5 hours ago, Coxy15 said:

Isnt it just an opinion poll? The fans don't vote for these awards do they?

starting this season fan voting counts for player and manager of the month awards

https://www.premierleague.com/news/83956

A shortlist of players will be drawn up at the end of each month and published on the Premier League’s digital platforms. The public can then vote on who they think should win.

At the same time, a panel made up of former footballers and managers, will cast their vote, while the captain of each Premier League club will also have one vote each.

Votes from the three parties will be combined to decide the winner which will be announced by the Premier League soon after.

In a similar way, a shortlist will be made for the Barclays Manager of the Month and the winner will be decided by a combination of votes from the panel and the public vote.

Edited September 3, 20169 yr by havelschayes

4 hours ago, havelschayes said:

starting this season fan voting counts for player and manager of the month awards

https://www.premierleague.com/news/83956

A shortlist of players will be drawn up at the end of each month and published on the Premier League’s digital platforms. The public can then vote on who they think should win.

At the same time, a panel made up of former footballers and managers, will cast their vote, while the captain of each Premier League club will also have one vote each.

Votes from the three parties will be combined to decide the winner which will be announced by the Premier League soon after.

In a similar way, a shortlist will be made for the Barclays Manager of the Month and the winner will be decided by a combination of votes from the panel and the public vote.

oh interesting. I'm expecting Arsenal players to do well in the player of the month votes then. Ther fans usually top these voting polls

17 hours ago, Coxy15 said:

oh interesting. I'm expecting Arsenal players to do well in the player of the month votes then. Ther fans usually top these voting polls

That's exactly what I thought too. I guess that as a means of feeling like they won something.

52 minutes ago, MissouriBlue said:

That's exactly what I thought too. I guess that as a means of feeling like they won something.

 

We'll never, ever, ever win the Emirates Cup. Let that sink in for a moment.

Some photos that reach peak Conte awesomeness levels.

 

Showing his support for Lecce's colourful ultras.

 

Finally, a young Toni.

Note the fake moustache on his chum.

Edited September 4, 20169 yr by Charles Ryder

On 01/09/2016 at 03:42, Argo said:

I don't buy that, Rafa confirmed that he knew Jose was returning when he had that meltdown at Boro which was early March.

Also Jose was very much happy during his first few months back here, he was even getting on with Wenger.

I do think Jose had an attraction to United in some form and saw himself there potentially at some point, but as far as 2013 was concerned I think he was always coming back here.

Which meltdown are you referring to?

 

 

Manager of the month should definitely be Phelan. Mourinho is winning because of the fanboys on twitter but I'm not sure he's done anything exceptional yet. He's made Utd look good but I feel Conte has been more impressive in changing us and changing two games with subs,

On 31/08/2016 at 15:26, MissouriBlue said:

Slight misunderstanding of what I said mate. I said since becoming manager he's all about coordinating his shoes, phone case, etc. I think he really buys into United, I think it really was the job he has always wanted since he started management. Do you remember when people said that he wanted the job after Fergie left and got snubbed for Moyes then he came to us, that was a rumour. I never believed it until I see his behaviour now, he genuinely looks like he feels he's at the apex of his career now. The little color coordination and stuff suggests to me at least that he has major pride in being their manager. I feel like to him we are now just an uncomfortable appendix he would rather forget about.

I guess this is just another unhealthy symptom of football management today... You're not supposed to show any emotions or attachment to previous clubs. Just another sign that the true meaning of football has been usurped by business mentality. Shame that.

Totally agree with this, Jose looks in his element at UTD, he is already acting more darling in interviews, looks like he is loving life: he has a board that will back him with huge transfer sums and have the pull to get whoever they want, Jose is a limelight manager, he likes the big time and unfortunately the facts are Man U are a far bigger club than us, it is also an environment where the club is bigger than the players with a strong club culture and understanding of this, with club legends always in or around the fray, the board are also not as trigger happy.

He says Chelsea has a special place in his heart but does it still? Maybe as fans he has love for the support we gave him but I can't imagine he is enamoured with the club who sacked him twice, I know the results were terrible and Roman did hold off the inevitable but you feel not everyone in the club hierarchy was behind him. In short he now has a glow to him like he lost his virginity and I truly think he landed his dream job, he loves the PL and he is at the helm of the biggest club in the league if not the World, in his mind it seems he is where he was always meant to be. 

