Antonio Conte - A Tactical Genius

I feel the same, i dont think it was as much of a tactical masterstrokes as Italy simply outrunning Spain for 90 minutes. He has gotten an overall commitment out of his squad that Spain never came close to matching. They had been playing like that all tourney, it's not a surprise frankly.

Let's see how they look against a team like Germany that will run a bit more and actually has elite forwards

While i defend the argument against it, i do feel it came down to a little more than just outrunning Spain tbh

I think Robes said it best, it's somewhat of an anomaly here. Normally, it's managers at the end of their careers, or are "washed up", that take on national teams. In this case, Conte is in his prime.

Easily the best manager at this Euro, you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Tactically, he does deserve praise, I'm unsure if I would go as far to call him a tactical genius, but to call him a tactical idiot is also something I wouldn't be proud to say. He's above average tactically for me. As a team builder and a motivator he's second to none.

I used this comparison to contrast Conte and Allegri with their respective time at Juventus, Conte builds an army, Allegri has the special forces.

Conte has used every player in Italy's roster this Euro with the exception of the third goalkeeper (when's the last time you can say that for any national team in any tournament? That's exceptional to me but of course he benefited from this format and basically qualifying after game 1, but the point is he wants everyone to be included and feel emotional attachment to this run and this group).

Tactics are also selections. He chose players for the way he wants to play, he starts players for his way of playing and thinking. How many people criticized his selections? I know I did. How many people were crying out for "powerhouse" El Sharaawy to start? Where's Berardi? Why is Eder there? Italy won't go anywhere with Pelle up front? Italy is lucky to have this defense etc. While the defense has been what it is, one of the best in the world. The attack has been very impressive.

Andrew_p wrote:Locks Belgium stars out of the game with his tactics
Locks Spains Iniesta, Silva and Busquets out of the game.

Italy being perhaps the most tactically organized NT out there with their players knowing exactly what to do in every scenario possible.

Conte is clueless tactically and he's just a motivator.

Football geniuses

That's Italian coaching 101 bro

Luca wrote:I think Robes said it best, it's somewhat of an anomaly here. Normally, it's managers at the end of their careers, or are "washed up", that take on national teams. In this case, Conte is in his prime.

Easily the best manager at this Euro, you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Tactically, he does deserve praise, I'm unsure if I would go as far to call him a tactical genius, but to call him a tactical idiot is also something I wouldn't be proud to say. He's above average tactically for me. As a team builder and a motivator he's second to none.

I used this comparison to contrast Conte and Allegri with their respective time at Juventus, Conte builds an army, Allegri has the special forces.

Conte has used every player in Italy's roster this Euro with the exception of the third goalkeeper (when's the last time you can say that for any national team in any tournament? That's exceptional to me but of course he benefited from this format and basically qualifying after game 1, but the point is he wants everyone to be included and feel emotional attachment to this run and this group).

Tactics are also selections. He chose players for the way he wants to play, he starts players for his way of playing and thinking. How many people criticized his selections? I know I did. How many people were crying out for "powerhouse" El Sharaawy to start? Where's Berardi? Why is Eder there? Italy won't go anywhere with Pelle up front? Italy is lucky to have this defense etc. While the defense has been what it is, one of the best in the world. The attack has been very impressive.

Agree with this tbh.

Andrew_p wrote:Locks Belgium stars out of the game with his tactics
Locks Spains Iniesta, Silva and Busquets out of the game.

Italy being perhaps the most tactically organized NT out there with their players knowing exactly what to do in every scenario possible.

Conte is clueless tactically and he's just a motivator.

Football geniuses

Who said he is clueless? He is clearly competent tactically and can get his team to execute his tactics perfectly. The thread however calls him a genius which he is not. It is a quite a leap from tactically competent to genius.

Seems we have a bunch of Gary Neville's in this thread

I'd back myself to win more games at Valencia than Gary did tbh

alexjanosik wrote:

Andrew_p wrote:Locks Belgium stars out of the game with his tactics
Locks Spains Iniesta, Silva and Busquets out of the game.

