Antonio Conte - Now Officially Manager

[TheSage]

1 hour ago, Jezz said:

I can't understand the rumours of Conte being potentially sacked in the near future. 

It's evident we haven't performed to the same standards as we did last season and we've had some shaky moments, but we're not in disarray and I think the talk of him being sacked is too premature to say the least.

We're only one point behind Manchester United now and still sit in the top 4. We're in the quarter finals of the League Cup and there's still time to turnaround our Champions League form.

I agree with another poster here that it's possible Conte could walk at the end of the season, with the lack of long-term commitment, but I think the club will cross that bridge when it gets to it. As it stands, Conte is contracted for this season and next.

Amazing, isn't it? For all our troubles, we are only 1 point behind the incredible Man U and Spurs. I will be shocked if he is sacked, but this is Chelsea, so you never know.  We seriously need some stability and I think he is the right man to provide it.  I am pleased he is showing the players who is boss and hope the club back him, but I am not holding my breath.

[bisright1]

4 hours ago, TheSage said:

Amazing, isn't it? For all our troubles, we are only 1 point behind the incredible Man U and Spurs. I will be shocked if he is sacked, but this is Chelsea, so you never know.  We seriously need some stability and I think he is the right man to provide it.  I am pleased he is showing the players who is boss and hope the club back him, but I am not holding my breath.

It took us until December to sack Jose and we were just off the relegation zone. The board really wanted to give Jose the chance but had no option. That isn't the case here, finishing top 4 is a good result for us this season.

Media seems to act like we always wrongfully sack our coaches. I can't think of us doing that since ancelotti. Maybe RDM but he wasn't right.

[didierforever]

5 hours ago, TheSage said:

Amazing, isn't it? For all our troubles, we are only 1 point behind the incredible Man U and Spurs. I will be shocked if he is sacked, but this is Chelsea, so you never know.  We seriously need some stability and I think he is the right man to provide it.  I am pleased he is showing the players who is boss and hope the club back him, but I am not holding my breath.

I think thats because of the teams we have lost to.

We have won away to spurs, at home to united. Had one of the best performances I have seen in CL by any team.

Yet we are 4th in the league and 2nd in CL.

Our performances/results like Burnley and especially against Palace and watford (even though we won the game), pegged us back a lot.

[icecoolguy22]

Every time the media calling for his sacking, he came up with the goods. We had problems in defence, Conte made the big call and paid it off. I'd prefer him shaking the hand with Jose, but I don't blame him. Last time he did that, Jose decided to have a private conversation with him in front of the world to grab a headline. Now it's international break, we will have 2 weeks to hear about how he lost control of his players and getting the sack. He's hired to make those big calls, last year he benched JT and Ivanovic, didny't hesitate to drop Costa even we had no backup striker ( no offence to Batman), and all these decisions proved to be right. The media is running another pathetic attempt to get our manager sacked.

[Argo]

5 hours ago, benjsross said:

It took us until December to sack Jose and we were just off the relegation zone. The board really wanted to give Jose the chance but had no option. That isn't the case here, finishing top 4 is a good result for us this season.

Media seems to act like we always wrongfully sack our coaches. I can't think of us doing that since ancelotti. Maybe RDM but he wasn't right.

I think they were all correct, even Ancelotti, if there was ever a misleading league finish it was ours in 2011. Di Matteo did incredible in his interim period, but the full time gig was a completely different prospect and he couldn't cope.

[abister1]

12 hours ago, Jezz said:

I can't understand the rumours of Conte being potentially sacked in the near future. 

It's evident we haven't performed to the same standards as we did last season and we've had some shaky moments, but we're not in disarray and I think the talk of him being sacked is too premature to say the least.

We're only one point behind Manchester United now and still sit in the top 4. We're in the quarter finals of the League Cup and there's still time to turnaround our Champions League form.

I agree with another poster here that it's possible Conte could walk at the end of the season, with the lack of long-term commitment, but I think the club will cross that bridge when it gets to it. As it stands, Conte is contracted for this season and next.