As a big jose fan I still like him as a manager and a personality (parts of it) but as a Chelsea fan I feel he is a distant memory and as hard as it is to say I see myself growing to dislike him as the manager of one of our big rivals, I was in his home town of Setubal 2 weeks ago and when I found out I almost turned my lip up at it rather than feeling warm and fuzzy, you just feel he has a bitchy move in him at some point that will turn us. 

As sad as I was to see him go, I find myself more and more thrilled to have Conte, I think even more so than when Jose came back, I don't think I would change anything, I truly hope we have found our long term man. I also think he has brought in the right people and has the right background and player experience to avoid a player mutiny like was alleged last term, we have our Don and I hope the club appreciates that as much as the fans seem to! 

Only thing left in my view is to move on a certain Nigerian gentleman who I think should be left in our past (and I don't mean Obi) as the Roman era has matured he no longer meets our requirements and will hem the evolution of our approach,  I feel a new chapter of Chelsea is beginning, getting rid of him would be a true fresh start, Jose gets his, we need ours. 

Edited September 4, 20169 yr by DonAntonio

Good post Don, agree with everything you said and like you, was so disappointed to see the way it ended with Jose. He should have been our Fergie and been with us for years. However, the fallout was just speculator and no one saw it coming. I don't think Jose can have too many complaints though, he handled so many things badly. 

Just catching up with the highlights from this season and after seeing the way we are playing, I don't miss Jose. Seeing Hazard play with freedom, Matic back in form, defense tighter and the team look hungry and fresh. 

Really looking forward to seeing Conte this season. The club have done well hiring him. 

young antonio with the def jam t shirt, my love for him has peaked

You can say anything about Roman but he loves a good manager.

 

Interesting article on his playing days:

 

Antonio Conte is best known today as a coach, recently the three-time Serie A champion with Juventus and currently the ambitious commissario tecnico of the Italian national team. But before that, he was a tough midfielder of humble origins who battled through sheer force of will to reach the captaincy of one of the top teams in Europe.

The Boy from Lecce

Antonio Conte was born on July 31, 1969 in Lecce, at the very tip of the far-southern Salento peninsula. He came from a working class family – his father owned a car rental business, his mother was a seamstress – who instilled a strict sense of discipline and responsibility in their three sons. Little Antonio was a serious boy, and took his studies seriously – asking his mother midway through first grade if he could change schools because they weren’t learning enough – but from earliest childhood, he dreamed of playing football.

His father Cosimo, in addition to his business, was the president, manager, kitman and general dictator of a local amateur team, AS Juventina Lecce. “The name of the club seemed to anticipate my destiny,” admitted Antonio later in his memoirs (published by Rizzoli in 2013.) The younger Conte was held to the strictest standard of professionalism by the elder, and quickly demonstrated himself to be a serious talent – so much so that the real professional team in town, US Lecce, invited him for a tryout with the youth ranks. Thirteen-year-old Antonio pleaded with Cosimo to be allowed to go, promising to continue focusing on his studies, and eventually Cosimo relented – but not without obtaining a transfer fee from Lecce in the princely sum of eight real leather footballs.

“We weren’t so much a football team as a total band of lunatics, raising hell everywhere we went and not understanding the meaning of the word “discipline.” Conte writes of the Lecce youth team with a mixture of embarrassment and nostalgia. He was considered “the serious one” of the group, as little as that frequently meant, but among all the pranks and late nights and ruined away games was a strong camaraderie and sense of team spirit that stayed with him and formed his character as a player and later as a coach.

He made his debut in Serie A at the age of 16, a late second-half sub in a dead-rubber match after Lecce’s relegation to Serie B had already been confirmed, but became a regular in the first team in the coming years. By 1989, the 20-year-old Conte was a starter, and wearing the number 10 shirt, it soon fell to him to go up against the most famous number 10 in world football: Diego Maradona. Instructed by his coach to mark Maradona specifically on defense, the young talent was well aware of the importance of the occasion.
“I couldn’t even close my eyes the entire night before the match,” recalled Conte, “and once I found myself face to face with him on the pitch I had to force myself to not pull my legs back out of his way – how could I have not felt that sort of reverential fear?”

Maradona did not score in that match. Conte, however, did. In what would end up the only goal he ever scored in the red and yellow stripes of his hometown team, the defensive midfielder pushed up through a break in the defense, received a pinpoint cross from a teammate and fired it home with perfect timing and composure. Lecce drew level with the powerhouse Napoli, and the assembled fans at the San Paolo were treated to the first occurrence of what would become a famous sight: Antonio Conte, mad with joy, running with arms outstretched toward his supporters as if to embrace them all in wild celebration.

