The English Football Thread

[Tomo 21,739]

1 hour ago, Jase said:

Not to discredit his title wins (including ours) but I wonder how long, if at all, will he take to make Spurs challenge for the title?

When he won the 3 Serie A titles at Juventus, the league was somewhat in the doldrums without any credible challenges from the other side apart from maybe AC Milan and Roma.

When he won the Premier League with us, Guardiola and Klopp were still getting to terms with the league. Granted, Conte adapted the fastest and kudos to him for that but once the other two got up to speed, especially Guardiola, Conte couldn't really keep up with the challenge. Maybe that wasn't helped as well by Conte being a drama queen in his second season.

Then at Inter, okay, he got them close in his first season and managed to win the Serie A in his second campaign but it took an ailing/falling Juventus side for that to happen. 

So, I just wonder whether he can keep up the challenge with us, City and/or Liverpool if we're all at our peak. 

I think you're being a bit harsh there.

The defending Champions when he took over Juve were A.C. Milan with Ibra, Robinho, Silva etc and he also had Napoli with the Cavani, Lavezzi and Hamsik trio to contend with. And that's before we mention Juve had two consecutive 7th place finishes prior to his arrival.

With us, while it's undeniable Klopp and Pep were far from having their complete team he still took over a team who finished 10th the previous season. It's easy to say in hindsight we still had the core of the 2015 title winning team but no one fancied Conte to have us bounce back from the 15/16 horror show so quickly. I was one of the few that thought there was a minor chance (due to his previous of recovering a crisis) and was laughed at.

As much of a cunt as he turned into the following season, he was next to flawless in the title season (and the 'next to' bit is only there because of the cup final).

Inter is probably the closest to benefiting from other teams in a lull but at the same time I'd argue that's a strength to be the manager who will say "I'll take this" when everyone else plays like they're more keen to lose it, it's how Fergie won a good number of his titles (especially the last two). For example, if Conte was managing United last season you can be sure he was taking advantage of City "only" getting points in their 80s and us and Liverpool self destructing in the middle third.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Tomo

[Jase 43,479]

24 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I think you're being a bit harsh there.

The defending Champions when he took over Juve were A.C. Milan with Ibra, Robinho, Silva etc and he also had Napoli with the Cavani, Lavezzi and Hamsik trio to contend with. And that's before we mention Juve had two consecutive 7th place finishes prior to his arrival.

With us, while it's undeniable Klopp and Pep were far from having their complete team he still took over a team who finished 10th the previous season. It's easy to say in hindsight we still had the core of the 2015 title winning team but no one fancied Conte to have us bounce back from the 15/16 horror show so quickly. I was one of the few that thought there was a minor chance (due to his previous of recovering a crisis) and was laughed at.

As much of a cunt as he turned into the following season, he was next to flawless in the title season (and the 'next to' bit is only there because of the cup final).

Inter is probably the closest to benefiting from other teams in a lull but at the same time I'd argue that's a strength to be the manager who will say "I'll take this" when everyone else plays like they're more keen to lose it, it's how Fergie won a good number of his titles (especially the last two). For example, if Conte was managing United last season you can be sure he was taking advantage of City "only" getting points in their 80s and us and Liverpool self destructing in the middle third.

Don't get me wrong. You can only do your job and beat what's in front of you (I might have misremembered his time at Juventus a little).

But guess what I'm trying to say is, Conte hasn't yet challenged and won a league title against another side in their peak shape, bit like how City and Liverpool were neck-and-neck for basically the whole season in 2018/19. Is he able to do that with 1-3 of us, City and Liverpool in top form? 

Plus another thing with Conte is Europe. Can he challenge for the title and in Europe at the same time? When he won the league with us, we weren't in Europe and in his first season with Inter, they fell short of the title as they went all the way to the Europa League final. In his second season, Inter got eliminated in the Champions League group stage and Conte then practically had a clear run and focus for the league since December. Okay, he still managed to win the league in his second and third seasons at Juventus despite going deep in Europe but that's somewhat long ago now and recent evidence suggests otherwise.

[Tomo 21,739]

2 minutes ago, Jase said:

Don't get me wrong. You can only do your job and beat what's in front of you (I might have misremembered his time at Juventus a little).

But guess what I'm trying to say is, Conte hasn't yet challenged and won a league title against another side in their peak shape, bit like how City and Liverpool were neck-and-neck for basically the whole season in 2018/19. Is he able to do that with 1-3 of us, City and Liverpool in top form? 

Plus another thing with Conte is Europe. Can he challenge for the title and in Europe at the same time? When he won the league with us, we weren't in Europe and in his first season with Inter, they fell short of the title as they went all the way to the Europa League final. In his second season, Inter got eliminated in the Champions League group stage and Conte then practically had a clear run and focus for the league since December. Okay, he still managed to win the league in his second and third seasons at Juventus despite going deep in Europe but that's somewhat long ago now and recent evidence suggests otherwise.

Yeah his record in Europe is a massive question mark hanging over him.

He's got everything to prove on that score still.

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Yeah his record in Europe is a massive question mark hanging over him.

He's got everything to prove on that score still.

For starters, if he can't win the Europa Conference League with Spurs, he should just retire immediately. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,320]

4 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Yeah his record in Europe is a massive question mark hanging over him.

Has a lot to do with how he approaches games. He's very much a reactive manager. 

[Fulham Broadway 16,987]

1 hour ago, Warning_Hazard said:

Can people honestly see conte working with fookin levy?

Hopefully not. Give it till the end of the season.

[Tomo 21,739]

11 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Has a lot to do with how he approaches games. He's very much a reactive manager. 

Thing with Conte though is his record isn't even average. He's only got past the group stage twice which for context is as many times as Lampard. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

6 hours ago, Magic Lamps said:

Conte at Spurs is much easier to handle than at ManUre from a pure rational perspective but it does itch me a little bit that he would go to a rival despite how much he is still revered by Chelsea fans.

I wish this was unanimous. Some fans turned on him, even at The Bridge.

[NikkiCFC 8,089]

5 hours ago, Tomo said:

My educated guess is the hostile atmosphere on Saturday has forced Levy's hand, they've made it clear they're at the end of their tether with him so he's panicked and meet Conte half way (possibly more).

I expected to see United panicking and trying to steal him from Spurs like they did with Ronaldo. 

 

1 hour ago, Jase said:

For starters, if he can't win the Europa Conference League with Spurs, he should just retire immediately. 

He will have to beat Jose. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by NikkiCFC

[NikkiCFC 8,089]

I dont think Conte accepted this because of the sporting project. 20m pounds for 20 months contract is very good deal for him.

[MoroccanBlue 5,320]

Hoping West Ham and United do us a solid as we could potentially head into the international break 5-6 points clear. 

[Mário César 1,048]

2 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Hoping West Ham and United do us a solid as we could potentially head into the international break 5-6 points clear. 

Im verry worried about leicester game.

A very potential banana skin 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Fulham Broadway 16,987]

There's one thing that always happens, doesn't matter if they have Conte or whoever..... at some point they go all Sp*rsy 💯

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

No wonder Conte agreed to manage Spurs.