7 hours ago, ZAYN-CFC said:

He should be sacked for the simple fact that he is Wenger‘s bitch. That‘s something that should make him think. What an embarrassment. This guy makes Wenger look like a master tactician. Shame on you, one-trick pony.

You have no clue what you talking about. It's embarrassing.

When you sit and really think about it, no top club of the past 15 years has consistently had as much drama as our club. We can at least take solace in that terrible fact.

Yeah sometimes I wish I supported Portsmouth instead.

2 hours ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

I think some of us are more let down by players failing to perform than Conte. This is the 3rd game straight he's been let down by players failing to finish, not his tactics. 

Sure there's beef to be had with his subs but he got it spot on against both Barca and United and City scored from the same position (with 2 of our players making an error) as Moses had when he couldn't even hit the target. Don't forget Kante was a late scratch so who knows how it would have gone with him playing. 

You can cry all you want about how we played but if we'd lost 4-1 while being more open I have a feeling you'd still be calling for him to be sacked. A major rule in any sport is you don't play into your opponents hands. 

So yesterday was nothing to do with Conte but only the players? That's completely wrong, Conte had a whole week to set his team up while City played on Thursday, is that really all he can come up with, I bet 1 player didn't enjoy that and we certainly know Hazard has had enough of Conte's false 9 sh*t, if you can't see how wrong it was at half time or not prepared to make changes after City scored then there are big questions to ask about the manager.

It's really such a shame that is not working out for Conte and tbh he has a lot of faults, stubborn, very slow in reacting and critical to players and board.

However, Let's be real in here in that Man city team only Hazard would have being on the first team. We have had this problem for a number of years now whereby one year we look amazing and  next year we can hardly score a goal. The main problem is the players we have are soft and mismatched, no leaders in the team like Dennis Wise, Terry, Lampard, Ballack. Azpilicueta is the only leader we have. A previous poster mentioned about lack of identity, unfortunately it's because of the players Hazard and William want to pass it around where as Pedro or Kante are direct and they are about speed. With that being said our team is very poor and not even Guardiola can do anything about it when you look at Moses, Alonso, fabregas, drinkwater, bakayoko, Cahill, Pedro. These players are not for a top 4 team and none of them would get in a Liverpool or even Tottenham team. With the signings we have made it's a clear lack of ambition. I would rather get a quality player for 90 mill than two average players for same amount. 

Finally, I think we will make top 4 and we will replace Conte withsomeone else and probably do well next year. The year after we will be sh*t again if we don't make the right signings. 

2 hours ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

I think some of us are more let down by players failing to perform than Conte. This is the 3rd game straight he's been let down by players failing to finish, not his tactics. 

Sure there's beef to be had with his subs but he got it spot on against both Barca and United and City scored from the same position (with 2 of our players making an error) as Moses had when he couldn't even hit the target. Don't forget Kante was a late scratch so who knows how it would have gone with him playing. 

You can cry all you want about how we played but if we'd lost 4-1 while being more open I have a feeling you'd still be calling for him to be sacked. A major rule in any sport is you don't play into your opponents hands. 

You can go back and check if I called for him to be sacked when we lost 4-1 to watford. And that was Watford (with all due respect).

I dont want us playing with a gung-ho arsenalish approach. The point here is what happens when the plan A has failed or stops working? According to Conte the plan B is wait until the 80th minute, then take off our most in-form player keeping the likes of pedro on the pitch and then take off our best player?

Barca worked to a certain extent because of their old and slow mid and defence. United worked because we actually had a no.9 who sadly could not take his chances. City was a completely different ball game. We tried playing the way we did against barca and it failed miserably. Not because of players not trying but city's midfield actually choked us, and unlike barca did not let the likes of willian run through them and also completely, nullified hazard. So what was Conte's answer to that? Keep the same formation and tactics until 80th minute? I am sorry, but you cant let one moses' half chance be the stick to beat the players and somehow redeem Conte. Hell, even swansea can have a half chance playing against city. For a team that had 370 odd million pounds' talent worth, we played like a league 2 team and all of it was down to the manager's tactics. We were crying out loud for a striker since the 60th minute or so. 

Conte is doing the same mistake which Mourinho and Raneiri did after winning the title, he hasn't evolved. He is sticking to the same tactics despite teams finding a way to counter us. 

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by DG19

He needs to go, the sooner the better. This isn’t going to get any better.

