even if he was tactically lacking for the system - these things do not validate or remove the bigger concerns I've mentioned.
Let's look at it from two perspectives:
tactical vs
man management.
From the
tactical point of view, I like to think that it has been proven beyond all doubt that Conte's earlier tactical experiments were a failure. The fact that he no longer plays the "better-on-the-ball" Kolarov and D'Ambrosio as forward, wide CB's proves this. The fact that he completely ditched the 3412 proves this. (Yes I know D'Ambrosio was injured but even before the injury, he didn't play him much. Also
not once has he played Darmian as a wide CB as speculated.)
I've referenced n4l's post many times but it goes into more detail why the 3412 was a disaster to begin with. Conte rotated practically every midfielder in the squad as that "1" in the 3412 and all of them were varying degrees of average at best. The system was broken and Conte fucked it off when he finally saw the light. I don't think that can be debated.
Now consider this: the vast majority of Eriksen's first months with us was spent playing as the 1 in this broken formation - a formation that would be ultimately abandoned for it's glaring deficiencies and deep structural faults - even though literally every possible player was tried in that position.
That proves that no matter who played as the "1", it didn't work. Conte realized this and thankfully reverted to the 352 flat. But only
after having confused the shit out of Eriksen by playing him in the doomed 3412 experiment for months.
I advocated for him to be slotted into Sensi's position as LCM from the day his name was linked to us with any credibility. I wanted him afforded the time and patience it would've taken him to adjust, but this did not happen. This brings us nicely to the
man management side of things.
Let's start with the obvious: Conte didn't want Eriksen, he wanted Vidal. Conte is notorious for heavily favoring physical, combative players, especially in midfield. It's obvious for coaches to seek certain kinds of players to do specific jobs - but at some point, there must be a balance, and to some extent, you must work with what you have. Conte clearly did not afford Eriksen the same kind of leniency or patience he afforded others to say the least.
Some say Eriksen is playing now that he knows what to do tactically speaking. Who's to say he wouldn't have learned this
much earlier if Conte had actually given him consistent game time in a tactically feasible position? What was there to lose? Sensi was injured (as is he now and ever shall be) and the alternatives were an also-injured Vecino, and a rubbish Gagliardini.
Put simply, Conte has only recently recognized that when Gagliardini and Eriksen are both fit, and both tactically "up to speed", Eriksen is a clearly superior option. Maybe Eriksen would've reached this level significantly earlier with a bit more attentiveness and patience.
On that note, I don't expect Conte or Marotta to have assigned Eriksen a buddy to take him on fishing trips at Lake Como. I don't expect them to invite him to dinner and help him find the best school for his kids like Icardi used to with all our new South Americans
yao
. But the way we "helped him settle in" after shit went down with COVID, was just flat out garbage.
I don't care if you're earning €7.5m a year. You come to a foreign country, not knowing a word of the language, separated from your wife and children, and all of a sudden, you're locked down in a hotel and just 1 hour away from you, people start dying in their thousands from a new disease. That's stressful.
Eriksen mentioned he wanted to stay with Lukaku and/or Ashley Young for a few days to help get settled but that it didn't happen. You telling me that someone from the club couldn't have helped out in
some small way? A fucking homeless shelter takes better care of transients than we did Eriksen in this time. This is not on Conte per se, but it goes to show the general lack of communication and planning with Eriksen's integration, both personally and tactically. We filmed a cool welcome video for him at Teatro alla Scala, big whoop. Next time actually help the person settle into the new environment and team.
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Now I respect that Conte is doing an excellent job of keeping the squad harmonious and focused during this very uncertain time. I respect that (as a 51 year old millionaire) he seems to be maturing in recent months and complaining less than he is used to. I also respect that he had the humility to admit his experiments (like 3412 and Kolarov) were not working. But despite the recent maturity and patience shown, he's a notoriously prickly personality and he certainly made his displeasure shown during Eriksen's time here. Those 93rd minute substitutions for example, were simply disgusting and petty.
Eriksen too arguably could've done more to learn the language or whatever. He could've.. trained harder... I guess..? You all clearly see which side of the fence I'm on. I don't disagree for a second that Eriksen was somewhat underwhelming on the pitch until very recently. The entire point of this post is to argue that it isn't half as much his fault as some of you make out, with all due respect.
Either way, I just want to move on and have Eriksen, even if late, make his mark on this team as he has begun to do in recent weeks. Let bygones be bygones and now that things have consolidated, finally, to some degree, I don't want to worry about us discarding or misusing a great player for fucking nonsensical reasons.
All players, great or otherwise, should be given the best possible chances to succeed. Throwing them to the wolves, giving them a baptism by fire and later saying "oh they didn't try hard enough" or "if they were better they would've made it", is such a Stone Age way of doing business. It costs us dearly, on the pitch, and in dollars. No more of this shit.