Stan Collymore has encouraged Tottenham Hotspur supporters to stay patient with Antonio Conte amid the temptation of wanting Mauricio Pochettino back at the club.
Conte is enduring a mixed first full season in North London.
In midweek, Tottenham scraped their way through to the knockout stages of the Champions League and in the Premier League, they’re six points behind Manchester City at the summit.
All in all, things aren’t going overly bad for the Lilywhites right now but there’s a sense of dissatisfaction in not only some results, but the Italian manager’s style of play.
Pochettino is a revered figure in North London following a brilliant five-year spell which ended in 2019.
More to the point, he’s available after being sacked by Paris Saint-Germain this past summer and, with uncertainty regarding Conte’s long-term future at Tottenham, some supporters are calling on the Argentine’s return.
But Collymore has urged the need for patience with the 52-year-old manager.
He told Caught Offside: “I think Antonio Conte has come under a lot of stick and a lot of it unfairly. He’s having to follow a path at Tottenham where they’ve had wildly different managers with wildly different styles.
“Spurs fans were excited in pre-season seeing how Conte worked the players. They worked tremendously hard – a proper old-school pre-season. Professionalism, desire, and passion for the shirt. But, he’s also a pragmatist. If he wins 1-0, he wins 1-0. When that philosophy loses a game or two, you’re in a position where fans in the stadium are looking for Pochettino again. You’ve got a winner and you need to be patient.”
Collymore is spot-on.
Everyone knows that the former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss is a serial winner who has won league titles wherever he has managed.
None of his projects beared fruit overnight and if Tottenham fans won’t trophies, patience is the order of the day.
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