Wow, how can you say Conte is not hard working on training ? The players blame him for the hard training sessions. And tactically he is still one of the best. 

I believe he is definitely a better manager than what he has shown this season,he has only run the season on roughly 60%,because the board he believed didn't back him enough.

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

Yeah, I'm with you on that 100% 

I don't know why we've turned into Arsenal over the last 5 years, not even Spurs would sell their players to anyone in England, why we do that I'll never know. 

Could you imagine United selling us Matic? Would never happen. 

Walker...

Conte wanted Dzeko and the board tried to sign him but he didn't want only 1 year in his contract so that broke apart. Conte got Giroud instead. Conte also wanted Emerson,Rudiger and got both, also Zappacosta.

Yeah, a lot of us here thinks Conte wanted Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta and he got them, so the board backed him... Oops!
Let's use our common sense a bit here, ask yourself, if the board had backed Conte by signing the players he clamoured for in Alex Sandro, Bonucci and Danilo, would we still have signed the former three? Food for thought.
The board got it right with Rudiger but the average less impact Emerson and Zapacosta had on the team still proves the board are still responsible for the failure of the team this season.
The signing of Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta seems more like Conte's second or third choice options. Now look at Liverpool before the signing of Van Diyk, they concede goals in almost all there matches, assuming their board forced Klopp to go for a different defender since the Saints wanted an incredible 75m for his first choice option to sort out the defensive problem in the team, who knows if Klopp's second option would have adapted easily with the team without a preseason? Who knows if he would have bring the same stability to there defence? Will they still have made it to the final of the Champions league?
Am with Conte in this, and trust me, if he simply had taken us back to a top 4 team without winning the league last season, the board would have given him there maximum support in the beginning of the just concluded season. But they punished him because he performed above expectations in his first season.

27 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

At least this season the biggest problem was lack of goals from our new and big signing Morata that was supposed to replace Diego Costa. Part from Hazard there has to be an offensive player capable of scoring 20 goals in the league, without that player we can forget playing in Champions league every season.

The last 2 games of the season summed up Conte in a nutshell, lost 5 points due to some sh*t management and that would have made us been on the same points as Liverpool and 2 behind Spurs, not having a player scoring 20 goals wouldn’t have changed that. All the games we dropped even more silly points and we would be going into so many lost points.

This squad of players is more than capable of top 4 at least, the reason it didn’t was mainly because of Conte’s management. Conte has covered his back all season and tried to push the blame on anyone else, it’s been embarrassing.

8 minutes ago, Geert The Flyer said:

Wow, how can you say Conte is not hard working on training ? The players blame him for the hard training sessions. And tactically he is still one of the best. 

He's done nothing to fix the tactical issues this season and has spent it whining about not getting a blank cheque.

4 minutes ago, wallosh said:

Yeah, a lot of us here thinks Conte wanted Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta and he got them, so the board backed him... Oops!
Let's use our common sense a bit here, ask yourself, if the board had backed Conte by signing the players he clamoured for in Alex Sandro, Bonucci and Danilo, would we still have signed the former three? Food for thought.
The board got it right with Rudiger but the average less impact Emerson and Zapacosta had on the team still proves the board are still responsible for the failure of the team this season.
The signing of Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta seems more like Conte's second or third choice options. Now look at Liverpool before the signing of Van Diyk, they concede goals in almost all there matches, assuming their board forced Klopp to go for a different defender since the Saints wanted an incredible 75m for his first choice option to sort out the defensive problem in the team, who knows if Klopp's second option would have adapted easily with the team without a preseason? Who knows if he would have bring the same stability to there defence? Will they still have made it to the final of the Champions league?
Am with Conte in this, and trust me, if he simply had taken us back to a top 4 team without winning the league last season, the board would have given him there maximum support in the beginning of the just concluded season. But they punished him because he performed above expectations in his first season.

Danilo - wanted to join City fullstop

Sandro - we are talking ridiculous money for a LB, the fee could have been stupid.

