Sport
Tottenham could do a lot worse than Antonio Conte
With Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy effectively selling the club’s soul and doing a deal with the devil in Jose Mourinho, the situation looks rather bleak at the moment.
Indeed, with Harry Kane said to want away and Spurs’ Premier League rivals likely to get even stronger next season given it’s almost impossible to imagine either Liverpool or Chelsea enduring such difficult league campaigns in 2021/22, whoever takes over in North London has quite the job on their hands.
Clearly, the temptation is to rip everything up and start again, handing the next manager a similar remit to that of Mauricio Pochettino in 2014. Trust the youth, build a long-term philosophy and start a new cycle.
On paper, it sounds like the most coherent strategy and, crucially, speaks to a fanbase who may be eager to see such plans implemented after watching Mourinho – never a man associated with that kind of thing even in his pomp – crash and burn in just 18 months. Still, Levy has wasted time and, sadly, that deal with the devil may still have to be done.
What’s different about the complexion of the squad this time around is that Spurs’ senior players aren’t hugely underperforming, at least on an individual level. Kane, for example, is enjoying perhaps the best campaign of his career while Heung-min Son could also outdo his personal best on the goalscoring front.
Even Gareth Bale – who looks likely to stay next season – has hit 14 goals in 30 games, while Tanguy Ndombele and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were both heralded for their performances only a few months ago.
Granted, there are some serious question marks over Spurs’ defence and the fact that their attacking players are in good form doesn’t necessarily compensate for the more structural problems, but there simply doesn’t need to be the wholesale changes there were between 2014 and 2015.
Frankly, given the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there isn’t the money to facilitate them either and Tottenham need a manager who can coach the current group to the best of their abilities, which brings us to Antonio Conte.
With financial uncertainty casting a dark shadow over Inter Milan’s Serie A title win, the Italian’s future is up in the air and, should he become available, Conte looks like the elite tactician on the market this summer.
While he isn’t necessarily someone with a penchant for developing youth and, in many ways, follows the same path Mourinho does (or used to) in that success is usually delivered before arguments start, at least Antonio Conte is still capable of winning things which Spurs haven’t managed for a long time.
At Chelsea, he took over a side struggling on the structural front and managed to craft a 3-man defensive unit that brought the best out of the likes of David Luiz and Marcos Alonso (two players who aren’t exactly levels above Spurs’ current options) so effective, it had most of the Premier League following suit.
Able to collectively raise standards, Tottenham’s squad does look comparable to the one he first encountered at Stamford Bridge, albeit this group of players are yet to win top honours.
For example, he had a leading striker in Diego Costa, much as he has at Inter with Romelu Lukaku, who was up against time with something to prove. Blamed and called a rat for his apparent role in Mourinho’s sacking, Conte and Costa enjoyed a remarkable season together even despite it ending sourly.
Kane may not have much to prove on an individual basis but, at 27, does not have long to go until he’s past his peak.
Either side of him, the likes of Pedro and Eden Hazard flourished as wide forwards in positions which Son, Bale, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura or Erik Lamela could feasibly play. Of course, Hazard was almost unplayable during that season but, with so many options out wide at Spurs, perhaps the reliance on one magical player could be mitigated by having a stronger supporting cast.
During the season before he arrived, Chelsea conceded 53 goals amid grave concerns about how much fading stars such as John Terry and Gary Cahill had left in the tank, so much so that a huge deal to bring Luiz back in bizarre fashion was pushed through.
Rather than improve every defender individually, Conte’s system helped Chelsea defend as a unit much better, conceding only 33 times in 38 games. Such was the extent of his tactical overhaul, Chelsea were 43 points better off at the end of his first season.
Inter, meanwhile, picked up an extra 13 points under his management with what was rather objectively a much worse squad than Chelsea’s, so even repeating that feat at Spurs next season would have them second in this year’s Premier League.
Clearly, that is not an exact science and this year’s league table looks weaker due to the problems at Chelsea and Liverpool but therein lies the point. They’re getting stronger and Tottenham have to find a quick fix, only one that works this time, and Antonio Conte could be the solution.
They cannot afford to build another long-term project when they have Kane and Son in their primes, as well as Bale in reserve, it would simply be too much of an ask on their lifespans as elite level footballers.
Antonio Conte may not be the departure from Mourinho many Tottenham supporters may want. That doesn’t change the fact he’s the best manager likely to be available.
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