Antonio Conte

_OC_ said:

I wholeheartedly disagree.

I'm not saying that we're the greatest team that has ever walked the face of the earth, but with the investment we've given Conte thus far, the fact that he's had than a year to 'perfect' his gameplan, with Juventus being weaker than they have the last decade, other competitors not really on our level on paper.... there's absolutely no excuse to not win the league. This is now or never. If we win, we destabilize Juventus' iron grip on the league, and make a big statement that will resonate through Europa.

If we don't, Juventus walks it yet again, and strengthen their team even more next year, and we're stuck paying Conte 12 million a year just to get us the same results Spalletti did.

We can't really afford to lose points at the pace we're doing, but with that being said, the league is only six games old. Still, we're almost in total freefall, and we're also about to crash out of the Champions League not having won one single game, which, given our budget and aspirations, is perhaps an even bigger fiasco.

The point is, there's no time to waste. Whatever happens against Atalanta, the only option I see (if the Zhangs are serious about this project), is to get rid of Conte and bring Allegri onboard. He's a much better coach - more adaptable, more flexible, much, much better on the fly during games, and he can deliver in Europe as well. De Zerbi could well turn out to be a De Boer, and now is not the time for experiments. It's either "get one of the best coaches in Europa (certainly the best that's available)" "or falter completely with Conte because of wage issues and face the fact that we got nowhere these last two years".

Paying three wages (Spalletti's almost up AFAIK) shouldn't be a problem when you're a Chinese conglomerate, and the hypothetical sucess we'd get under Allegri would more than offset paying Conte to stay at home.

As of now, we'd be doing more damage keeping a clearly disinterested and unmotivated Gobbo as the head of this club. It's time to strike while the iron is hot, or just wave the white flag after 9 matches.

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Im against sacking coaches too soon, but in Conte's case I might agree with you. I wait and see how Inter does against Atalanta, but if Inter lose points again I seriously think Conte should get axed and Alegri comes. We have no more time to lose in Serie A and CL if this form continues. We have the right balance to play 4-3-1-2 with this squad, but Conte's 3-5-2 is failing to deliver with this set of players, specially in defence. If this form continues we might end up in a worse position than last season.

RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot said:

Personally I don't understand everyone clamoring for Godin. He was atrocious in the EL Final aside from that goal and he hasn't exactly looked good at Cagliari either. He was making way too much money for that level of output.

We do miss the locker-room presence, which is hard to calculate. The main issue is not signing a suitable replacement-- Smalling, Maksimovic, Milenkovic, Kumbulla were all solid choices.

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The replacement determines whether offloading someone was a good or a bad sporting decision. Godin was struggling a lot in the rcb role and i am afraid he would continue to struggle this season with Hakimi in front of him. I firmly believe his improvement in the Atalanta and Europa League games had more to do with D'Ambrosio playing in front of him than Godin himself. If he was replaced by one of the guys you mentioned he wouldn't be brought up so often in the forum. People miss him because he was replaced by Kolarov who can't defend so most of us would have preferred keeping Godin instead.

Biraghi is a similar case. He was a decent backup at best. No one would mention him if we had brought a proper left wingback in the summer. But he was replaced by Perisic who isn't suited for the role. And that's why people miss Biraghi.

I don’t think we need any proof that our squad is much worse than last season which means most of Marotta’s decisions were wrong. If the job is too much for him why doesn’t he resign?

Palacio said:

I don’t think we need any proof that our squad is much worse than last season which means most of Marotta’s decision were wrong. If the job is too much for him why doesn’t he resign?

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Il Drago said:

The replacement determines whether offloading someone was a good or a bad sporting decision. Godin was struggling a lot in the rcb role and i am afraid he would continue to struggle this season with Hakimi in front of him. I firmly believe his improvement in the Atalanta and Europa League games had more to do with D'Ambrosio playing in front of him than Godin himself. If he was replaced by one of the guys you mentioned he wouldn't be brought up so often in the forum. People miss him because he was replaced by Kolarov who can't defend so most of us would have preferred keeping Godin instead.

Biraghi is a similar case. He was a decent backup at best. No one would mention him if we had brought a proper left wingback in the summer. But he was replaced by Perisic who isn't suited for the role. And that's why people miss Biraghi.

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People miss Biraghi because he was good. Poor start of course, but really grew into his role and was the perfect squad player - cheap, capable, Interista. Likewise, while Godin had certainly declined, this is a player who was the best CB on the planet at one point and brought of lot of that experience and class with him. He too struggled earlier but eventually came good and was arguably better than either Skriniar or D'Ambrosio at RCB.

To say people only miss them because their replacements are shit, is way too reductionist a way of looking at it. If anything, the underwhelming replacements are merely adding insult to injury.

Universe said:

People miss Biraghi because he was good. Poor start of course, but really grew into his role and was the perfect squad player - cheap, capable, Interista. Likewise, while Godin had certainly declined, this is a player who was the best CB on the planet at one point and brought of lot of that experience and class with him. He too struggled earlier but eventually came good and was arguably better than either Skriniar or D'Ambrosio at RCB.

To say people only miss them because their replacements are shit, is way too reductionist a way of looking at it. If anything, the underwhelming replacements are merely adding insult to injury.