 

A Long Journey North

In 1991, he had caught the attention of Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni, and the transfer was wrapped up quickly. Shockingly quickly for the young Conte, who writes openly about his mixed feelings at leaving his hometown club: “I was so sad I could die, leaving the boys I’d started this whole adventure with, we were really like brothers. But I kept asking myself, when will a chance like this come along again?”

The first year at Juventus was a difficult one. Starting from zero at an intimidatingly elite club, far from his friends and family, suffering through the foggy and rainy climate of Piedmont and wondering what had ever possessed him to leave his sunny Salento, Conte struggled with his confidence. On the pitch he was disorganized, hesitant and prone to errors. In his first match as a starter, a friendly against Monaco, he misjudged a pass back to goalkeeper Tacconi, gifting Monaco the game’s only goal and getting himself a disparaging headline in the next morning’s Gazzetta dello Sport. Conte recounts what happened next:

“I opened the paper, read the article, and wanted to disappear. That day I walked up and down Corso Vittorio Emanuele, back and forth, as if my steps could erase that awful error. At a certain point a car pulled up beside me, and the driver rolled down the window. It was Trapattoni. In an instant he understood my mental state and what I was doing. “Antonio, what’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about yesterday? Let it go, don’t worry about it!” he told me smiling. Then he rolled up the window and drove off. I have never forgotten that smile.”

Trapattoni had brought Conte to Juventus, convinced that he had found a diamond in the rough, and Trapattoni would forge him into a mature player. Every day at the end of training, he would stay an extra half hour working individually with Conte on refining his technique and tactical awareness. His faith and patience with his young protege were rewarded: by the beginning of next season, Conte had matured greatly both personally and as a player, and his Juventus career really began.

Il Capitano

Conte was a classic mediano, a tough and aggressive ball-winning midfielder occupied more with defense than offense, who ran tirelessly and covered great amounts of space. Watching him play, one had the sense that every game was a matter of life and death for him, to be approached with every fiber of his being. He was not a dirty player but was often a physical and combative one, and earned his fair share of yellow cards and early showers. But his commanding presence on the pitch and in the locker rooms, as his teammates have confirmed, was invaluable. He was made captain in 1996, eventually ceding the armband to one Alessandro Del Piero, but remaining a crucial leader within the squad.

He wasn’t a major goalscoring midfielder like Zidane or Nedved – his personal record for goals in a season was 7, achieved in both the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. In total, across 414 appearances in all competitions, Conte scored 44 goals for Juventus. 20 of those goals, however, were decisive: meaning that they salvaged a draw from a loss or a victory from a draw. And many of them were spectacular: a bicycle kick against Brescia, a wild diving header against Dortmund, a leap over Paolo Maldini against Milan. All of them executed with ferocious determination and all of them celebrated with unbridled joy – one, notoriously, against his old Lecce, which some Salentini fans still hold a grudge about.

 

Mixed with the triumphs, of course, were setbacks. He suffered more than his fair share of serious, career-threatening injuries: two broken legs, one at Lecce after a collision with a teammate and one on international duty with Italy after a vicious foul by a Romanian opponent; ruptured knee ligaments caused by nothing more than an awkward hasty change of direction; a bizarre deep muscular hematoma sustained in the 1996 Champions League final that forced him out of the game and then, slow to heal and plagued by complications, nearly put his entire subsequent season at risk. In his battles with injury, though, his greatest asset became apparent: his immense willpower and strength of character. A less determined player might have seen his career end after any of Conte’s incidents – eventually recovering physically, but not psychologically. For Conte, every injury was a personal challenge, a gauntlet thrown down, a test to overcome.

Unfortunately, his injuries often happened at exactly the “right” time to keep him out of contention for the Italian national team. His only World Cup was USA 1994, giving him the “privilege” of losing a final on penalties, and he missed out on both the 1996 Euros and the 1998 World Cup due to injury. Compared to his distinguished 414 appearances for Juventus, he only played in 20 matches for the Azzurri – a disappointing number for a player of his calibre.