Bonucci - 31 yr old going for nearly 40m, the fee would have been higher with Chelsea involved, plus wages etc.

Lets just say these might be true, we don’t know for sure. Why would the Chelsea board want to commit so much money to players who 1 didn’t even want to sign and 1 is in their 30’s. If rumours are to be believed then it hasn’t been good since last summer, the manager hasn’t extended his contract. If you look at it in that way you can fully understand why the board didn’t feel prepared to spend the money on those 3 players, specially after the performance Conte has put in this year on and off the pitch.

At least this season the biggest problem was lack of goals from our new and big signing Morata that was supposed to replace Diego Costa. Part from Hazard there has to be an offensive player capable of scoring 20 goals in the league, without that player we can forget playing in Champions league every season.

To be honest with you, every manager make mistakes, and I think Conte was actually wrong about replacing Costa with Morata. But the thing is Conte doesn't like a defensive approach to games like everyone has been saying. He is more in favour of the attacking 3-4-3 formation than the defensive 3-5-2, but just as we have seen this season the average performances of Bakayoko or Fabregas in a 3-4-3 formation when paired with Kante has caused us more harm than good this season which forced us resort to the defensive 3-5-2 when playing against good team. If we had a good midfielder to pair with Kante in a 3-4-3 formation, trust me, Conte will never have to switch to a defensive formation in order to beat a top team just like we saw on Saturday. So YES he got the best out of the team.

A lot of our issues this season were tactical/lack of positional structures with the ball. That's on Conte.

Wow, how can you say Conte is not hard working on training ? The players blame him for the hard training sessions. And tactically he is still one of the best. 

I also laughed when I saw that!

6 minutes ago, wallosh said:

Yeah, a lot of us here thinks Conte wanted Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta and he got them, so the board backed him... Oops!
Let's use our common sense a bit here, ask yourself, if the board had backed Conte by signing the players he clamoured for in Alex Sandro, Bonucci and Danilo, would we still have signed the former three? Food for thought.
The board got it right with Rudiger but the average less impact Emerson and Zapacosta had on the team still proves the board are still responsible for the failure of the team this season.
The signing of Emerson, Rudiger and Zapacosta seems more like Conte's second or third choice options. Now look at Liverpool before the signing of Van Diyk, they concede goals in almost all there matches, assuming their board forced Klopp to go for a different defender since the Saints wanted an incredible 75m for his first choice option to sort out the defensive problem in the team, who knows if Klopp's second option would have adapted easily with the team without a preseason? Who knows if he would have bring the same stability to there defence? Will they still have made it to the final of the Champions league?
Am with Conte in this, and trust me, if he simply had taken us back to a top 4 team without winning the league last season, the board would have given him there maximum support in the beginning of the just concluded season. But they punished him because he performed above expectations in his first season.

Even if he wasn't backed by the board 100% it is still a fact that Rudiger was his target and joined because of Conte, he said it himself, same case for Emerson and Zappacosta in January and Conte was talking up Morata very much as well.
How realistic was it to sign Alex Sandro and Bonucci at the time when players were going for more than double of their worth and when the asking price for Alex Sandro was beyond ridiculous? Sure there were rumors of Conte wanting to sign Chiellini as well but how realistic was that target and did we really suffer from not having Alex Sandro or did we suffer from not having a proper replacement for Costa and Matic throughout the majority of this season?

Don't forget that Liverpool cashed in a very large sum of money from Coutinho and they just didn't care to spend for Van Diyk, he was their target for so long that it became so silly that nobody was able to hide that he was leaving for Liverpool months before he actually joined.

It's very in the open that Conte wants more investment for the squad, Hazard wants it as well. At the same time we might lose Courtois,Willian and even Hazard in the summer and Morata is rumored to go back to Juventus.
It all looks like Conte is overall right and that only more spending in new players will solve the squad problems, if the board doesn't see that, our next manager is going to have a very hard time.

3 hours ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

Add Giroud to that list. Conte wanted a target man and got one. Every signing may not have been dictated by him but that doesn't mean none were. 

