On 4/15/2017 at 02:35, Barrettinator said:

 

 

True story. It showed many times this season. 

Lot's of work to do still.  Hopefully the team does not crumble down the stretch...it's truly up to this man to get us together and playing like a unit. 

6 hours ago, dkw said:

Those who have worked under Antonio Conte talk of a moment, discernible in the hours of physical drills or monotonous tactical planning back on the training ground, when the penny drops. It is as if they have all experienced that same flash of realisation, the point when any resentment that has built up at the feverish workload or incessant reminders of on-field duties gives way to acceptance of the Italian’s genius.

His players have all felt it, whether they were turning out at Arezzo at the foot of Serie B or Juventus at the pinnacle, for Bari and Atalanta in Italy’s second tier or, since last summer, with Chelsea in the Premier League. “It’s as if it suddenly dawns on you that, by following him, you can go places,” said Luca Marrone, an Italy Under-21 midfielder who played under Conte at Juve. “He’s the toughest coach you could imagine, someone who demands everything of his players, his staff, the doctors, the physios … everyone at the club has to give 100%.

“It takes time to accept the sheer amount of work he is asking of you. Everything he does, in preparation or tactical organisation, is done with maniacal precision and attention to detail. It can be overwhelming at first. But, when you realise by buying into it you can win things, you follow. He is a perfectionist. The best there is. The No1.”

Chelsea travel to Manchester United, and their latest reunion with José Mourinho, the most successful manager in their history, on Sunday with Conte tantalisingly close to achieving what most in this country thought improbable upon his appointment last summer. Recognition of this team’s progress requires the context of the mess the Italian inherited.

Last season was the worst of Roman Abramovich’s ownership, a tale of the unravelling of Mourinho’s second spell in charge, dissent in the stands and crass underachievement on the pitch. Guus Hiddink, back as interim, had instigated a lengthy unbeaten run crammed with draws but the 10th-place finish, 31 points behind Leicester City, was the worst title defence since that of Leeds United in the Premier League’s first season. Players were unrecognisable and faith in their quality had eroded. Conte often reminds the world that no one expected this club to challenge this year. Even the hierarchy have been pleasantly surprised at the pace of progress.

Back in Italy few have batted an eyelid. They were intrigued as to how their compatriot would fare in a new environment and with his grasp of the English language still in its infancy. But, deep down, they always knew the man who had restored the scudetto to Juve, and had overseen the Azzurri’s development from group-stage failures at the 2014 World Cup to one of the most impressive teams at Euro 2016, would triumph. Quality will out. Once the players recognised the value of his instruction, they would prevail.

The intensity and tenacity of the man had already been shown in pre-season, whether in Austria or Cobham via the United States, to fuel suspicions he would succeed eventually. He had arrived a week after Italy’s exit from the European Championship, a man eager to fling himself into a new role. “His secret has always been his enthusiasm,” says Massimo Carrera, Conte’s assistant at Juve from 2011 to 2014 and now coach of Spartak Moscow.

“He has this infectious energy which helps bring out the best in any player. Some might be a little unhappy to start with because they have to work so hard – his training methods are so demanding, so intense – but, when they understand all this effort brings rewards, those are the same players who ask if they can train even harder. This is Conte’s greatest triumph, and I’m convinced it’s what happened at Chelsea.

“Antonio is the best in the world because, when his players take to the pitch, they know everything about their opponents. Absolutely everything. Every little weakness or strength down to the tiniest detail. This obsessive attention to detail is his great weapon. I remember we’d spend weeks on end preparing for games. With him, a player has absolute certainty. He knows his opponents, their weak points, where to attack them, what to look out for. On the pitch they only have to play. They will never, ever, be taken by surprise.”

Reaching that point, where the playing staff accept the constant demands for “work, work, work” (a word the Chelsea manager used 32 times in a little under an hour at his first press conference), can be painful at times. Many, from Eden Hazard to Diego Costa to Cesc Fàbregas, took time to be convinced. 

The stop-start nature of training games, as the manager interrupts play to bark instructions or remind personnel they have wandered slightly out of position, grated with some. The same has happened at all his clubs. Marrone described his approach “come un martello” – “like a hammer”. “Until you get something right, he keeps you out on the training pitch to try and try again,” says the midfielder, who is on loan at Zulte Waregem in Belgium.

“Conte’s training sessions are incredible,” Carrera says. “He spends hours and hours talking to his players, wanting to prepare them for everything. And he does exactly the same with his technical staff. When he comes up against the smaller teams, the weaker sides, he demands maximum concentration. If his team loses, he gets so angry.

