Conte on LFC

[rurikbird]

"Liverpool are one of the best teams in the League and I’m sure can fight to win the title.
Jurgen Klopp worked already for nine months with this team and it’s very important for him and Liverpool to understand each other. “It’s important to work and have the time to transfer your methods and ideas of football.
It’s very difficult to go in during the season when a manager was sacked. It’s not easy. You must transfer your ideas in a bit of time and it’s difficult.
But last season was very important for Klopp and the players. The players know Klopp and he knows the players. It’s important to transfer your idea of football and to have the identity of the player.[...]
Liverpool are one of seven or eight teams that can fight at the end to win the title. I’m sure of this. Liverpool have a good team, good manager, good football, high intensity, good organisation."”

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...e-a-major-advantage-over-him-in-a3305226.html

Seems very respectful of Klopp and LFC and I don't think those are just empty compliments – Conte is not the type for that. I think he is a similar manager to Klopp in that he tries to build things for the long term and cares much more about football than the money or the media. His basic idea of football is similar, based on superior fitness and emphasizing teamwork over any individual.

Klopp, however, has an advantage that he manages to be friendly with the media (and give them his "lovable crazy German" persona, which is all they need to fill pages) without letting them influence his decisions in any way; Conte's relationship with media will be much colder and even overtly adversarial and that can be a big disadvantage in England. But as a team-builder and tactician, Conte is definitely one of the best managers in the game and it will interesting (and definitely not easy) playing against his team next season.

 

[Woland]

He's a fucking dirty fucking rent boy

 

[rurikbird]

He's a fucking dirty fucking rent boy

Did you say the same about Rafa?

 

[manwithnoname]

Did you say the same about Rafa?

Not exactly the same is it? What with Benitez managing Liverpool and winning the European Cup and all that.

Conte has no links whatsoever with us, manages Chelsea - one of the most hateful teams, fans and owners in the world of football - so he can get fucked.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Fuck him and his shithouse club.

 

[Hyena]

Always good to know about the qualities of other clubs' managers and players. Thanks Rurik.

 

[rurikbird]

Not exactly the same is it? What with Benitez managing Liverpool and winning the European Cup and all that.

Conte has no links whatsoever with us, manages Chelsea - one of the most hateful teams, fans and owners in the world of football - so he can get fucked.

Sure, I get it – I highly dislike Abramovich too (not only for football-related reasons) and wish Chelsea under his ownership all kinds of ruin (plague of locusts would suit just fine). But we kind of have to separate the club from the individuals sometimes – when a manager I genuinely like and respect like Rafa takes a job at a club like Chelsea I can still keep my respect for him, despite the feelings for the club. If other people don't think the same way, I totally understand.

I actually don't have any particularly warm feelings towards Conte, but I consider him to be one of the top 5 coaches in the world currently (the other 4 being Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti and Simeone) and I am always checking out what the best managers are doing with their teams. I think Conte himself doesn't care much about anything except purely football matters and that's why his comments about Liverpool don't have any hint of vitriol or tension we are used to from some other Chelsea managers (even Rafa kind of got sucked into the us-vs-them line of questioning, but I don't think Conte will). It's clear him and Klopp have a lot of mutual respect.

 

[Woland]

Did you say the same about Rafa?

Yeah

 

[rurikbird]

Yeah

I knew you would, mate 🙂

 

[manwithnoname]

Sure, I get it – I highly dislike Abramovich too (not only for football-related reasons) and wish Chelsea under his ownership all kinds of ruin (plague of locusts would suit just fine). But we kind of have to separate the club from the individuals sometimes – when a manager I genuinely like and respect like Rafa takes a job at a club like Chelsea I can still keep my respect for him, despite the feelings for the club. If other people don't think the same way, I totally understand.

I actually don't have any particularly warm feelings towards Conte, but I consider him to be one of the top 5 coaches in the world currently (the other 4 being Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti and Simeone) and I am always checking out what the best managers are doing with their teams. I think Conte himself doesn't care much about anything except purely football matters and that's why his comments about Liverpool don't have any hint of vitriol or tension we are used to from some other Chelsea managers (even Rafa kind of got sucked into the us-vs-them line of questioning, but I don't think Conte will). It's clear him and Klopp have a lot of mutual respect.

That's fine. But you questioned why anyone would call Conte a "shithouse chelsea rentboy" and not Benitez.

I was merely suggesting that perhaps Benitez has earned - to most LFC fans anyway - sufficient respect to avoid that, whereas Conte has not, and therefore can deffo go and fuck himself.