He wanted striker in the summer, and we get one in the very end of the transfer window - that is a fact !

Vialli is close to the club, so he know better then me and you ?
And Conte himself he said he has zero word on transfer and every single player from the summer was board choice - fact !!!

And you are going to tell me that Conte main target was Emerson and Zapacostta, player that come in the last minute, and play almost to zero time in this season ?

Quote me where Conte said he wanted Rudiger.
He wanted Morata last season, not this one.

Obviously first target was Lukaku. Once again missed.

But that is a thing we speak of for hundred time.

No sense for Conte to say he has no word in transfer and is just a coach if it`s not like that. He was saying this thing earlier, not when we was out of top 4, to defend his reputation.

 

How do you know Conte didnt want Baka? His been a first team regular this season so surely his a player he wanted.

Conte likes to improve his team with experience players above the age of 25,26. I don't see Bakayoko in that category, I sincerely believe that Bakayoko was signed by Emenalo as a future player to replace Matic.

25 minutes ago, brakeit said:

He wanted striker in the summer, and we get one in the very end of the transfer window - that is a fact !

Vialli is close to the club, so he know better then me and you ?
And Conte himself he said he has zero word on transfer and every single player from the summer was board choice - fact !!!

And you are going to tell me that Conte main target was Emerson and Zapacostta, player that come in the last minute, and play almost to zero time in this season ?

Quote me where Conte said he wanted Rudiger.
He wanted Morata last season, not this one.

Obviously first target was Lukaku. Once again missed.

But that is a thing we speak of for hundred time.

No sense for Conte to say he has no word in transfer and is just a coach if it`s not like that. He was saying this thing earlier, not when we was out of top 4, to defend his reputation.

 

As you seem to believe every word Conte says, do you also believe what he said about Emenalo?

6 hours ago, Sindre said:

Willian on instagram.
Conte is hidden behind those three throphies on the right.

Wonder what happened between those two. 

 

Willian apparently forgetting he's a man approaching his 30's, not a kid approaching 13.

I'm getting tired of having a squad of players that have a lack of professionalism. If this is what he had to deal with week in, week out is it any wonder Conte lost his passion?

Guessing Willian thinks he's going to be leaving this window anyway but o be honest, despite what he's done for the club, I'm getting sick and tired of these 'off seasons'. If you don't like your boss, tough sh*t. If people getting paid £16K a year can put aside petty grievances people earning £16k a day certainly can

1 hour ago, Davey Baby said:

Horrible comments from Conte, saying he got the maximum out of the squad, basically doing what he's been doing all season, exempting himself from blame, instead choosing to blame his players and the board. Pathetic.

 

Funny how Liverpool got top four and are in the CL final, with a midfield consisting of Henderson, Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain, and sporting two rookie full-backs. We only beat Norwich on penalties lest we forget, and that after a replay. We lost to many inferior sides this season, which ultimately cost us, and yet, if Conte is to be believed, this group of players aren't capable of anything better.

 

Sure Antonio, whatever you say.

Maybe Chelsea needs to hear what Antonio has to say. He didn't say what you imply. He said maybe to that. I don't think he has been disrespectful. He said before the season we will struggle as he knew how the summer went. 

1 hour ago, Geert The Flyer said:

Walker...

Fair point, forgot about him, but I'm sure he was coming into his final year and stated he was going to leave. 

16 minutes ago, evissy said:

Maybe Chelsea needs to hear what Antonio has to say. He didn't say what you imply. He said maybe to that. I don't think he has been disrespectful. He said before the season we will struggle as he knew how the summer went. 

We had a better squad than Liverpool and Spurs and also spent more than both in the summer.

Both those clubs got top 4 and one is in the CL final. 

His excuses and that's what they are wear thin 

22 minutes ago, evissy said:

Maybe Chelsea needs to hear what Antonio has to say. He didn't say what you imply. He said maybe to that. I don't think he has been disrespectful. He said before the season we will struggle as he knew how the summer went. 