“He’s only able to accept defeat if his players gave absolutely everything on the pitch. But he’s an incredible motivator, a really passionate guy. He builds a great relationship with every single player, spending hour after hour talking with them, transmitting his ideas. Players follow him.”

The Italian undoubtedly taps into his own experiences as a player in building up that relationship with his squad. He has always had a presence. Giorgio Perinetti, sporting director at Venezia but on Juve’s technical staff during Conte’s playing days in Turin, recalls the midfielder imposing himself as the strongest voice in a dressing room that included Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Edgar Davids. 

“Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi would ask him to transmit their ideas to team-mates on the field because they trusted him,” he says. “He is so single-minded. And his work ethic is so strong. Leonardo Bonucci [the Juve and Italy defender] says that when match day comes for a team coached by Antonio you already feel as if you’ve played the game. In Italy, he brought a new intensity and energy to the game in a country where the rhythm has been so slow.”

He has also brought an emphasis on tactical cuteness that stood him apart even at a club previously coached by Mourinho. If the first few weeks of the season had seen Conte gauging his squad’s capabilities – and adjusting to a frustrating summer in the transfer market – then those defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal in the autumn convinced him something more radical was required.

So much has been made of the switch to 3-4-3 as innovative when it was only startling because Chelsea were previously so set in their ways. Just as significant was Conte’s willingness to adopt a system that senior players, from John Terry to Branislav Ivanovic, or even Pedro to Willian, might not be naturally suited or not even feature.

Yet the Italian felt sufficiently empowered by the encouragement he received from Abramovich, the director Marina Granovskaia and the technical director, Michael Emenalo, to instigate the changes and the instant results – Chelsea have won 25 of their 30 games playing three at the back – tell their own story.

“Impressing his vision on big-name players in the Premier League was a challenge, and he struggled at first,” says the former Chelsea striker Hernán Crespo, a veteran of spells at six Italian clubs. “But he eventually found a middle-ground. Conte made the defensive group more solid, then organised his midfield. The platform allowed his offensive players, Hazard and Pedro, more freedom to express their talent.

“He is replicating what he did at Siena and Bari, ensuring his players know exactly where to be on the pitch at any one time, and proving yet again that managers schooled at Coverciano [the Italian FA’s headquarters in Florence] are the best, tactically, in the world.”

A lack of European football has granted him empty weeks to transmit his instruction, with the club’s video analysis department – where his younger brother, Gianluca, plays a significant role – permanently rushed off their feet. Training sessions have been recorded and studied meticulously by the manager, who refers back to footage from drills and matches in his team meetings back at Cobham’s media suite.

“My players were not used to the videos at first,” Conte has said. “It was very difficult and after five or 10 minutes they would drift off. But then we started to see it in the right way. We watch games not to find out who was at fault, but because we can improve.”

Marrone remembers a 2-0 defeat the manager “took really badly” while at Juve to the extent that, half an hour after the final whistle, he “took us all off and made us watch the match again to point out everything that had happened”. There is no escaping in this regime.

Yet players quickly recognise one of their own. This is a manager who acknowledges some of their more selfless work out on the pitch. Costa, with whom Conte has had his differences, is regularly taken aside and praised for the aggressive runs, plenty of them fruitless, which set the tone for the whole team’s approach. The manager goes out of his way to know how every player is feeling, whether he is fatigued or distracted, at ease or on edge and can empathise with them given his own 19-year professional career.

The regular team meals – there was another in a London restaurant before the trip to Old Trafford – have helped bond the group. Back in the summer it had been his idea to hold a barbecue for the first-team squad, staff and their families, with the groundsman at Cobham marking out a five-a-side pitch by the main building for the players’ children, overseen by Chelsea Foundation coaches, to stage their own game while training concluded. Costa, even exhausted after a 90-minute session, ended up joining in with the kids while Conte looked on approvingly.

He has given all a platform upon which to thrive and helped to rejuvenate a club in the process. The little touches behind the scenes have made as much of an impact. The Italian’s late decision to attend the staff Christmas party, despite already having recorded a video message to be played in absentia, said a lot for the sense of responsibility he has embraced. Just as revealing were the bottles of wine and prosecco he sent to all members of staff, together with a signed note thanking them for their hard work and carrying the quote, attributed to Hannibal when his generals told him it would be impossible to cross the Alps by elephant: “We shall either find a way or make one.”

