Three reasons Cristian Stellini was the wrong choice to see out Tottenham season
By Gary Pearson
Daniel Levy committed another grave and costly mistake when he handed the Tottenham reins to Cristian Setllini after Antonio Conte was sent packing.
Another egregious error by Tottenham’s head honcho will almost assuredly prevent the Lilywhites from snatching a top-four spot.
Tottenham endured a dismal display in Saturday’s abject 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth. It was another performance that poorly reflected the club and Levy’s disastrous operational decision.
Stellini joined Conte at Siena in 2010, forging a coaching partnership that prevailed intermittently for the better part of a decade until about a month ago.
While Stellini previously enjoyed a solid record in Conte’s absence, giving him the interim tag for the remainder of the season was the wrong choice.
These are the three reasons Stellini shouldn’t have been entrusted with the lofty responsibility of trying to usher Tottenham into the 2023-24 Champions League.
3. Stellini’s tactics and formation mirror Conte’s
Unsurprisingly, Stellini employed precisely the same formation and tactics as his predecessor and long-time former colleague.
The pair coached together at several clubs in the past decade, so it’s inconceivable to think that Levy believed Conte’s sidekick would have ushered in a new formation or altered tactics.
He stayed true to Conte’s formational preference, starting his first three matches in charge with the identical 3-4-2-1 that Conte was unremittingly steadfast on.
As if that wasn’t predictable enough, Stellini hasn’t shown any ability to innovate tactically or try something new.
He’s stuck with the tried and tested tactics of Spurs’ former manager, which has yielded two bitterly disappointing results to teams battling to avoid the drop.