 

[SummerOnions]

In case anyone forgot...:

 

[Glen C]

Sure, I get it – I highly dislike Abramovich too (not only for football-related reasons) and wish Chelsea under his ownership all kinds of ruin (plague of locusts would suit just fine). But we kind of have to separate the club from the individuals sometimes – when a manager I genuinely like and respect like Rafa takes a job at a club like Chelsea I can still keep my respect for him, despite the feelings for the club. If other people don't think the same way, I totally understand.

I actually don't have any particularly warm feelings towards Conte, but I consider him to be one of the top 5 coaches in the world currently (the other 4 being Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti and Simeone) and I am always checking out what the best managers are doing with their teams. I think Conte himself doesn't care much about anything except purely football matters and that's why his comments about Liverpool don't have any hint of vitriol or tension we are used to from some other Chelsea managers (even Rafa kind of got sucked into the us-vs-them line of questioning, but I don't think Conte will). It's clear him and Klopp have a lot of mutual respect.

Conte hasn't done enough to be considered in the top 5 imo. Winning the title with juvenile isn't THAT great anew achievement. Plus how can you have him in the top 5 and not mourinho?

 

[mark1975]

It's always good to hear a manager talk up your team and personnel, it means there's some respect there for what we're trying to do, so it's good to hear Klopp's peers recognising what he has and can achieve. Fair play. We're quick enough to kick off when other managers dismiss us.

I have no affinity to Chelsea at all, they're the most loathsome, soulless, rotten club around, so once it all kicks off he's the enemy, along with Mourinho, Wenger, etc, but he didn't have to make these comments, so fair play to him. I hope it has their wanker supporters seething.

 

[manwithnoname]

We're quick to kick off when other managers dismiss us? Are we? Do they?

In any case they're usually right and often we have got there first

 

[rurikbird]

Conte hasn't done enough to be considered in the top 5 imo. Winning the title with juvenile isn't THAT great anew achievement. Plus how can you have him in the top 5 and not mourinho?

He didn't just win the title – he reinvented that team after they were relegated and lost most of their great players and prestige. New formation, new playing style, brought in players to form a new spine (reinvigorating the career of Pirlo, which seemed to be on the wane in Milan) and won the league going unbeaten in his first season. Then 2 more titles in a row, including an all-time record on points. You could also see the quality of his work with the Italy national team. All the players who worked with him place him squarely among the best, both as a motivator and a tactician.

He is way above Mourinho right now in my estimation, especially after Jose's self-inflicted meltdown in Chelsea last season (and his relative failure with Real Madrid before that). All 5 managers I mentioned work with long-term rewards in mind and build great teams that last year after year. The only thing Conte is missing is success in the Champions League, but I'm sure he will get there – just hopefully not with Chelsea.

 

[Glen C]

He didn't just win the title – he reinvented that team after they were relegated and lost most of their great players and prestige. New formation, new playing style, brought in players to form a new spine (reinvigorating the career of Pirlo, which seemed to be on the wane in Milan) and won the league going unbeaten in his first season. Then 2 more titles in a row, including an all-time record on points. You could also see the quality of his work with the Italy national team. All the players who worked with him place him squarely among the best, both as a motivator and a tactician.

He is way above Mourinho right now in my estimation, especially after Jose's self-inflicted meltdown in Chelsea last season (and his relative failure with Real Madrid before that). All 5 managers I mentioned work with long-term rewards in mind and build great teams that last year after year. The only thing Conte is missing is success in the Champions League, but I'm sure he will get there – just hopefully not with Chelsea.

Mourinho has won the champions league with 2 teams and won the league in 4 different countries. Not saying Conte isn't a good manager but I just think mourinho's record puts him higher imo.

 

[rurikbird]

Mourinho has won the champions league with 2 teams and won the league in 4 different countries. Not saying Conte isn't a good manager but I just think mourinho's record puts him higher imo.

It's like saying Seedorf is the greatest player ever because he won Champions League with 3 different teams in different countries. Yes, Mourinho's model is highly adaptable, because it's relatively simple and based on maximizing short-term returns above all else. Who is a better architect, the one whose house falls apart every 3 years or one who builds for a decade?

Anyway, that's just my personal opinion – I understand different people use different criteria to judge greatness. But personally if I'm the owner of a football team, I would hire any one of those 5 before I would hire Mourinho – that's why even United's boardroom was far from unanimous in hiring Jose. If he fails this time after what happened in Chelsea, I think his days as a top-tier coach will be over for good.

 

[Hansern]

Conte is a brilliant manager and what he achieved at Juventus was fantastic. The only negative for me was how they performed in Europe and the Champions league.