Antonio Conte has agreed to take over as new manager of Tottenham Hotspur after the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo.
The arrival of Conte, who won the 2016/2017 Premier League with Chelsea, will be a huge boost to a Tottenham side who certainly lack winning experience.
His main goal to start with at Tottenham will be to improve their poor up and down form, as they sit eighth in the Premier League with five wins and five losses, and improve their European Conference League form, with Spurs sitting third in the group with three games to play.
Conte is fresh from a brilliant Serie A title winning season with Inter Milan, preventing Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus side from winning a century of titles in a row, which Conte kicked of himself winning the league with Juventus in 2011/2012, and the two consecutive seasons after that.
Four Serie A titles and two Supercoppa Italiana’s with Juventus and Inter Milan and one Premier League and one FA Cup with Chelsea are the major titles that fill up the Italian’s classy CV, which would appeal to any Premier League club out there looking for an experienced new manager.
Conte began his managerial career with Arezzo in Serie B in 2006 before being appointed manager of Bari where he went on to achieve promotion with them in 2009 to the Serie B. Short spells at Atalanta and Robur Siena where then followed by longer spells with Juventus, Italy, Chelsea and then most recently Inter Milan.
Antonio Conte is without a doubt a brilliant manager, however the positives of Conte always come with the negatives….
Pros No.1
He will do anything to win. Conte is a manager who only aims for trophies, not a top 4 finish or European qualification, only trophies. What could’ve been the death of both Jose Mourinho and Nuno at Tottenham was their ambitions. It never looked as if they wanted to go all out for trophies, they would’ve both been satisfied with top 6 finishes. Conte’s aims will be reflected onto the Tottenham squad, who will be forced to almost “die for the badge.”
Cons No.1
Money. In Conte’s short two-year spell at Inter Milan, he spent just under £250 million on players, such as Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi, Nicolo Barella and more. In that same space of time, Tottenham only spent £160 million on arrivals to the club, their most expensive singing, Giovani Lo Celso for £29 million, compared to Inter Milan’s £67 million Lukaku singing from Manchester United. The main reason to Conte’s unexpected departure at Inter Milan was due to the lack of investment he was set to receive in the summer, Conte wanted more to spend, so he left. If he isn’t happy with the amount of money that Daniel Levy is set to give him in January and the summer, Conte will happily pack up his bags and leave.
Pros No.2
His three at the back formation has shaped his managerial career. Tottenham have conceded 16 goals this season in 10 games, only being able to score nine, leaving them with the third worst goal difference in the league. Once Conte can find that stability at the back, he will be able to focus on the forward line for Tottenham and get Harry Kane back to his goal scoring best after only scoring one goal in his nine league games this season.
Cons No.2
Conte and Levy have already had disagreements. In the summer when Tottenham were looking for a full-time replacement after Ryan Mason’s temporary role came to an end, talks with Antonio Conte lasted for several weeks before breaking down. Conte eventually came out and said that he wasn’t fully convinced on the job. However with the Italian now accepting the role, things must have changed on both sides for “The Godfather” to become convinced. Conte hasn’t been one to shy away from confrontations with club owners in his previous jobs, such as at Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan. It will certainly be interesting to see how Conte and Levy’s past talks effect the players performances on the pitch.
The arrival of Antonio Conte at Tottenham will either be fabulous or horrendous, he will either be satisfied or unsatisfied, and that is down to how stubborn Daniel Levy is ready to be, because we all know that Levy isn’t the easiest man to get around in football.
Antonio Conte’s first game in charge for Tottenham kicks off on Thursday with Vitesse’s trip to London in the European Conference league (20:00) before his first league game with Spurs on Sunday as they travel to Rafael Benitez’s Everton (14:00), who are only separated by a single point.
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