But the reason we struggled was him, him whining, talking down his players, not using the squad, terrible substitutions, never changing things during games where it was blatant we needed to. I could make any claim now if its one I have a massive influence on. 

23 minutes ago, abigsmurf said:

If people getting paid £16K a year can put aside petty grievances people earning £16k a day certainly can

Not just Willian here, lots of players are up to it nowadays. I’ve been at loggerheads with my manager since December, I still turn up on time everyday and work my bollocks off. 

I suppose it’s easier to not care when you can walk straight in to another job paying you loads of money or even easily live comfortably unemployed for a time. 

What Willian posted was very petty but Willian has generally always been an extremely top professional while he's been with us and was one of our only players that actually performed in Mourinho's last season. Conte must have seriously rubbed him up the wrong way for that reaction

He's also had a massive falling out with Costa and Luiz, he also appears to have quite a strained relationship with hazard. 

I'll always appreciate what Conte has done for us but I find it hard to defend him, he's whined all season, moaned about the squad not being good enough and has tactically been shocking at times this season

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Even if he wasn't backed by the board 100% it is still a fact that Rudiger was his target and joined because of Conte, he said it himself, same case for Emerson and Zappacosta in January and Conte was talking up Morata very much as well.
How realistic was it to sign Alex Sandro and Bonucci at the time when players were going for more than double of their worth and when the asking price for Alex Sandro was beyond ridiculous? Sure there were rumors of Conte wanting to sign Chiellini as well but how realistic was that target and did we really suffer from not having Alex Sandro or did we suffer from not having a proper replacement for Costa and Matic throughout the majority of this season?

Don't forget that Liverpool cashed in a very large sum of money from Coutinho and they just didn't care to spend for Van Diyk, he was their target for so long that it became so silly that nobody was able to hide that he was leaving for Liverpool months before he actually joined.

It's very in the open that Conte wants more investment for the squad, Hazard wants it as well. At the same time we might lose Courtois,Willian and even Hazard in the summer and Morata is rumored to go back to Juventus.
It all looks like Conte is overall right and that only more spending in new players will solve the squad problems, if the board doesn't see that, our next manager is going to have a very hard time.

Where exactly you see Conte saying that by himself? There is no manager in the world that would want Zapacostta and Emerson infront of Walker and Mendy.
Conte said he wanted both Walker and Mendy.

Let me quote him:

"Honestly I think my focus is only on the pitch and then there is the club. The club is working very hard to try to change our team and our squad and then we'll see what happens at the end of the transfer market."

“No, but... I like to [only] talk about a situation that could be real. You understand?" Conte said to reporters at Cobham Training Ground. “Now, this is not important to talk about Sanchez. Not important. Because he's not our problem, so why do I have to waste words on nothing.”

“I think that we must prefer the quality and not the quantity. In this case, if we reduce the problem only for money, this is not good for the football. If the reason is only because I pay you, you have to play a lot of games, this is the only reason, then this is not right. You are diluting the quality. This is not right.

But Conte says he is only focused on coaching the team and is not party to the transfer planning done by the club’s recruitment team.

‘But as you know very well I stay here to work. I’m a coach. For the transfer market there is the club and you have to ask the club.’

‘I have to respect every decision of the club. This must be very clear.’

Conte said on Wednesday: “The club decide our transfer market. From the summer, the club decides every single player.”

“I’m repeating always the same thing. I’m the coach. My task is to try to do the best for this club, to try to improve my players for this club.”

"In this aspect I can improve a lot. I have to learn a lot from the other coaches, the other managers, in that aspect. I have to speak more with the managers who are very, very good to persuade their clubs to spend money and buy top players."

I'm only the coach and not sporting director or manager.
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11221878/conte-the-club-handle-transfers

The last video interview say it`s all.

End ot topic.

Whoever said after this that this and that player are Conte choices is mad.

Chelsbear, so Bayern is the best by 100x margin in the Bundesliga, yet they lose to Eintracht Frankfurt the german Cup.
Football not working that way.

