Antonio Conte, Tottenham and the forbidden blue dice – The Warm-Up
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Updated 17/01/2023 at 09:09 GMT
It was a historic day at Eurosport HQ on Monday as not a single football story featured in our top 20 articles overnight with the Australian Open in full swing (seriously, go check that out on discovery+ now… Andy Murray is probably in a fifth set somewhere). With the world of football somewhat sleepy, where better to turn our morning gaze than Tottenham Hotspur who, predictably, are in a muddle.
Antonio Conte | Tottenham manager
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
The Chelsea-Spurs connection
If at first you don’t succeed, keep appointing former Chelsea managers until you do. Tottenham have reached for the forbidden blue dice on three occasions in the past 11 years and rolled in the eras of Andre Villas-Boas, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Total trophies won in that period: well, you already know.
Now a new report in the Mail suggests Conte’s position is “increasingly uncertain” and that it would be “self-defeating” for Spurs to trigger a one-year extension “if their visions for the club are not aligned”. Which sounds awfully ominous.
It's started to dawn on Tottenham fans in recent weeks that regardless of who is in the dugout, their hunt for a proper trophy in modern times is probably never going to end. There’s only so many times they can be told “but Conte is a proven winner” before the evidence before their eyes takes priority. Spurs ruin good people. Even Conte seems powerless to stop it after the horrible 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
If we assume, as we definitely should, that Spurs will never win the Premier League or Champions League – the two trophies that matter – then why not have some fun? After all, we’re now in an age of UAE-backed Manchester City, Saudi-backed Newcastle and VAR-backed Manchester United. It’s just not going to happen for them unless they lure a Middle Eastern giant. And even then, they would conspire to spend £150 million on the next Grzegorz Rasiak.
Spurs were once an extremely likable club that always fell short. What happened to the chaos of the Martin Jol era? The “go out there and enjoy yourselves, lads” vision of Harry Redknapp? The generation-defining ideas of Tactics Tim? Even Mauricio Pochettino stayed true to that wisdom, coming closer than any modern manager but still delivering what all Spurs fans have grown to love: nothing.
But since Poch was booted out so a documentary series could have an opening scene, Spurs have lost their way. And for what? A slightly increased chance of winning a domestic cup and pathetic changing room 'bust-ups'?
That forbidden blue dice will surely be calling out to Daniel Levy once more. Dare he roll it again and land on Thomas Tuchel? He is surely the best available option to fix this mess – but then so too were Villas-Boas, Mourinho and Conte. Alright, just Mourinho and Conte. But given Spurs fans just want to be happy, and a major trophy will forever elude them, why not just get on the blower to Pochettino and fail gloriously again?
Pray for Dave
On the subject of managers under pressure, David Moyes is having a troubling time at West Ham. It is as though the man can’t do a mediocre job – either he's running around stamping on every balloon at your kid’s birthday party, or arriving 45 minutes early to help set up with the latest Lego castle tucked under his arm.
At Preston and Everton he was brilliant. At Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland he was hopeless. And at West Ham he’s somehow been both – exclusively brilliant, then exclusively hopeless. Reports are now sadly surfacing that suggest he could be the next to face the chop if the Hammers lose to Everton at the weekend, which means he’s definitely safe for at least another week.
We just hope that if West Ham do decide to pull the plug on Moyes, they do it in a better way than Ed Woodward and Manchester United did in 2014. Here Moyes is on The Diary of a CEO podcast recounting his miserable Old Trafford end:
“I felt the way I was told [about the sacking] wasn't done as well as it should've been. It could've been done better and made a lot easier. Looking back now, you think 'hey, that's life, get on with it' but if you're one of the biggest sports businesses in the world, if not the biggest, you would hope you would do things correctly.
“I found out about my sacking through the media. I tried to make contact and say, 'why don't we meet up' but it didn't suit and before I knew it they called me in the day after and the whole world knew about it before I got to know.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Russo chuffed with 'huge' Puskas nomination
England's backheel hero, Alessia Russo, is basking in the glory of making the cut for the Puskas shortlist, with the striker saying her nomination is "huge" for women's football.
"As much as you don't want to say it's surreal, it is," said Russo.
"A few years ago, that wouldn't have been the case so now to have these kinds of recognition for female footballers, not only in England but across the world, is huge.
"It's huge for where we want the sport to go. You want to be recognised for what you do. When you're up against people like that, it puts things into perspective a little bit."
There was something truly magical about seeing a player attempt a backheel while moving away from goal, in the biggest match of her career, and then seeing the ball squirm through the helpless goalkeeper's legs. Given the rest of the nominations are bit meh, we will be launching a petition if she doesn't win. FIFA, you've been warned.
IN THE CHANNELS
It happened on Saturday lunchtime and it’s now Tuesday morning, but this TikTok from Manchester United’s official account takes no prisoners.
And for the record, it was 100% offside.
COMING UP
Six FA Cup replays that nobody ordered. The pick of the bunch is Wolves v Liverpool (19:45 GMT). Live text commentary of that clash available at your favourite sports destination (clue: it’s us).
Or take the day off from football and get involved with the Australian Open tennis. Catch all the action on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.
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