Tomo

Wouldn't surprise me if he genuinely thought Mourinho could have got his 00s aura back and got that Spurs sides 15-17 level back along with it. Very id go as far as saying gullable appointment by him.

Maybe I'm being biased but I swear we didn't struggle to create this badly under Mou, not even in 15/16.

Their heads are about three seconds behind their body's in the opponents half. So slow mentally it's ridiculous.

I hate to say it but I think Klopp has a very big shout of being second to Fergie already, especially when he officially becomes Champion. The job he's doing with so so backing from the owners (only spends what's made in sales) is ridiculous.

For all the talk of getting Everton and Arsenal at the wrong time under new managers, we sure got Watford away at the perfect time.

Weve recently had the month from hell and none of them were strong enough to punish us. We may be young and inconsistent but that's proving better than what our rivals have had to offer so far and I'm not seeing anything particularly worrying that suggests that will change. Spurs are stagnant, Arsenal as much as their footy has improved under Arteta they still ain't creating a great deal and United's small squad should be crippled with the Europa/PL/FA Cup schedule, likewise Wolves. As great as Sheffield are doing I just can't see them making it over 38 games, if they do then manager of the decade should be under lock and key already, would trump Leicester's title on achievement. I'm not saying it's 100% a done deal and we still need to be kept on our toes but would you honestly be particularly hopeful on catching 4th if we were in one of those teams position?

I disagree on both counts. Firstly we should be holding off the competition for 4th, United the most threat but Ole's at the wheel and all that. Secondly I don't think not having CL will frighten players off, were in the era now where players grew up seeing nothing but Chelsea success. David Luiz, Kante, Kova and Jorginho all gave up CL footy to come here when we didn't have it. It seems Lampard is taking the approach of only signing when there's a clear benefit too, which is the right thing to do regardless of the short term hit.

We've recently done similar with this Nathan guy and people lost their shit. Seems like we can't win either way.

Not true, the CL final was played like a pre season freindly because the team weren't sharp enough. Conte played a full strength team in the FA Cup against lower league opposition because he didn't want the main boys to go into a league game with no match for two weeks, went as far as calling it "dangerous". Training isn't the same, training gets you fit, playing matches get you match fit. There's a huge difference between being fit and match fit.

I think the best course of action with Ruben is to write off the season, give him whatever minutes we can and then condition him to hitnthe ground running next season, in other words give him a long pre season. Given the severity of his injury it will be a miracle if we get last season's version back quickly.

In his last year his quote/excuse for his shit record in the CL "you can't dine in a €100 restruaunt for €10", a year later Allegri gets to the CL final with the same restrictions, and repeats the trick two years later. There were other options if he was so outraged by Alvaro, he could have asked for Auba or even given Tammy a shot. As for Baka, if he didn't like him he would have just burnt out Cesc and Kante to prove a point (which is what he ended up doing anyway when he finally gave up on TB14) or would have stuck Luiz or even Christensen in midfield (like how he used the false 9 instead of playing Michy).

Like Conte would have given Baka and Morata the chances they got if they weren't his idea. His terrible taste in players will be what prevents him building a legacy anywhere, he'll always be a quick fix manager (all be it an explosively good one).

Wouldn't mind if it means we're selling both Alonso and Emerson and need a new squad player but as a week by week starter he was never good enough.

I think deep down he knew it would happen. As soon as reverted back to 4atb his purpose was served. He got an unexpected second shot at Chelsea due to a change of system, he's probably smiling because it happened instead of being sad it's over.

And look at that plan A list, 2 have slowed down and another one flopped atnUnited and would have with us. So 2 out of 5 plan As working isn't exactly good going. If you can't get plan As you improvise. Was Wjnaldium, Robertson and Mane Klopp's plan As? A manager like Conte shouldn't find it hard to find suitable players for his system out of left field, infact the young players Lampard's using to negate a transfer ban were all avalible to Conte, if he was that outraged about Baka, Zappacosta, Drinkwater etc what did he have to lose making use of the best academy in the world?

It's not fair to critisize anyone who wants to maximize their earnings. His career is in the twilight zone and unless becomes a manager he is unlikely to attract these type of wages again.

That what makes his meltdowns all the more bizzare. He proves he can improvise and get the best out of non elite squads. A fully motivated Conte would have been a decent manager to have brought through some of the academy guys in, but he didn't seem interested.

I don't think the board are blameless for that shambles summer (my opinion looking back is that they after the first choice targets became unattainable they should have told him to make use of our young players), however he seems to escape with a remarkable amount of flack. Not to mention other rumoured signings that would have equally been disastrous (Candreva).

My apologies, I swear I heard he and Antonio had a bust up, either way I take that part back.

He apparently wanted us to sign him as soon as the Ox deal collapsed. The signings made by Juve, Chelsea and Inter during his leadership are 90% poor, there's far too much sample size for it to be a coincidence. Take Radja for example, he was apparently furious we didn't get him for him, yet when he finally got his hands on him he couldn't chuck him out quick enough.

Ashley Young almost at Inter. Penny for the thoughts of people who wanted Conte to stay and be fully backed in the market, would have set us back years and years.

Don't think there was ever any danger with Reece. Tammy i think is waiting on who our new striker is, if it's a striker who will keep him honest but he's more than capable of swatting aside (like Dembele) I think he'll sign, if it's Werner we may have a problem.

Our team today had we kept Conte.

Dortmund will not agree to that.

I'm waiting until I see the lineup until I decide how confident or not I am for this. Same lineup as Burnley (give or take Barkley/Kova and maybe at a push Azpi/Alonso) and I think we'll have far too much for them. However if Lampard decides to break up the CHO/James partnership down the right, shoehorn Kante straight back in the side, give Emerson another chance or god for bid all three we could be in for a long frustrating game.