Edited May 20, 20188 yr by brakeit

4 minutes ago, brakeit said:

Where exactly you see Conte saying that by himself? There is no manager in the world that would want Zapacostta and Emerson infront of Walker and Mendy.
Conte said he wanted both Walker and Mendy.

Let me quote him:

"Honestly I think my focus is only on the pitch and then there is the club. The club is working very hard to try to change our team and our squad and then we'll see what happens at the end of the transfer market."

“No, but... I like to [only] talk about a situation that could be real. You understand?" Conte said to reporters at Cobham Training Ground. “Now, this is not important to talk about Sanchez. Not important. Because he's not our problem, so why do I have to waste words on nothing.”

“I think that we must prefer the quality and not the quantity. In this case, if we reduce the problem only for money, this is not good for the football. If the reason is only because I pay you, you have to play a lot of games, this is the only reason, then this is not right. You are diluting the quality. This is not right.

But Conte says he is only focused on coaching the team and is not party to the transfer planning done by the club’s recruitment team.

‘But as you know very well I stay here to work. I’m a coach. For the transfer market there is the club and you have to ask the club.’

‘I have to respect every decision of the club. This must be very clear.’

Conte said on Wednesday: “The club decide our transfer market. From the summer, the club decides every single player.”

“I’m repeating always the same thing. I’m the coach. My task is to try to do the best for this club, to try to improve my players for this club.”

"In this aspect I can improve a lot. I have to learn a lot from the other coaches, the other managers, in that aspect. I have to speak more with the managers who are very, very good to persuade their clubs to spend money and buy top players."

I'm only the coach and not sporting director or manager.
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11221878/conte-the-club-handle-transfers

The last video interview say it`s all.

End ot topic.

Whoever said after this that this and that player are Conte choices is mad.

Chelsbear, so Bayern is the best by 100x margin in the Bundesliga, yet they lose to Eintracht Frankfurt the german Cup.
Football not working that way.

I know very well that those were his words, you're right. He did want Walker, he also wanted Kane. But Zappacosta and Emerson were January signings so it's not really the same, again I do repeat, you're right in everything you said.

4 hours ago, brakeit said:

He wanted striker in the summer, and we get one in the very end of the transfer window - that is a fact !

Vialli is close to the club, so he know better then me and you ?
And Conte himself he said he has zero word on transfer and every single player from the summer was board choice - fact !!!

And you are going to tell me that Conte main target was Emerson and Zapacostta, player that come in the last minute, and play almost to zero time in this season ?

Quote me where Conte said he wanted Rudiger.
He wanted Morata last season, not this one.

Obviously first target was Lukaku. Once again missed.

But that is a thing we speak of for hundred time.

No sense for Conte to say he has no word in transfer and is just a coach if it`s not like that. He was saying this thing earlier, not when we was out of top 4, to defend his reputation.

 

So you believe he didn't want Morata this season, only last season? 

We can go around in circles over this. The clubs main target at FB was Alex Sandro but he wasn't available for whatever reason, I suppose in your mind Conte didn't want Sandro anyway? Zapp and Emerson were signed because we couldn't get Sandro, which again I presume Conte didn't want either in your mind?

There was CLEARY intent from Conte to strengthen certain positions regardless of who we actually signed so if that amounts to zero for you then so be it. 

This business about only being the coach doesn't mean he has no input, it just implies he's not in charge of the purse strings so he can ask or suggest players he'd like but it's not his decision ultimately which is why he mentions getting advice on persuading the club to spend money. 

Edited May 20, 20188 yr by TheChelseaBlues

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I know very well that those were his words, you're right. He did want Walker, he also wanted Kane. But Zappacosta and Emerson were January signings so it's not really the same, again I do repeat, you're right in everything you said.

Everyone knew Walker and Mendy was joining City and only City, the players know about the deals long before they happen. For some reason someone seems to think because a name was mentioned once it means that player was a Conte target but the club had failed to agree a fee and wages and it's all the boards fault. Every manager can just drop names of players they like, doesn't mean they was realistically a target.