It's ridiculous to even contemplate a manager with 37 wins out of 49 PL games a whopping 75% win rate has such stories written about him daily.

The media and pundits come up with their pretend and extremely shocked routine of "i cannot believe where the game is going when a manager is not given any time blah blah blah...." after their really extremely shocking views of "he's lost the dressing room, the players ain't playing for him, he's not gonna last the season blah blah blah...." articles and "pundsh*ttery" help whip up negative sentiments and get managers fired.

Your perspective is spot on Jezz.

[didierforever]

18 hours ago, Argo said:

I think they were all correct, even Ancelotti, if there was ever a misleading league finish it was ours in 2011. Di Matteo did incredible in his interim period, but the full time gig was a completely different prospect and he couldn't cope.

I don't think that's fair. We had a very very YOung/new-ish team.

hazard, oscar, mata, Moses, marin were bought a year or less ago. Torres was finding his feet, CM was an issue which should have been addressed (Jose did exactly that a year ago by buying Matic). It was major major rebuilding. We were 2nd in the league, should have won against united too which actually was a pivotal game in changing our good start to the season. 

Champions league, we got found out, but if we did not have DD in 11/12, we might not have made out of the group stages itself, forget about winning the league. 

Given the extreme circumstances, the major rebuilding task and the transition we found ourselves in, rdm could/should have been afforded more time than 4 months.

[strider6004]

22 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Every time the media calling for his sacking, he came up with the goods. We had problems in defence, Conte made the big call and paid it off. I'd prefer him shaking the hand with Jose, but I don't blame him. Last time he did that, Jose decided to have a private conversation with him in front of the world to grab a headline. Now it's international break, we will have 2 weeks to hear about how he lost control of his players and getting the sack. He's hired to make those big calls, last year he benched JT and Ivanovic, didny't hesitate to drop Costa even we had no backup striker ( no offence to Batman), and all these decisions proved to be right. The media is running another pathetic attempt to get our manager sacked.

I was thinking Conte should have shaken JM's hand at the end, you have changed my opinion with that comment and I also noticed by waiting to shake the Chelsea players hands as they came on to the ground was further unprofessional behaviour. Conte just wants to comment on the football yet if JM accosts him for a headline his press conference is then about Jose rather than the game. Good point.

[didierforever]

43 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I was thinking Conte should have shaken JM's hand at the end, you have changed my opinion with that comment and I also noticed by waiting to shake the Chelsea players hands as they came on to the ground was further unprofessional behaviour. Conte just wants to comment on the football yet if JM accosts him for a headline his press conference is then about Jose rather than the game. Good point.

How is shaking hands with his ex-players unprofessional?

We dont know if it was genuine or it was some  mind games like (you let me down!!!). I feel the media (and fans) scrutinize very minute and probably nothing incidents.

But in no way would I classify it as "unprofessional". Ex-teammates/national teammates do it all the time in the tunnel.  

[evissy]

I watched Jose's post match presser and even he didn't think anything of the lack of handshakes. They shook hands when teams arrived to the bridge and just before the match out of the tunnel. I don't think there is anything to report other than the two managers are not best friends.

[strider6004]

16 minutes ago, didierforever said:

How is shaking hands with his ex-players unprofessional?

We dont know if it was genuine or it was some  mind games like (you let me down!!!). I feel the media (and fans) scrutinize very minute and probably nothing incidents.

But in no way would I classify it as "unprofessional". Ex-teammates/national teammates do it all the time in the tunnel.  

Never seen that before the match by an opposition manager, the only thing I recall before the match is seeing players lined up to give trophy winning sides recognition.  

[Deino]

I think it's a load of nothing. I mean, what does it say about your mental fortitude as a player when a handshake throws you off your game? 

Rather than a handshake, what about the hours, effort, sweat and blood shed in training and tactical preparation? All of that out the window because a guy you used to work with came out and shook your hand? Seems awfully mentally weak for a professional footballer if a handshake is all it took to disturb your focus before a match.

