Antonio Conte’s philosophy is under fire, another Premier League coach could be sacked and an agent suspected of blackmailing the former Chelsea boss.
Here are today’s football headlines.
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Peter Crouch believes Antonio Conte’s tactics at Tottenham are the same as he encountered during his time at Stoke (which is no compliment).
Tottenham suffered their first defeat in Premier League Last Saturday against Arsenal (1-3) and it was 0-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League yesterday.
I played that way in Stoke, says Crouch on BT Sport.
Tottenham have good enough players not to play like this, I think you should be able to broaden your horizons a little bit more. If you are going to play this way, you have to be more progressive, more aggressive.
Another expert, Allie McCoist, questions how resilient Dejan Kulusevski and the gang are.
Spurs fans’ argument is that Conte plays on his team’s strengths? I’m not sure about that. He clearly has a defensive mindset in terms of how the team is formed, something he’s very good at, says McQuest, noting that Spurs have lost just one league game this season.
At the same time, if I was Kulusevsky, Harry Kane or Son (Heung Min) and part of this team, I would probably question the way we play.
Chaos club today
Nottingham Forest withdrew the new contract offer that Steve Cooper was ready to sign, according to the Daily Mail. Forest is last in the Premier League after losing the derby to Leicester (0-4). In addition to the heavy pressure on Cooper, who could be replaced by Rafael Benitez if things continue to go bad, other people in management are also in trouble. Chief scout Andy Scott, chairman Dine Murphy and data and recruitment analyst George Sirianos are unpopular with owner Evangelos Marinakis after this summer’s crazy transfer window in which the club snatched 23 players for 140 million pounds (1.7 billion Swedish krona).
silly day
Chelsea risk losing N’Golo Kanté on a free transfer next summer, Daily Mail claims. The reason is that contract negotiations are proceeding slowly for the Frenchman, who prefers to be guaranteed a new four-year term. The Chelsea management isn’t sure it’s a good idea given the midfielder’s injury history. During the press conference before the Milan meeting, coach Graham Potter did not want to comment on the situation but noted that any team “will suffer from the loss of a player like him”.
Today chasing coach
The latest name in Wolverhampton’s bid to replace Bruno Lage is Julen Lopetegui, who is currently in Seville. The Mirror also mentioned Mainz’s Danish coach, Bo Svensson, as an option. If one of those is appointed, he would be the club’s first non-Portuguese coach since 2017.
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A prominent British football agent is suspected of threatening and blackmailing former Chelsea manager, Marina Granovskaya. The Times reports that Granovskaya has been asked to pay £300,000 on a deal at the end of last season, in the same vein that Todd Boyle bought the club. “You will have to pay for your actions. It is not a threat, it is a promise. You and my partners owe 300,000,” read the letter that was sent. The client was arrested and released on bail in September but remains a suspect.