By the 2003-04 season, Antonio Conte found himself being quietly pushed to the margins of Juventus. His captaincy had long since passed to the technically dazzling and media-friendly striker Alessandro Del Piero, his goal tally had dwindled to one or two a season, and he found himself more often than not starting from the bench. The final straw came during negotiations for his last contract renewal, when Juventus director Luciano Moggi abruptly changed the proposal from a two- to one-year contract, with a pay cut so significant as to strike Conte as insulting. Rather than accept a deal he found disrespectful, Conte decided that his time at Juventus had at last come to an end after 13 seasons. He briefly flirted with the idea of returning to Lecce for one final season before retirement but eventually decided against it out of respect for Juventus and Lecce supporters both, and hung up his boots for good.

He never had an official testimonial match to say farewell to the club he had been a symbol of; much less a lap of honor around a packed, delirious stadium waving goodbye to his adoring fans. Instead, for his final day as a football player, a group of fans, relatives and friends organized a friendly match at a small field on the outskirts of Torino. He battled for victory with every fiber of his being, of course. But in the end, Antonio Conte left his life as a player the same way he had begun it: as a humble boy among ordinary folk, playing with his friends for sheer and unquenchable love of the game.

http://www.italianfootballdaily.com/when-coaches-were-players-antonio-conte/

 

 

5 hours ago, JM7 said:

Good post Don, agree with everything you said and like you, was so disappointed to see the way it ended with Jose. He should have been our Fergie and been with us for years. However, the fallout was just speculator and no one saw it coming. I don't think Jose can have too many complaints though, he handled so many things badly. 

Just catching up with the highlights from this season and after seeing the way we are playing, I don't miss Jose. Seeing Hazard play with freedom, Matic back in form, defense tighter and the team look hungry and fresh. 

Really looking forward to seeing Conte this season. The club have done well hiring him. 

You're right mate, the style of play is refreshing I think JM tried to implement his tried and tested tactics of stay solid and go for the easy 1-0, you might not have thought it watching the first game of the title winning season against Everton, and don't get me wrong he knows how to set up a team to score, but ultimately when we have a poor result or two and confidence drops he reverts back to it, also we never finished teams off, unfortunately teams in the PL know how to play against that type of set up now, add in an aging defence and in hindsight it's not a surprise we finished where we did.

I think he has learned that and will play more attractive football with Man U.

 I'm interested to see how Conte picks up the players if we have a couple of bad results. Other than moving the ball about far quicker and playing more direct it seems when we get a goal up he pushes them on to score a second or a third, we look like we could just overwhelm teams at times, and this is something teams haven't yet or can't adapt to, high tempo, quick passing and recycling, especially lower table teams as we saw with Burnley. 

With players of our quality we should be doing that, using the quality they possess in passing and movement,  not walking around the box and passing side to side. Hopefully we can keep this style of play(especially with the new signings) against the bigger teams, the game against the dippers should tell us where we are at. 

 

I disagree, the way we played in the first 3 or 4 months of Jose's 2nd season was much more open and attacking, very fluid and exciting to watch. We then got battered by Spurs and he sh*t himself and reverted to type.

With Jose, I'm also interested to see how he responds after a couple of bad results or when the pressure is on. At the minute, everything is rosey but he will start calling players out, having a go at refs etc. He seems very clam at the minute and wonder how this might affect his ability to win games and titles. He burnt the squad out at Chelsea after 2 seasons.  How will he motivate them longer term without burning them out? 

With Conte, although he demands hard work, the players somehow don't seem to see it as a negative. With Jose, they had to work hard but they did not seem free at all. Under Conte, they seem free to express themselves. 

Question, did Don Antonio seek advice from Don Carlo before accepting the role as gaffer of CFC? If so, Don Carlo isn't bitter with the club as I originally thought. I felt the club treated him badly & this after he was stressed out w/ the condition of his father at the time. Crazy to think about all of the Italian gaffers this club has had over years. I believe the total number is 5 (Vialli, Raineiri, Ancelloti, Di Matteo & Conte) - did I miss any?

2 hours ago, robdog said:

Question, did Don Antonio seek advice from Don Carlo before accepting the role as gaffer of CFC? If so, Don Carlo isn't bitter with the club as I originally thought. I felt the club treated him badly & this after he was stressed out w/ the condition of his father at the time. Crazy to think about all of the Italian gaffers this club has had over years. I believe the total number is 5 (Vialli, Raineiri, Ancelloti, Di Matteo & Conte) - did I miss any?

I respect Carlo for the double and as a man, but he is somewhat overrated as a manager despite winning 3 CLs.

Tactically he leaves a lot to be desired and his league record considering the teams he's managed is awful (even lost out on the title at Paris). His team's also have a very nasty habit of getting complacent at awfully inappropriate times, which is part of the reason for his average league record.