[Argo]

7 hours ago, didierforever said:

I don't think that's fair. We had a very very YOung/new-ish team.

hazard, oscar, mata, Moses, marin were bought a year or less ago. Torres was finding his feet, CM was an issue which should have been addressed (Jose did exactly that a year ago by buying Matic). It was major major rebuilding. We were 2nd in the league, should have won against united too which actually was a pivotal game in changing our good start to the season. 

Champions league, we got found out, but if we did not have DD in 11/12, we might not have made out of the group stages itself, forget about winning the league. 

Given the extreme circumstances, the major rebuilding task and the transition we found ourselves in, rdm could/should have been afforded more time than 4 months.

We did, but in all situations like that i like to see signs things are heading in a decent direction, and honestly, i didn't. I felt the early wins were flattering and there was no real pattern to our play, we were attacking with 5 players and defending with 5 and needed Mata and Hazard to both be at least an 8 out of 10 if we were to get a result. As soon as manager's worked the gap in our team out and exploited it we looked like lost sheep on the pitch and a more expensive version of his WBA team that also nosedived.

I love Robbie and his interim work puts him on par with Zola in legend status in my eyes, but if we tried to cling onto him, i think we would have been set back years.

[Davey Baby]

Emenalo leaving has just reminded us all that there's palpable friction backstage, as there always seems to be at Chelsea.

 

Clearly Conte was very unhappy that signings hadn't been secured, not only for pre-season but for the actual start of the season, and we only managed to beef up our numbers to a respectable level on deadline day, and even then it's clear Conte still feels the squad is too small and lacking in the quality he craved in order to compete on four fronts. 

 

I find it unforgivable from the board that they allowed this situation to arise, when everything looked so good last summer.

 

Remarkably, Conte has found himself under pressure, with speculation about his job, and I don't think these stories come out of nowhere. There are problems, problems with his relationship with the board and problems with his relationship with certain players. Maybe he's very demanding of his board, maybe he's very demanding of the players, maybe he isn't easy to work for, but what a manager, no manager in the history of the Prem has a higher win or points ratio. Ponder on that a moment.

 

The guy continues to impress, in difficult circumstances, with all the speculation, he comes out fighting, because that's what he is, a fighter. Make no mistake we could be bang in trouble, things could have got out of hand, confidence was low, injuries, story after story, what does he do? He reads the riot act to the players, he drops Luiz, he makes a big call, imagine the criticism had we lost a big game against Mourinho. He wasn't afraid and he reaped the reward. Unlike in Mourinho's last season he's managing to keep the vultures at bay, with results, he's managing to make the players play for him, he's managing to maintain his authority.

 

Edit: He's a deeply impressive manager and I find it astounding that he could find himself under pressure, but then again I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, given that this is Chelsea.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Davey Baby

[TheSage]

On 11/6/2017 at 05:24, didierforever said:

I think thats because of the teams we have lost to.

We have won away to spurs, at home to united. Had one of the best performances I have seen in CL by any team.

Yet we are 4th in the league and 2nd in CL.

Our performances/results like Burnley and especially against Palace and watford (even though we won the game), pegged us back a lot.

Agreed. The Burnley, and especially Palace results were very infuriating. We would have been second without those horrific results.  Regardless of our injury situation, we should have beaten Palace as they are absolutely sh*te. Anyways, I hope Conte stays and builds a lasting legacy. 

[brakeit]

Against Burnley we started with a player like Boga, and Cahill get red in 5 min. How is this Conte fault? There was a huge stress in the players, because of the tension between Conte and the board. It`s normal to reflect on the players.

Also just look at the squad we have against Burnley at the start ... Zero players, zero options. Conte mad at the board, of course we will underperform.

 

[Deino]

4 hours ago, TheSage said:

Agreed. The Burnley, and especially Palace results were very infuriating. We would have been second without those horrific results.  Regardless of our injury situation, we should have beaten Palace as they are absolutely sh*te. Anyways, I hope Conte stays and builds a lasting legacy. 