I suspect the boards waiting for us to fail to qualify CL to sack him, it is probably in his contract if you don't qualify for champions league you get a vastly reduced compensation and you can leave. So I suspect once it's mathematically impossible he will be gone but what will be the real cost of that? Will he push Hazard out the door? Will Tibo go?

 

 

Seemingly yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the sacking of AVB ;)

By no means do I want Conte sacked, I think he's a class act.  But at the minute he seems to have given up, too concerned with the board and what he hasn't got.  Yes there's gripes to be had with transfer policy and whos in charge of it.  Maybe Emenalo wasn't so bad.  But if he's resigned to leaving and has given up, what does he really care about the future of Chelsea.  Im sure hes not intentionally causing a bad atmosphere to get the sack, but at the same time its possible.  I cant understand why he Waits too long in a game to make a change.  in and around 80mins against united and city. Although not immediately required against united, but we were 2nd best in 2nd half.   yesterday we were dreadful and t was painful to watch.  Hazard as a false 9 just doesn't work, the games passing him by when he's in that role against the better teams.  It will drive Hazard out of the club when he's not enjoying the football.  Due to Conte's stubbornness and trying to prove a point we may end up Missing out on Champions league, losing Hazard and Courtois, Moratas confidence shredded because Conte obviously doesn't trust him in big games.  signing mediocre players again as no CL. Why must we go through this cycle every 2 to 3 years. 

I hope we manage to keep him but the signs are bad. It seems the players are disagreeing with him after that shocking performance.

I'm done with setting up scared stiff of the opposition. It's been the same for a long time under multiple managers. 

When we had drogba to hold the ball up, and a defence that could withstand an onslaught, it made sense to concede possession and play on the counter in some games.

We now have a defence that will probably make a mistake or 2 over the 90 mins, and we are trying to play balls up to a winger out of position. 

I'm hoping for a change in philosophy in the summer. Let's get a manager in that can instill confidence in the team, so we go into big games, with the mindset that the opposition need to worry about us, more than we have to worry about them.

Outside of saving money i struggle to see good reasons to persist with Conte.

We have been horrendous all year and yesterday was a new low. He is killing Hazard and getting zilch out of one of the best attacking players in the world.

We are also sinking fast and the gap up to fourth is just getting bigger and bigger.

Last season was great. This season we got the bitter, cowardly and confrontational Conte who to me isn’t the same manager as he was in his first season here.

from hazard saying he can't perform as well in the false 9 position, then courtois' comments about taking hazard off vs utd, now playing hazard again in that position. why does he persist with it? if a player has said it's not his best position and he's not a fan, why does the coach not play him in the position he's most effective? conte is taking away 50% of our attacking threat with willian being about 30% of our attacking threat, then the rest coming from morata/giroud/pedro.

a coach is supposed to coach. i honestly can't blame the players for lack of effort. the previous games vs utd, barcelona etc have been positive and shown signs the players want to fight, but right now conte is making it difficult for them to continue doing so if he persists with personnel, tactics and formation that is nowhere near as effective as it/they was last season. 

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by enigma

For all his sh*ttalk of "I'm an ambitious manager" his tactics were the most negative I've ever seen. 

What was the plan Antonio? Not get diddled too hard? 

 

Absolutely pathetic when we need the points to stay within touching distance of top 4.

If he pulls this stunt again against Barca I'll lose the will to live. 

I wanted to keep him even after Bournemouth and Watford but yesterday was the point I realise he doesn't really care and the players don't want him here. It's clear as day Hazard literally gave up

I saw Conte win the league with Alonso, Moses, Cahill, Fabregas, Pedro, and 1 striker. Never again will a top club win the Premier League with such a low standard of players - regardless how many games they do or don't play that season.

Conte can't stay just because he's won us a shiny trophy, but what he's done seems already forgotten. These aren't massive deals, but they're something - tying the longest winning streak in Premier League history; most consecutive Manager of the Month awards in Premier League history; reinventing the Premier League league's style of football, slowing the league's decline. Nevermind integrating Christensen, and overseeing Azpilicueta add even more to his game.
(As if those aren't enough, I just remembered he even set the new record for most Premier League games won in a season. Come on now; we've had brilliant Chelsea, Arsenal, United sides, even unbeaten sides - and Conte got more wins than them all; from the incredible 90's teams, to the competitive mid 2000's teams, to the latest cash-injected Man City side. All of them - looking up to Chelsea and how many games they can win.)