That sums up Conte’s attitude and, until now, he has been true to the Carthaginian’s word. That dogged pursuit of the title will resume at Old Trafford but the destiny of the trophy has long since felt like a foregone conclusion. Those who knew him saw this coming. Last summer, Conte had spoken to Álvaro Morata and his entourage about the possibility of swapping Real Madrid for Chelsea. The Spanish club eventually opted against a €60m sale but Morata, who had also spoken directly to Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, and his family had still been left with one certainty. “I remember talking to my dad and him saying: ‘This guy’s going to win the league there,’” the forward recalls. Morata Sr is about to be proved right."

 

good insight into his methods, and perhaps an indication as to why certain players don't get game time.

So basically, after tonight, he's going to do them up the arse? And not gently?

I think he has to take his share of the blame for today. Ake should've started to minimise the disruption in the back line, especially with courtois being out aswell. 

Fabregas should always be in the team. 

Changes made too late. 

I'm sure he will lose more sleep than us fans about this, and I expect him to come out swinging in these next few crucial weeks. 

There was an interesting statistic during that game that we had been trailing at half time in five games this season and we've lost four of those. It'll now be 5/6 that we've went on to lose.

 

That's something Conte will need to address going in to next year, at times his resistance to change things when we're trailing gives me flashbacks to last season. Perhaps it's because he doesn't trust our squad players but that in itself is a problem as he did have a large part of the summer to assess the squad. The resistance to drop Costa is reminiscent of the Ivanovic situation we had last year as well.

 

I obviously still firmly believe he's the man to take us forward, but there are some concerns there to be addressed for next year, I trust he'll get it sorted for us. I just hope it doesn't cost us before the end of the season. 

 

If we were battling it out with Citeh I would be devastated to lose the title to them but to lose it to Spuds would be unbearable.

 

 Around the time of his appointment I remember Juventus fans saying that one of Conte's biggest faults was his big game performance. I don't remember if it was only for away records (that would make sense given his near-impervious home record) but if we see the games this season it looks like the comments have some merit. Arsenal/Spurs/Man Utd comfortably beating us without us getting much on goal, poor against Liverpool who had barely obtained any points during that period. 

Man City we were clinical against but we thankfully scored our few chances whereas they failed to put away multiple of theirs (many pundits and writers arguing that if they had the game would have been over by HT

If we are to maintain title challenges and progress in Europe then I really hope we can work on this through tactical nous and greater use of the squad because let's face it, comments about improper utilisation of the squad don't stem through Conte, but from years ago. 

 

Edited April 16, 20179 yr by MANoWAR

He does deserve blame for today's loss, but this was a long time coming.

 I think his biggest flaw is that his plan A with select players has worked so good that he always only uses the same formation and same players. When a time comes where he is forced to make major changes to both the formation and players like today there is no clear cut plan B.

I see a lot of people saying we needed Ake but he has been in the bench for far too long that Ake would have struggled - Look at Zouma, he was pretty good for us in earlier seasons but today when given a chance to start, his rustiness was showing. Ditto for striker situation., Costa is undroppable because Batshuayi is hardly getting game time and if we think Costa is bad, good chance a rusty Batchuayi will be too. 

Also, he has not figured out what do with Matic, Our defensive frailities have forced him to play a 2 man defensive midfield with a limp Matic. Honestly, I would have give Chalobah or even Zouma  a chance out there if defense was his top top priority. ( Fabergas obviously if we need more offense ). Ofcourse today even Cesc was not that great but that is another story. 

Summary: Rotate players and give more squad players minutes. 

Speaking of Chalo, where the hell has he been?

The guy has been a f**king breath of fresh air for us. I love him.  He got it wrong today, and it is about time Costa had a spell on the bench, and Cesc has to start v Soton. But i am not going to start berating him and question his ability like some melts on Twitter

 

I always expected the gap to close to 4pts at some stage, so i am not too worried. Conte is disciplined and won't let the players balls this up, i have utmost faith. 

Spurs' run in is far harder, they're not winning all their games, it is still our title barring a catastrophic f**k up and an epic run from Spurs

20 minutes ago, MANoWAR said:

 

 Around the time of his appointment I remember Juventus fans saying that one of Conte's biggest faults was his big game performance. I don't remember if it was only for away records (that would make sense given his near-impervious home record) but if we see the games this season it looks like the comments have some merit. Arsenal/Spurs/Man Utd comfortably beating us without us getting much on goal, poor against Liverpool who had barely obtained any points during that period. 

