bringing on a defender when goals were desperately required.
Another chance… well, it was a slight chance… of a trophy given up with out even a whimper, as Spurs season ends in March and Conte’s tenure surely can’t last much longer.
And what a truly fitting way to go out after a clulessly, limp and lacklustre performance, where Spurs desperately need just one goal, to stay in their Champions League last 16 tie, with seven minutes left on the clock and Spurs now down to 10 men, Conte decides to sacrifice an attacker for a defender.
It does have to be said though, that it would actually take more than those seven minutes before any of the forwards that Spurs played on the night – Kane, Son, Kulusevski and Richarlison – registered their first and only shot on target,.
That was Kane, in the 93rd minute, a great header from Son’s free kick, that brought out a great save from the Milan keeper, from which Milan could have… should have scored the winner on the break. Hitting the post.
In the previous 93 minutes Spurs had registered one shot on target, that came from Hojbjerg. Though Milan only managed 3. And there’s the rub of all this. This ain’t the Milan of Maldini, Baresi, Rijkaard, van Basten, Gullit and Ancelotti. Not it’s a mediocre Milan side, who had chances but almost played as if they knew they didn’t have to actually score to go through.
They weren’t wrong.
The crowd were up for it but the players weren’t and again they silenced their own home support with a dull start to the game. A start that didn’t get much better, things slightly improved when Porro came on for the again dismal Perisic. But there was just no life there at all.
And from the comments made after the game, it looks like they’ve given up on Conte. Richarlison coming out and saying the season has been shit, and wonder what he has to do to get more than 5 minutes here and there. At least he gets on the pitch, yet again Danjuma failed to get the nod from Conte. Another player frozen out because he wasn’t a Conte signing.
Richarlison probably wishes he hadn’t left Everton, while Danjuma probably wishes he’d signed for them. And they’re relegation fodder managed by Sean Dyche.
So there’s not much to say about that game apart from Romero again showing in true Spurs defender tradition that he hasn’t got the brains god gave a pigeon, with two more stupid bookings bringing another red card. If they had got through there wouldn’t have been much central defence left due to suspensions.
Conte has to go after that, will he though. He wants to, the fans want him to, the players want him to, I imagine so does Levy but will the bald dwarf admit another mistake. At least the payout won’t be as big as before.
But who to replace him?
The candidates seem to be • Mauricio Pochettino, Robert De Zerbi, Luis Enrique, Thomas Tuchel, Marco Silva and Thomas Frank.
Tuchel, another Chelsea cast off, that would make Levy’s fourth. None of them have lasted, mainly because they’re used to being at a team that did what the manager wanted. With big signings regularly.
The same could be said of Poch now. He started off being the young manager moulding young players into seasoned internationals. But he’s been at PSG, with big names, big talents, would he want to be back amongst those he left all those years ago, and the cheap options Levy buys? Back at the end he wanted bigger, better signings.
Luis Enrique, again been at a big club that bought talent, that and his passing for passing’s sake with Spain is as dull as Conte’s.
Marco Silva, well I’ve had my fill of miserable managers and though I rate him as a manager, christ he’s miserable. Would he want to leave Fulham, they’re only 6 points behind Spurs now.
The same could be said of De Zerbi and Frank, who are only just a point behind Silva’s Fulham. De Zerbi just has to look at Potter at Chelsea, to see the grass isn’t always greener. De Zerbi and Frank play forward football, it would be a relief after Conte’s tedious tactics. I would take either of them – it would be a bit like when Poch took over – and yes I’d have Poch back, but fear it could have another bad ending.
But Scott Parker has just been sacked by Club Brugge.. and you can just see Levy going for him…