Palace I agree. Burnley was a different opponent not because of the level of oponents but more due to our squad not being complete yet as we had issues everywhere coupled with 2 reds. Everything was against us in that game

[brakeit]

Now the haters are silent. Where are the men where said that Conte is putting the wrong players into starting 11 and always questioning his choice.

When we are losing they are really fast to starting to hate against Conte and Cahill, but when we are winning and Cahill play, they are very, very quiet ....

 

[LengmanJedi]

Now the haters are silent. Where are the men where said that Conte is putting the wrong players into starting 11 and always questioning his choice.
When we are losing they are really fast to starting to hate against Conte and Cahill, but when we are winning and Cahill play, they are very, very quiet ....
 

I wouldn't consider my self a hater at all but I've felt all season Andreas or Antonio should have Cahill's spot.
As for people hating on conte they need to f**k off obviously!

[Argo]

19 minutes ago, brakeit said:

Now the haters are silent. Where are the men where said that Conte is putting the wrong players into starting 11 and always questioning his choice.

When we are losing they are really fast to starting to hate against Conte and Cahill, but when we are winning and Cahill play, they are very, very quiet ....

 

Grow up, Conte has done brilliantly to halt what could have escalated into a huge crisis, but it doesn't change the fact he made some truly bizzare decision's at the start of the season that deserved criticism. You know you can criticsise without hating someone, right?

Edited November 19, 2017 by Argo

[brakeit]

I know that very well. But where is now this guys ? They was hatin for Fabregas, for Cahill, for anyone that Conte choice? For Alonso for example, but did he have a choice with 2 of the matter?

How stupid you have to be, to put your caption on the bench straight away. And you have to add into consideration that there was a rumours Conte is not in good terms with some players. If you do that with your caption and you are over. Did i need to mention Conte was not in good relation with the board as well.

Also both Christensen and Rudiger was looking pretty awful in some matches.

They also lack the experience Cahill have.

You have to be mad to criticize Conte for that. The best way to move Cahill out of the way is doing it slowly, and thats what Conte is doing. If Conte is here next season i`m pretty sure Cahill won`t be a starter.

And Fabregas and Alonso cases are just stupid as hell. Conte simply does not have players for this position. He can`t even rotate the team properly, because of lack of depth and quality.

And no one answer me, how so just for 2-3 months Conte forget how to choice the best available players? Conte shows times after time, that he doesn`t favorite anyone.

He show that last season pretty well with Oscar, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Terry. Ivanovic and Costa.

How so last season Champion and now he can`t choice the best available players ....

You look now how dumb that accusations are?

And after the end of the game is pretty easy to find and argument to slam someone. For player, tactics and so on.

 

 

[Argo]

7 minutes ago, brakeit said:

I know that very well. But where is now this guys ? They was hatin for Fabregas, for Cahill, for anyone that Conte choice? For Alonso for example, but did he have a choice with 2 of the matter?

How stupid you have to be, to put your caption on the bench straight away. And you have to add into consideration that there was a rumours Conte is not in good terms with some players. If you do that with your caption and you are over. Did i need to mention Conte was not in good relation with the board as well.

Also both Christensen and Rudiger was looking pretty awful in some matches.

They also lack the experience Cahill have.

You have to be mad to criticize Conte for that. The best way to move Cahill out of the way is doing it slowly, and thats what Conte is doing. If Conte is here next season i`m pretty sure Cahill won`t be a starter.

And Fabregas and Alonso cases are just stupid as hell. Conte simply does not have players for this position. He can`t even rotate the team properly, because of lack of depth and quality.

And no one answer me, how so just for 2-3 months Conte forget how to choice the best available players? Conte shows times after time, that he doesn`t favorite anyone.

He show that last season pretty well with Oscar, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Terry. Ivanovic and Costa.

How so last season Champion and now he can`t choice the best available players ....

You look now how dumb that accusations are?