Man City we were clinical against but we thankfully scored our few chances whereas they failed to put away multiple of theirs (many pundits and writers arguing that if they had the game would have been over by HT

If we are to maintain title challenges and progress in Europe then I really hope we can work on this through tactical nous and greater use of the squad because let's face it, comments about improper utilisation of the squad don't stem through Conte, but from years ago. 

 

You make valid points here but I think we need also to consider that this is his first season in England. We haven't got quite the team he'd want and we don't have sufficient cover in a number of positions but even so these games against the better sides are often a tactical battle. Jose bested us today but a decent coach/manager will learn from that and be better prepared next time. We do need to start bringing some of the younger players through, it's ironic that Mourinho is giving young players a chance now that he is at Old Trafford, but we need to grasp that issue asap 

Tell you what though, sign the players he wants this summer, and we will be a force next year again. 100%

25 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

You make valid points here but I think we need also to consider that this is his first season in England. We haven't got quite the team he'd want and we don't have sufficient cover in a number of positions but even so these games against the better sides are often a tactical battle. Jose bested us today but a decent coach/manager will learn from that and be better prepared next time. We do need to start bringing some of the younger players through, it's ironic that Mourinho is giving young players a chance now that he is at Old Trafford, but we need to grasp that issue asap 

Indeed. We're doing very well but we need to improve in a few areas, as highlighted above

 

mostly Rashford that has been playing -- and only due to injury problems for Van Ghoul's squad do people know about him 

Edited April 16, 20179 yr by MANoWAR

36 minutes ago, brownindian said:

Costa is undroppable because Batshuayi is hardly getting game time and if we think Costa is bad, good chance a rusty Batchuayi will be too. 

 

thing is we can drop costa for willian with hazard as a false 9 like in the bournemouth and leicester game, proved to work very well

but i wouldn't be surprised if diego still starts next week vs spurs, i love antonio and yes diego has been phenomenal for us this season (at least until january) but man conte need to take some risk and drop him it's like 6 games in a row now diego has been extremely poor,

can't keep playing costa in these last crucial 6 games in hope that he might rediscover his first half of the season form, might cost us the title

3 minutes ago, havelschayes said:

thing is we can drop costa for willian with hazard as a false 9 like in the bournemouth and leicester game, proved to work very well

but i wouldn't be surprised if diego still starts next week vs spurs, i love antonio and yes diego has been phenomenal for us this season (at least until january) but man conte need to take some risk and drop him it's like 6 games in a row now diego has been extremely poor,

can't keep playing costa in these last crucial 6 games in hope that he might rediscover his first half of the season form, might cost us the title

That is a very good thought and i think given the form of both Willian and Costa, it makes sense to drop Costa for Willian.

This defeat has left me so bummed. We were tactically outclassed. We often looked clueless in the pitch, our effort was on and off and not consistent, Even our substitutions were not impactful. This defeat was so Arsenelesque !!!

Quote

 

Antonio Conte admitted that Tottenham Hotspur were now “the best team” in the Premier League and said Chelsea had only a 50-50 chance of winning the title after their defeat at Manchester United restricted the league leaders to a four-point lead at the top of the table.

Chelsea were 13 points clear when they beat Stoke City on 18 March and Conte said he had to take the blame for United’s 2-0 win, admitting his players had not been focused or motivated enough to win.

“They [United] showed more desire, more ambition, more motivation,” he said. “It is very simple and in this case the fault is with the coach. It means the coach was not able to transfer the right concentration, desire, ambition to win this game.”

Marcus Rashford opened the scoring for United on a day that finished with José Mourinho announcing he had found a specific system to overcome Chelsea, predominantly by man-marking Eden Hazard and Pedro, and insisting his team would also have won their FA Cup quarter-final at Stamford Bridge last month had it not been for Ander Herrera’s sending off. Herrera was assigned to mark Hazard on both occasions and in the latest match he also contributed United’s second goal as Chelsea suffered their second defeat in their last four games.

“We lost two games but those games were totally different,” Conte said. “Against Crystal Palace [a 2-1 defeat] we didn’t deserve to lose. Today we deserved to lose the game. We didn’t play a good game and United deserved to win. We have to think there are six finals from now until the end of the season. The league is open and we have a 50% [opportunity] to win the league. It will be good to finish on top of the table and, if so, it means we deserve this. Otherwise we must clap another team.”