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Biraghi was good only against weak opponents. Whenever we faced a good team he struggled. He would be a decent backup but nothing more than that. The problem isn't we didn't keep Biraghi. The problem is we didn't sign a proper starting left wingback.
As for Godin, at the end of the season he did look better than Skriniar or D'Ambrosio in rcb role but it helped he was getting defensive support from D'Ambrosio while the others weren't getting much help from Candreva or Moses.

Arguably better than Skriniar and D’Ambrosio at RCB? I’d say definitely better at the end of last season.

Inter Coach Antonio Conte: “Romelu Lukaku To Be Called Up Against Atalanta”

Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to remotely connected journalist at a press conference earlier today, discussing tomorrow’s league clash against Atalanta. His words were noted by Italian media outlet FcInterNews.

First, he spoke about how the Nerazzurri would be arriving at tomorrow’s match.

“Like the other teams, this is the seventh match in twenty days. There is a bit of tiredness but also the desire to have a good match.

“We will try to make the right calculations and figure out who is more or less tired and manage the situation.”

He commented on the team’s mood after the 3-2 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League earlier this week and if striker Romelu Lukaku would be called up for tomorrow’s game.

“The mood is what it must be. Lukaku has trained with us so he will most likely be called up.”

The 51-year-old Italian coach touched on what the squad need to do to repeat their performance in Bergamo last season.

“Last year we did well in many matches. Facing Atalanta is not easy, they have a great coach who gave them credibility.

“They put constant pressure on whoever is in possession and are very good in the offensive phase. We will have to have a great match.”

The former Juventus and Chelsea coach was not worried about the Nerazzurri’s position in the league table.

“Worried about what?”

He elaborated on his answer.

“We have to make our way beyond the worries. If we deserve it, it’s right that we win and the position improves, otherwise it is right that we stay lower. It depends on what we do.”

Conte did not pick between playing badly but winning three points or playing well but not achieving the win.

“I can’t think that I have to play badly to get results, usually it is by playing well that the results come.”

The Italian coach touched on what the Nerazzurri need to do to make a leap in quality.

“We are talking about something little, for now that little is missing. We have to work hard, even harder and try to fix that little bit. If there is, it means that we are not there yet.”

The Inter coach did not think that playing the match in a red zone in Italy, an area heavily affected by Covid-19, was of any concern.

“Needless to say, it does not affect anything because unlike in the past we are much more prepared today, both players and families at home. You train and prepare for matches not counting on the players because there are negatives and false positive cases that do not allow you to train.

“The situation is not easy for anyone, but we have to face it. Often some forget about it but beyond the sporting aspect there is the human aspect that is left out in favor of other things, but it is not easy for those who have to manage these situations.”

Conte touched on his decision not to use five substitutes in the Champions League match against Real Madrid, and how having extra substitutes makes a difference.

“You can see that at that moment there was no need. It’s a good thing that Zidane also did only three of them, if only I had done it. The assumption is that you have to have everyone available and we started with six positive Covid cases, two injured players like Sanchez and Sensi, plus Lukaku.

“Now we have another positive. You have to have the possibility to prepare for certain situations. Five substitutions can change the current game, you can manage at the beginning or start strong. There is a strategy, but it can be implemented if you have the players available.

“If they are not because they are positive, or as soon as they return or are still injured, it becomes difficult to manage.”

Finally, Conte spoke about the current position of Italian midfielder Stefano Sensi.

“For Sensi you need to talk to the doctors and the physical rehabilitation area. For everything else, we have been working with the player for a while but he is not giving results. The player is almost always unavailable.”

Il Drago said:

Finally, Conte spoke about the current position of Italian midfielder Stefano Sensi.

“For Sensi you need to talk to the doctors and the physical rehabilitation area. For everything else, we have been working with the player for a while but he is not giving results. The player is almost always unavailable.”

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The only useful part of the interview

Trump is out. Time to get the second coming of the bald fraud out too. Was really disappointed that he didn't leave during summer after his meltdown so we can sign Allegri. It sohuld of been apparent to management after the first Juventus game or even a couple games before that he's only a 1 tactic coach. After we got exposed the team never played with the same fluidity and that's going to continue for as long as he's here.

Tsuna said:

Trump is out. Time to get the second coming of the bald fraud out too. Was really disappointed that he didn't leave during summer after his meltdown so we can sign Allegri. It sohuld of been apparent to management after the first Juventus game or even a couple games before that he's only a 1 tactic coach. After we got exposed the team never played with the same fluidity and that's going to continue for as long as he's here.

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Wait you're from HK and you're boasting about Trump potentially losing the election in court? LOL good luck in the Gulag when the CCP rolls in and rapes you.

Wat? I’m American bro. I can’t even read more than 10 characters of chinese
Edit: oh and if you’re reading this China, fuck the ccp and your Winnie the Pooh looking ass dictator

We are SO.FUCKING.BORING.

Allegri should warm up.

Ah, sixth place, back where we belong.

Whats the excuse, boys?

Sack this bald fuck and get Allegri. Can't believe I'm saying this...

Just fucking fire him and take the loss. Its better than losing the whole season.

Sorry to say (not really) but the players are there, what is missing is the tactics.