Antonio Conte - bitter medicine does not cure disability at Tottenham
In his first conversation with Chairman Daniel Levy in May 2021 before taking over as coach, Conte promised to help Tottenham return to being an organized and hungry team. After taking office in November 2021, he quickly imposed his personality on the headless Tottenham, and brought them to the Champions League position with sublime performance like the most brilliant period of Mauricio Pochettino's time.
Through the summer transfer window of 2022 and the full training period, Conte is expected to continue the momentum, opening a new era of success. But in fact, Tottenham went backwards. The atmosphere in the team grew increasingly oppressive, as Conte's incessant criticism in the media led to a gradual breakdown of all relationships.
The players are tired of Conte's discipline, harsh tactics and repetitive exercises. Words such as "toxic" or "rotten" gradually appeared in the dressing room. Some unnamed players even said the atmosphere in the team was even worse than at the end of Jose Mourinho's reign. The Portuguese coach at that time had never even publicly criticized the players as Conte did after the 3-3 draw with Southampton in the Premier League on March 19.
From his first day at the training ground, Conte has said unhealthy food is Tottenham's problem, because he caught a player eating nachos - fried cornflakes with minced meat. He doesn't accept that, and bans fatty, long-lasting foods like nachos or sandwiches, ketchup, mayonnaise or dishes made with too much butter and oil. Fruit gradually appeared on the menu.
After his first game against Vitesse Arnhem, Conte said he was proud of his players, but would not accept players who could not maintain the physique of an athlete. At that time, Tottenham had five overweight players, and Conte made the whole team understand they needed to start making sacrifices and suffering.
As if afraid that the players would not understand on the training ground, Conte continued to criticize on television, that "Tottenham's level is not very high". "It's not the first time and it won't be the last time Conte has shown that managing Tottenham is below his level, and the London side should feel lucky to have someone like him in charge," commented The Athletic. .
Conte's way at that time was praised as the "bitter medicine" that Tottenham needed. After Pochettino's peak period, they fell behind in all aspects: from training, competitive spirit to the way of playing. Tottenham fell from the last year of Pochettino, struggled with Mourinho and hit the bottom with Nuno. Then Conte appeared as a savior. He studied the team videos carefully and knew he needed to improve the defense with three central defenders. He had his players practice tactical exercises day and night, made them sit for hours watching videotapes, and run to the point of exhaustion to get in shape.
And things gradually showed results, with more positive performances on the field. When Son Heung-min scored his second goal against Brentford on December 2 from a lightning counter-attack, the audience marveled at the speed at which the players understood Conte's style. The Italian coach showed that he has improved Tottenham with a much faster training method than his two predecessors.
However, Tottenham is not at the level Conte wants, as he resented after the draw with Southampton right after Christmas. When losing to Chelsea in January 2022, Conte emphasized the weakness of the Tottenham squad and kept repeating that they were in the middle of the table instead of at the top.
Conte wants to add new recruits, but this is the clearest example of the difference between his and Tottenham's views. President Levy rarely spends money to buy players and prioritizes young talents. Conte is constantly talking about wanting star players, seasoned with experience. Disagreement was evident in January 2022, when Conte wanted to take Adama Traore from Wolves to play as a winger, but Levy was not convinced, and this fast player later moved to Barca.
Sporting director Fabio Paratici helped neutralize the differences of opinion between Conte and Levy. Before the transfer window closed, he was able to bring in Dejan Kulusevski on an 18-month loan and Rodrigo Bentancur for $ 21 million, plus about 7 million in future fees. They are the type of player Conte needs and are affordable in the eyes of Tottenham. The two rookies were immediately started and made a turning point for the team. On the first time they started together, Tottenham won 3-2 against Man City and started a series of sublime matches into the top 4.
Conte's criticism of the club during this transfer window was ignored by Tottenham, because President Levy knew that was how Conte was trying to get what he wanted. But in February 2022, he went on Sky Italia again and said that the last transfer window "wasn't easy", and complained that he had to say goodbye to four players and only brought back two. As a result, Conte was later banned by Tottenham from giving interviews to Italian TV channels.
Much of Conte's reign - especially the first season - felt like a drift between two extremes. He can be a great coach, capable of keeping players healthy, hungry and kicking effectively. But on the other hand, Conte's temper tantrums and negative mood isolate him from the rest.
When Tottenham lost their fourth game in five games in February 2022, Conte lost patience and was ready to step down after just four months on the job. At that time, many sources said that he would not continue to lead the club next season. But the situation changed, Tottenham won six of the next seven matches and only lost 2-3 to Man Utd in the match they played better.
