I'm gutted because I've not managed to get down this season. Gonna try really hard to make at least one game. I've grown to love what I see from Conte and the team. It's definately rubbed off on me. 

Edited January 28, 20179 yr by stevo

On 1/19/2017 at 06:26, Backbiter said:

Zlatan?

There's nothing in the quote talking about himself in Zlatan so no, definitely not him. LOL

Steven Gerrard: "John Terry said that the difference between Conte and Mourinho is tactics, they work a lot more on tactics in training."

interesting quote. 

Conte have to see that 3-5-2 is much better against top 6, even more so against high pressing teams like Liverpool, Tottenham and City. Against Liverpool today our front three was cut off and did very little when Liverpool was allowed to control the central midfield. There was a huge change when Fabregas came on in the last 10 minutes, with Pedro and Costa as our strikers. We got control over the game and had some good chances to score, while Liverpool didn't have anything other then a weak Firminho header.

Are we proud of that performance? Is the manager? If not, then what changes must Conte make? Is it formation? Is it personnel? A defence with both Azpi and Luiz is good enough. An attack with Hazard & Costa, should in theory, be good enough. Kante is good enough. Matic isn't *so* bad that by replacing him, everything will be fixed - so where are our biggest problems? Is it the fact we have solid, yet not exceptional players? Players of 6.5 consistency every game (Moses/Alonso) who rarely raise themselves to 8.0+ in the big games? I think it's the latter. I think we're solid all over the pitch yet spectacular in 0 areas. And actually, i'd start at the front - new striker, new winger for Pedro to compete with - then replace Matic, but don't stop there - bring in another top quality player so that Matic's replacement can be replaced on the bad days. And then defence, that's the least of our worries, as we've seen over the course of the season and even today. 1 man (Matic) is not enough to make a whole team crap, and the rest of our midfield has elite qualities - our attack is the least elite-looking. Yet it's got the most PR in terms of positively marketed players, so it's hard for a lot of people to see.

3 hours ago, Katyusha said:

Are we proud of that performance? Is the manager? If not, then what changes must Conte make? Is it formation? Is it personnel? A defence with both Azpi and Luiz is good enough. An attack with Hazard & Costa, should in theory, be good enough. Kante is good enough. Matic isn't *so* bad that by replacing him, everything will be fixed - so where are our biggest problems? Is it the fact we have solid, yet not exceptional players? Players of 6.5 consistency every game (Moses/Alonso) who rarely raise themselves to 8.0+ in the big games? I think it's the latter. I think we're solid all over the pitch yet spectacular in 0 areas. And actually, i'd start at the front - new striker, new winger for Pedro to compete with - then replace Matic, but don't stop there - bring in another top quality player so that Matic's replacement can be replaced on the bad days. And then defence, that's the least of our worries, as we've seen over the course of the season and even today. 1 man (Matic) is not enough to make a whole team crap, and the rest of our midfield has elite qualities - our attack is the least elite-looking. Yet it's got the most PR in terms of positively marketed players, so it's hard for a lot of people to see.

 

Agree with your points regarding many players being solid but unspectacular.

Conte has been doing a great job and the team has been the best managed of the top sides so far. Passing is clearly not a strength of the side and Chelsea has therefore been unable to boss big games in terms of possession. Apart from Luiz and Hazard, I can't think of many others that started the game against Liverpool that are great at passing the ball. Conte has done wonders mitigating this flaw.

9 hours ago, JM7 said:

Steven Gerrard: "John Terry said that the difference between Conte and Mourinho is tactics, they work a lot more on tactics in training."

interesting quote. 

Looked pretty much the same tactic in big games tho.. I hate jose for that and logically anyone who shares that same inferior mentality approach.. 

People just moan and moan

f**king unbelievable isn't it....

2 hours ago, bola said:

Looked pretty much the same tactic in big games tho.. I hate jose for that and logically anyone who shares that same inferior mentality approach.. 

Do you think there will ever come a day that you might stop hating jose? Do you think there will ever come another day when you'll realize that you're the patsy & that you've been the patsy all along?

Because the sooner that either come along, it'll be a good day for you.

Edited February 1, 20179 yr by youlots

Doesn't wear a suit and we don't win. 

Coincidence? 

I think not. 

the future will be exciting once he and the board work to get the targets he wants. i feel we are just a top class lwb, and maybe a top class rwb, and a quality b2b mifielder away from challenging on all fronts. 

We have got the most points in the top 5 leagues.

Some teams are missing games like Real Madrid and Bayern, but we still have achieved something special under Conte.

5 hours ago, bola said:

Looked pretty much the same tactic in big games tho.. I hate jose for that and logically anyone who shares that same inferior mentality approach.. 

ugh.

he hasn't set out to sit back in any match we've played this season.

"sitting back" is a consequence of not being able to break through the press and get the wing backs high up the pitch. away to city, who have the best forward players in the league, we were able to meet them high up the pitch because they didn't press as well as spurs and liverpool do.

conte approaches football the way guardiola does- the distance between the deepest outfield player and the most advanced one has to stay the same at all points- so the team can only get forward by passing the ball in a specific way and the whole team moves up and down as one. so if you cant get the ball up the pitch with good possession then the wingbacks will always be too deep to offer out balls. a manager like jose or ferguson would be happy to stretch the pitch and leave open spaces where the game can become end to end (if they calculate it is a risk worth taking), but conte won't do that (I don't think).

with that in mind, they way to deal with a spurs or liverpool type press is by using long balls or by playing through the press. going long like that isn't something conte will do (and if you want to criticise him it is here), he wants this team to be able to pass through a press (which it struggles with at the moment).