Nothing but respect for my Italian Don, even if he is still naive in some aspects. If he was given more money, and an absolute oath from the board that he could stay for 5 full seasons if desired - i believe finally, for the first time under Roman, we would've been able to create a long-term identity and model. We're hardly even at the half way point.
 

This collapse of a season is entirely down to the players we have at our disposal; and under no sun did Conte request Barkley, Drinkwater, Rudiger (a Chelsea target for over 4 years), and so on. 

Give a manager time, our fanbase say It's hard to ignore Conte's lack of passion now, but it's understandable. If he just kept being the board's bitch, nothing would change. Consider this season to be one more hard slugger to the jaw of the system keeping us schizophrenic. Which we'd never get if Conte sat on his fingers with zipped lips. Our future years of nirvana, hopefully, are closer because of Conte. A lot closer than they would've been under any manager bar Guardiola.

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by fiel

Blod Fam sack Conte blod yeah fam he’s a coward fam his digging our players blod fam Conte out blablabla 

Some comments in here are AFTV level and embarrassing to read

It's been pretty clear that he doesn't want to stay long-term from as long ago as the summer, when he [we're assuming] refused a contract extension. Even José, the notorious ephemerist, spoke about his '10-year plans' and about building a legacy; we've never really heard that from Conte. This in of itself isn't necessarily a problem, he's a human being and thus entitled to live his life and lead his career as he pleases.

I don't really want to get into his attitude this season as it has been (and will be, no doubt) covered ad nauseam on here and elsewhere. One comparison I wanted to bring up was with Guus during his initial brilliant spell with us. He, similar to Conte, made it fairly clear from the offset that he wasn't particularly interested in a long-term deal, and as popular as he was, and as much as the fans (and maybe even the board) pleaded, he did his job and then left on a high. That said, Guus was so incredibly respectful towards us the whole time and behaved as if he were honoured to be here and flattered to be in such great demand. It's a crying shame we're not seeing that from Conte. He should have left the Bridge as a giant, instead it's looking increasingly likely that he will leave it a pariah, and it's entirely his own doing.

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by PloKoon13

I just find it so polarising how he's given the impression in his first season he's a great motivator and actively improved some of our squad players and yet this season it's flipped 180 degrees and all he's done is demeaned the new signings, Showed little trust in playing a genuine striker and shown no faith in the ability of the squad with such negative tactics.

How do we go from winning thirty games in a season to playing with so much fear we can barely pass the ball?

Should have just given him the money and players he wanted and if we wanted to be thrifty reign in the spending the following season. But I guess having 2 good seasons in a row is too much  to ask these days. 

I think for Conte to want to leave, there must be something profound going on. He came to the club already knowing our reputation when it comes to being difficult with managers; or more accurately, 'head coaches'. 

He knew he'd work with a DoF, he knew he'd bend to the will of his superiors - yet he signed up, and yet still, he seems genuinely upset or disturbed about the environment he's working in. 

Is it a case of, Conte genuinely had that much confidence he could reform our ways, yet, our ways are still this set in stone? I'd walk.

Maybe he's decided 'I've proven myself in England with a title - why would I stick around for the bad weather?' I'd walk, in this day and age.

But, at the end of the day, I'm believing he simply isn't fond of the league, the media, weather; simply the sum of 'everything' here. He isn't in the best club environment, sure, but you'd stick this out if you were in Italian sunshine in a league where tactical nuance is at the forefront. It's surely much easier to become a depressed manager over here than in Italy, Spain, France.

We always respect players for moving on if it's due to family or health reasons - and we should be the same way if that's the case with Conte, which i presume based on his character. I can't respect not giving his all for the club, but then again, I respect a man willing to take an easy 20m - it's just logic! He's very cunning and sensitive, that's for sure.

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by fiel

I honestly don't think another manager is just going to come in right now and suddenly restore us to the top 4. The current team isn't good enough and the board has to take some of the blame for that. I suspect Conte will at least stay in his position as long as we are in the Champions League. If we lose to Barca then he may be shown the door and we will probably bring in a caretaker for the rest of the season. At that point I would expect patchy form (like with Guus' second stint) with us finishing 5th or 6th. Probably the best we could hope for in that scenario is to stay in the FA Cup and see some minutes for the youth players.

However if we want to challenge again next season we will need to upgrade the first team. We have some decent squad players but the first team hasn't been improved in some time. All of our signings in the last year or 2 have been like for like squad replacements while our rivals have upgraded.

Could he be sacked for gross misconduct? I know if I slagged off my company in public, I’d be out the door.

I even have to watch what I put on Facebook.