Despite a difficult April with only one point against Brighton and Brentford, Conte's teachers and students finished in the top 4 with a 3-0 victory over Arsenal and won the last two matches. Tottenham played their best football over the years in the second half of the 2021-2022 season: a defense that was difficult to penetrate and a sharp counter-attack with the trio of Son, Kane and Kulusevski up front. Conte did exactly what he promised Levy: the players were in perfect shape, the defense improved with only five goals conceded in the last 11 games and the whole team listened to the coach. Everything then seemed to be just pink. Levy posted, calling Conte the best coach he had ever worked with.
In the end, Conte stayed when no big team invited him. At Tottenham, he was well paid, had success in his first season and had good times about it all. But in the summer transfer window, the rift appeared again when what Conte wanted and Tottenham's ability to respond were still too far apart.
Tottenham try to make Conte happy, like by bringing in over 30-year-old Ivan Perisic and giving him a two-year contract with a salary of 180,000 pounds a week - something they did not do in previous managers. They also recruited Richardlison for more than $ 60 million, although not sure the starting position, along with a contract of Yves Bissouma worth more than $ 30 million. Tottenham soon made the above deals so that Conte had enough troops before his trip to Korea, and left four players not in the plan at home.
At a glance, this is a positive transfer period, improving the quality of the squad. But Conte doesn't think so. He wanted a quality left-back centre-back, specifically Alessandro Bastoni, but Tottenham chose to borrow Clement Lenglet. He wanted a world-class right-winger at the level of former student Achraf Hakimi, but only enhanced by Djed Spence. Before Tottenham announced the contract with Spence, Conte posted on the forum that he did not want him but reluctantly because the club chose it. Therefore, among the rookies last summer, so far, only Perisic has helped upgrade the Tottenham squad, but this former Bayern player has also been disappointed.
But after the 2022 World Cup, Tottenham gradually declined, when many players lost their form and got injured. Kulusevski took a two-month convalescence and has yet to return to being himself. Cristian Romero seems to have given all the quintessence to the World Cup. From being the top scorer in the Premier League last season, Son has fallen, scoring only six goals since the beginning of this season. Lloris made mistakes that led to defeats against Newcastle, Arsenal and Aston Villa, and was injured for the rest of the season.
If only one or two players have problems, it can be said that Conte has bad luck. But when almost the whole team is down like Tottenham, the coach is also responsible, causing the students to lose confidence and excitement when playing. This season, Tottenham players want to kick more freely than the default 3-4-3 scheme, but on the training ground they are gradually bored with predictable and repetitive lesson plans that many players look forward to training sessions. platoon to be able to change the wind.
Team officials and staff were also displeased by the way Conte made announcements so close in time, making planning and preparation more difficult. Health professionals and sports medicine practitioners often only know the training schedule a few days in advance. Conte's hasty announcement made it impossible for the team to have a gathering in warm weather during the World Cup break, because all the best training grounds were booked by other teams.
The breakup was also forecast when negotiating a contract extension before the World Cup but went nowhere. Conte likes Tottenham's facilities, likes the feeling of training every day, but still sees himself as a coach competing for titles instead of top four. He doesn't want to sign a long-term contract with Tottenham, but only want to finish the season high enough to look back before making a decision.
But Tottenham do not accept that the coach's contract is about to expire and the team has no specific plan for the future. The inside of the team was also stifled by negative emotions from the teacher, and he did not appear to be trying to change the situation. Many players were exhausted physically and mentally, while staff were frustrated by Conte's criticisms of the medical team, transfer policy and criticism of Tottenham's incompetence.
Insiders say the atmosphere in the team is so bad that players feel the coach no longer wants to stay. He isolated himself from everyone and left only his ally Paratici. In his final press conference, Conte even spent more than 10 minutes calling the Tottenham players selfish - which shows that the relationship between him and the team has completely broken.
In fact, Tottenham's best run of the season with four wins in five came when Conte was absent from the bench due to gallbladder surgery. Two of them are wins against Man City and Chelsea. Internally there were questions like, if Conte didn't have to undergo surgery, the team would have achieved that result.
Conte also lost sympathy with the fans. They no longer sang his name in the stands this season, but instead were booed like when Conte withdrew Kulusevski to make room for defender Davinson Sanchez even though Tottenham were in need of an equalizer against AC Milan in the first round. /8 Champions League.
After Conte's 10-minute scolding on March 19, many Tottenham pillars pressured the club to fire the teacher. They emphasized their desire to work with a new coach when they returned from a two-week break with the national team, and the leadership had to act.
Tottenham do not pay $ 18 million salary per season just for Conte to help the team stabilize in the top 4, but towards "turning into a dragon". But in 16 months of work, Conte has never come close to a title, the way he did at Juventus, Chelsea or Inter. For his part, Conte needs a team capable enough for him to conquer the , but Tottenham have not reached that level.
While Conte returned to wait for a new job, Tottenham had to hope to prosper with Cristian Stellini - the deputy who successfully led the team when Conte was absent due to surgery. That hope will start from passing as a guest at Everton in the latest match of the 29th round today.