Conte’s mood was not helped by the fact Thibaut Courtois missed the game after being injured – apparently playing basketball in a promotional event for the NBA – and the Chelsea manager must now lift his team for their FA Cup semi-final against Spurs on Saturday. “It won’t be easy because I think Tottenham are now the best team. They are in good form and they have a lot of enthusiasm. They are feeling the possibility to write history and it is important for us to know this.”

United have now gone 22 games unbeaten in the league and move back to fifth position, four points behind Manchester City but with a game in hand against Burnley at Turf Moor next Sunday. The two Manchester sides meet at the Etihad Stadium on 27 April.

“The satisfaction is for different reasons,” Mourinho said. “Firstly, with the Liverpool and Manchester City victories, if we didn’t win it’s goodbye to the Premier League [finishing in the top four]. The second is they [Chelsea] are the leaders and when you beat the leaders it is obviously a very good feeling.

“I was convinced even before the Cup game that controlling the two players [Hazard and Pedro] who play behind Diego Costa ... would create lots of problems [for Chelsea] and I repeat the same. They are phenomenal on the counter-attack. But when they tried to play counterattack we were always in control. We did that at Stamford Bridge when we played with 11. I had the feeling before this match, but now I’m totally convinced, that with 11 players at Stamford Bridge we would be playing against Tottenham at Wembley this weekend.”

Mourinho indicated that he still expects Chelsea to win the league. “They are in the position where everybody wants to be,” he said. “It is better to be in Chelsea’s position than Tottenham position, that is for sure.”

Chelsea also have an easier run-in and Conte said he was sure his players can handle the pressure. “I must have confidence, in myself, in the players, in the club, because it is not the first time we have faced this kind of situation,” the Italian added. “It is important to understand which was wrong today and then to restart together but – I repeat – for the performance today the fault is mine.”

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/16/antonio-conte-spurs-best-team-premier-league

∆∆ was just about to post the same. Unbelievable comments tbh. Is there more to them than is apparent?

 

 

 

He's taken the blame and now time to react

Those of us hoping for Costa to be dropped, myself included, need to face the facts. If he pulled out a deck chair and took in the lack of sun all game he would still not be replaced. 

Also Roman has never had a manager to go 10 points clear and then lose the title near the end of the season. How does he react if conte becomes the first?

Edited April 17, 20179 yr by axman2526

One thing that has been bothering me lately: why do opposition fans think we're gonna turn on Conte at the first sign of trouble? I've seen so many people say that they can't wait until we start campaigning for Conte to be sacked. Correct me if I'm wrong but, aside from the usual grumbling when things are going bad, I fail to recall a time when we've ever had a witch hunt against a manager. Even when Mourinho had us in 16th we were more annoyed with the players than Mou at the time

One thing that has been bothering me lately: why do opposition fans think we're gonna turn on Conte at the first sign of trouble? I've seen so many people say that they can't wait until we start campaigning for Conte to be sacked. Correct me if I'm wrong but, aside from the usual grumbling when things are going bad, I fail to recall a time when we've ever had a witch hunt against a manager. Even when Mourinho had us in 16th we were more annoyed with the players than Mou at the time

Ivanov and Rip Mourinho will politely disagree.

This is where Conte will earn his money and prove his mettle by getting the players over the line. 

Weve seen this scared tactics from Conte before where we go into games looking scared. We're so much better when we're on the front foot attacking. Just go for it

14 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

So basically, after tonight, he's going to do them up the arse? And not gently?

Zero lube.

After the next round the gap can be 7 once more. We play sun home and they go to leicester.

8 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Those of us hoping for Costa to be dropped, myself included, need to face the facts. If he pulled out a deck chair and took in the lack of sun all game he would still not be replaced. 

Also Roman has never had a manager to go 10 points clear and then lose the title near the end of the season. How does he react if conte becomes the first?

Interesting thought, but I like to think that Roman has matured as an owner of our club, I think the time he gave Jose to turn it round is evidence of that.

 

If we do lose the league, I hope it shows him that he really needs to back Antonio in the transfer market.

 

I mean, this is effectively the team that finished 10th last season bar Moses, Luiz, Alonso & Kante. I think we'd all be lying if we thought those signings would turn us in to league winners.

 

I'd be heartbroken if we lose the title now but at the same time, a lot of us were just looking for champions league football at the start of the season.

great message there from conte to the players about them having more motivation, 'jose masterclass' or not, for a title favorite team we should've done better yesterday