11 hours ago, Samdwich said:

Which meltdown are you referring to?

 

 

Manager of the month should definitely be Phelan. Mourinho is winning because of the fanboys on twitter but I'm not sure he's done anything exceptional yet. He's made Utd look good but I feel Conte has been more impressive in changing us and changing two games with subs,

The one after the Boro FA Cup game when he ranted about the fans creating banners and telling them he will be gone at the end of the season so theirs no point.

3 hours ago, dkw said:

I disagree, the way we played in the first 3 or 4 months of Jose's 2nd season was much more open and attacking, very fluid and exciting to watch. We then got battered by Spurs and he sh*t himself and reverted to type.

Haha I think that's what I said in a round about way? "and don't get me wrong he knows how to set up a team to score, but ultimately when we have a poor result or two and confidence drops he reverts back to it" but I think I get your point, you're saying he intended to play attractive and when it went pear shaped instead of believing in the new philosophy he reverted? 

3 hours ago, JM7 said:

With Jose, I'm also interested to see how he responds after a couple of bad results or when the pressure is on. At the minute, everything is rosey but he will start calling players out, having a go at refs etc. He seems very clam at the minute and wonder how this might affect his ability to win games and titles. He burnt the squad out at Chelsea after 2 seasons.  How will he motivate them longer term without burning them out? 

With Conte, although he demands hard work, the players somehow don't seem to see it as a negative. With Jose, they had to work hard but they did not seem free at all. Under Conte, they seem free to express themselves. 

I think Jose showed his passion most when under pressure or attack and it was sometimes passion that turned into being negative and a bit venomous, Conte seems a lot better mannered and for want of a more descriptive term, a nicer bloke, his passion seems more positive even when he is almost aggressively passionate, he has the type of passion an old Italian master craftsman has, even if you couldn't give a toss about the pair of whatever he is making, you can watch just to appreciate the passion that oozes out of him when he is doing the thing he loves, and in general I think he knows how to conduct himself better off the pitch. Also as a world cup finalist as well as a successful manager he understands pressure from both player and manager perspectives. In short his passion is football and he is determined to win whereas I think JM's passion is his ego, even above football, and fueling that ego by winning is above and beyond anything else. 

I respect Carlo for the double and as a man, but he is somewhat overrated as a manager despite winning 3 CLs.

Tactically he leaves a lot to be desired and his league record considering the teams he's managed is awful (even lost out on the title at Paris). His team's also have a very nasty habit of getting complacent at awfully inappropriate times, which is part of the reason for his average league record.

Under Carlo we played our most attacking football after the first Jose era.

We even banged in the most goals in a season.

Carlo wasn't shy to play two upfront with the drogs and anelka. For me his style of football was exciting. I felt that he would have been a great coach for Chelsea

Jose starts lashing out at everyone when things don't go his way. As for Conte, i have not seen how he reacts under pressure. Time will tell. He left Juve because he board did not back him so he isn't Carlo type either.

Carlo is one of the all time managers ever as is Jose. Those guys have already proved themselves. We should be pretty happy to have experienced them both. 

 

23 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

biggest club in the league if not the World

Behave.

15 hours ago, JM7 said:

With Conte, although he demands hard work, the players somehow don't seem to see it as a negative. With Jose, they had to work hard but they did not seem free at all. Under Conte, they seem free to express themselves. 

Read something about the 1967 Inter team that lost to Celtic in the EC final being under pressure so immense it suffocated them and they had to crack. Get that sort of feeling with Mourinho and his players.

1 hour ago, Samdwich said:

Behave.

Not sure if being light hearted but defiantly the biggest PL club and a good argument for the biggest in the world http://www.totalsportek.com/list/most-popular-football-clubs/

12 hours ago, Wolv said:

Under Carlo we played our most attacking football after the first Jose era.

We even banged in the most goals in a season.

Carlo wasn't shy to play two upfront with the drogs and anelka. For me his style of football was exciting. I felt that he would have been a great coach for Chelsea

The beginning and the end of the first season was brilliant, the middle of the first season was average and the second season was a downright disaster which saw (apart from last season upto Jose being sacked) the worst football we have ever played as a club, it was truly diabolical and it was thanks to the strong mentality of the players that we managed to finish 2nd despite only playing two convincing half's off football all season. 

That season killed me so much i took a total sabbatical from football for a month, and i never do that, even in the summer i'm constantly on transfer rumours and playing fifa.

Accidental post.

Edited September 5, 20169 yr by Argo