Italy being perhaps the most tactically organized NT out there with their players knowing exactly what to do in every scenario possible.

Conte is clueless tactically and he's just a motivator.

Football geniuses

Who said he is clueless? He is clearly competent tactically and can get his team to execute his tactics perfectly. The thread however calls him a genius which he is not. It is a quite a leap from tactically competent to genius.

It wasn't a reply to your post mate. Check a couple of posts above yours on the 1st page.

Also I posted that because there's too much black and white in this forum. You are either a genius or an idiot, there's no middle ground, just the extremes. Opinions like that clearly show that a lot of people in here don't know shit about the game. That's what's bothering me and that's the attitude I'm mocking.

Whether he is a tactical genius or not is irrelevant. As if managers even care about that tag ffs

What is important is he is getting his team to compete with the best teams with players of inferior quality. Not just compete but literally outclassing them. Italy literally ANNIHILATED Spain yesterday. Outclassed in every department. Not many teams have managed to do that to Spain. He is by far and away the best coach in the tournament.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I'd back myself to win more games at Valencia than Gary did tbh

I agree that Neville was an absolute disaster at Valencia, but something tells me that the language barrier played a small part in his downfall. Maybe he would've done a little better if he was fluent in Spanish...or maybe I'm just making excuses for him

But in all seriousness, when he was a pundit, he stuck me as a very smart man. I really thought he would do better at Valencia. Just goes to show you that punditry and real management are quite different.

S wrote:Whether he is a tactical genius or not is irrelevant. As if managers even care about that tag ffs

What is important is he is getting his team to compete with the best teams with players of inferior quality. Not just compete but literally outclassing them. Italy literally ANNIHILATED Spain yesterday. Outclassed in every department. Not many teams have managed to do that to Spain. He is by far and away the best coach in the tournament.

I agree that he tactically contained Spain. But I don't agree that he's be far the best coach in the tournament. Not yet at least. I think it's a little premature to jump to conclusion now and that we should maybe wait until the euro is over to make such claims.

But I agree with you, he's certainly a very good coach.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:While i defend the argument against it, i do feel it came down to a little more than just outrunning Spain tbh

We didn't really really outrun them by much. In the first half it was pretty even, overall it came to 110 vs 117 km, hardly Spain were walking around, thats still a ton of running from them.

It was because they had no plan to deal with Italy, later I'll post the link to Xavi's interview before the game about how hard it is to play against a back 3 for a team that presses so high. He was saying that when Spain press the keeper and his outlets, it becomes impossible to close them down as there are 3 CBs available for a pass plus the wingbacks up the flank. If they press them all then the CF is open basically.

Its what happened, Italy mostly played from the back with the CBs, when Spain was trying to close them then De Rossi had space and he managed to run the game. With Nolito out (who wasnt doing anything), Morata and Aduriz pressed well and we had a hard time from the back. But then Pelle was open and he had probably the best 45 minutes of football Ive ever seen from him, as time after time he brought the ball down for Eder and Giaccherini.

Offensively I think the trick was that Pelle (the CF) was dropping way back to mark Busquets and Giaccherini was our most forward player a lot of times marking De Gea and the CBs (this was the killer move for me). Eder marked the CBs too and hanged more forward than Pelle. Giaccherini running like no one else was the key. So Spain kept losing ball and had to hoof it, but in the air we were never gonna lose to them.

The game was a rare case of everything working exactly as planned, props to Conte and the players.

Beat coach of this euro without a shadow of doubt and it's not premature. Believe me I know what's premature's like
He is very good tactician no doubt about that either, Spain I really believe didn't lost on ground they lost on the black board in Conte's room. Every thing was taken care of, from the word go, as if he spent years planning it.
Regarding motivation , I don't think he needs to do a lot. He has his eyes to do it. The "glare" that can send shiver into the spine of any mortal.Just one glare and Eder turns into a prime Baggio.

Confirmed this season

Appearantely, defensive managers aren't geniuses. GL elitests

That's only according to Peptards

Peptard

9 points clear while we didn't even win

Conte