Quote

Liverpool have their own identity and that makes them stronger - they play 4-3-3. When you change your system, you lose your identity and it makes it easier for other teams to beat you."

that is conte the other day. this is how he conceptualises football. he sees his job as to establish a way of playing and then make that way as effective as possible. if we play a game deep in our half then that tells you something about how far along the team is in its development (room to improve, but 9 points clear in feb) and how good the opposition is (against the top sides liverpool are probably the best in the country).

every time I read you post I think "this is a guy who is watching golf or bowling or something". you certainly don't seem to appreciate that football isn't a solo sport where we are trying to create personal bests.

1 hour ago, g3.7 said:

ugh.

he hasn't set out to sit back in any match we've played this season.

"sitting back" is a consequence of not being able to break through the press and get the wing backs high up the pitch. away to city, who have the best forward players in the league, we were able to meet them high up the pitch because they didn't press as well as spurs and liverpool do.

conte approaches football the way guardiola does- the distance between the deepest outfield player and the most advanced one has to stay the same at all points- so the team can only get forward by passing the ball in a specific way and the whole team moves up and down as one. so if you cant get the ball up the pitch with good possession then the wingbacks will always be too deep to offer out balls. a manager like jose or ferguson would be happy to stretch the pitch and leave open spaces where the game can become end to end (if they calculate it is a risk worth taking), but conte won't do that (I don't think).

with that in mind, they way to deal with a spurs or liverpool type press is by using long balls or by playing through the press. going long like that isn't something conte will do (and if you want to criticise him it is here), he wants this team to be able to pass through a press (which it struggles with at the moment).

that is conte the other day. this is how he conceptualises football. he sees his job as to establish a way of playing and then make that way as effective as possible. if we play a game deep in our half then that tells you something about how far along the team is in its development (room to improve, but 9 points clear in feb) and how good the opposition is (against the top sides liverpool are probably the best in the country).

every time I read you post I think "this is a guy who is watching golf or bowling or something". you certainly don't seem to appreciate that football isn't a solo sport where we are trying to create personal bests.

 

Reason why we can't because we're not set up to play that way, his preference of line up plays a significant role in that, it's his decision, contradicting to what he wanted as you claimed..  Most of the times against top side, be that possession or attempt on goals, we were 2nd best... Just because we occasionally managed to go higher up the opposition pitch during counter, doesn't mean the main gameplan is not sitting back...  No team can last the full 90 minutes with intense pressing game and no team can have a perfect press every single time, the opposition is  bound to break away and have that going forward moment, the chance will always be there.. It's about on what you do when the chance arrives..

 

And the best way to deal with pressing game is not by playing long ball, long ball is the easiest way & lacklustre way..  The best way is through quick passing within calculated positioning between set of players and I couldn't see any sign of that positioning being harnessed..  Conte put emphasis on general zonal defending, preferring players who he thinks better with chasing the ball but when his players managed to steal or get hold of the ball, more often than not, they lost it because they have no idea what to do if the chance wasn't presented to them in the most obvious manner, a lack of game plan in term of building the attack here or a gameplan just for keeping possession to calm down and disturb opposition momentum.. Maybe for you, that's identity but an identitiy where we struggle building up attack is an identity that I don't fancy..

 

Last but not least, no matter how you look at it, liverpool are the least talented team overall among the big 6, even a scouser like carragher admitted that much.. But how such team can outperform the more talented team in duel is maybe food for thought for you...?

With respect, literally every conclusion you've made is wrong. 

It is clear that you think the way you judge a football team is by looking at the individual quality of the 11 players. 

Okay. We have been sort of unconvincing against bigger sides. However I wouldn't be too concerned. Conte is not reacting to the opponent. He is making our lads implement this style on a deeper level and really making it come naturally. He saw our lads suit 3-4-3 well so make it the system and get better at it.

As far as I see it we are preparing to next season and the CL. We need to be more ready for it. So far we are doing far better than expected. We are on our way to win the league.

Imagine if we were 6th people would be calling for Contes head

Imagine if we were 6th people would be calling for Contes head

Only natural to a club like ours. Gladly for Conte we are 9 points up [emoji1]

This exactly how I see it we are progressing well under Conte he's imposing his game on the premier league no thought 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 could work he's making the league rethink similar to Jose 4-2-3-1/4-3-3.

Conte will have targets that he knows will absolutely take us to the elite level again and the board after seeing what he's done with was was called "finished players Rats" last season with absolutely back him

23 hours ago, JM7 said:

Steven Gerrard: "John Terry said that the difference between Conte and Mourinho is tactics, they work a lot more on tactics in training."

interesting quote. 

And it shows on the field. There's a new special one.

Conte is not someone who will underestimate opponents. Hopefully this will be a full on revenge game for us.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/761532/Antonio-Conte-Chelsea-Liverpool-Arsenal-Premier-League

19 hours ago, enigma said:

the future will be exciting once he and the board work to get the targets he wants. i feel we are just a top class lwb, and maybe a top class rwb, and a quality b2b mifielder away from challenging on all fronts. 

Yeah, it'll be good to see what he adds to the team in the summer. For the second part, in fairness, if you take any top four team and replace their 3 weaknesses with top class players, I'm sure they're all challenging.

Realistically at the start of the season we would have taking top 4 and build on that but what the boss has done has been fantastic  I'm buzzing  for the next few seasons.   He comes across  so well with the media much better  then many other managers  in the league.  Top man

There is a word the manager keeps using in interviews sounds like "epivol" he uses it a lot what is he trying to say?