And after the end of the game is pretty easy to find and argument to slam someone. For player, tactics and so on.

 

 

Not really, it was pretty obvious Cesc in a 2 man midfield vs Arsenal would see us outplayed, and hey presto, exactly that happened. 

Cahill got himself banned for 3 games out of sheer stupidity,Rudiger filled in and played very well, Cahill didn't deserve to walk straight back in the lineup. Upto the last couple of games our defense was a lot worse off with him instead of Rudi. As for captain, that should have gone to Azpi but what's done is done.

I don't want to dwell on this too much as it looks like we are well and truly over the dodgy spell, touch wood, but please don't go calling me out over criticism that was very much legit at the time.

[Slojo]

On 06/11/2017 at 14:39, Argo said:

I think they were all correct, even Ancelotti, if there was ever a misleading league finish it was ours in 2011. Di Matteo did incredible in his interim period, but the full time gig was a completely different prospect and he couldn't cope.

He gave Di Matteo barely any time at all despite having a fresh new team, you can look on it in hindsight and go "Oh yeah Di Matteo didn't turn out to be this great coach anyway" but it's still hardly a fair sacking although in hindsight I'm glad it happened. 

Obviously, if a manager gets the sack it's because he has bad results, but it goes deeper then that, you can't just look at the results, the board was at fault for not supporting the managers enough. Carlo had a bad season, sacking him was still ridiculous given how good we were in his first season. If we weren't going to hire him for at least 4-5 years then what's even the point in hiring managers and having transition seasons? 

And we could argue about Jose Mourinho all day (we have done in the past) but bottom line the board not sacking him is not the same as the board supporting him. The board were hoping results would turn around, the only default in that is that they sided with the players.

[Slojo]

2 hours ago, brakeit said:

Now the haters are silent. Where are the men where said that Conte is putting the wrong players into starting 11 and always questioning his choice.

When we are losing they are really fast to starting to hate against Conte and Cahill, but when we are winning and Cahill play, they are very, very quiet ....

 

Stop aiming for the stupid "gotcha" moments.

Hardly any criticism on this forum has gone overboard, 99% of members support Conte, and a lot of the criticism was warranted. The only criticism I strongly disagreed with was the City criticism, I thought the majority of the fans critique after the City match was pure hindsight as I had no recollection of people criticising Conte's lineup or tactics just as the game was about to go underway. 

But even so, it's opinions, I wouldn't call it irrational, irrational would be saying Conte isn't fit enough to manage this team when he's shown he's clearly quite capable. Nobody has been stepping that mark, stop with the "haters", I can't name a single member on here who hates Conte or strongly doubts him. 

[Argo]

57 minutes ago, Slojo said:

He gave Di Matteo barely any time at all despite having a fresh new team, you can look on it in hindsight and go "Oh yeah Di Matteo didn't turn out to be this great coach anyway" but it's still hardly a fair sacking although in hindsight I'm glad it happened. 

Obviously, if a manager gets the sack it's because he has bad results, but it goes deeper then that, you can't just look at the results, the board was at fault for not supporting the managers enough. Carlo had a bad season, sacking him was still ridiculous given how good we were in his first season. If we weren't going to hire him for at least 4-5 years then what's even the point in hiring managers and having transition seasons? 

And we could argue about Jose Mourinho all day (we have done in the past) but bottom line the board not sacking him is not the same as the board supporting him. The board were hoping results would turn around, the only default in that is that they sided with the players.

Thing is with time it should be earned. Jose won nothing in 2014 but it was quite clearly visable we were progressing well. Di Matteo i saw nothing in his full time spell that suggested sticking with him could be rewarded (and Di Matteo was one of my childhood favorites so believe me no one wanted him to work more than me), we were basically attacking with 5 and defending with 5 and there was no structure atall, which was brutally exposed by Simeone, Conte and whoever Donetsk's manager was.

With Carlo, twice more since Chelsea he has been sacked despite a major trophy win the year before, if it's happened 3 times now then he's clearly doing something that's a miss.