The Conte Thread

[nofacej 132]

7 minutes ago, Jason said:

The squad only looks decent on paper to the fellas who don't watch us or have a clue about football. Our squad is just pathetic for a top club on paper and on the pitch. Take Hazard, Costa and Kante out of the side and we're nothing more than a mid-table club.

Sadly I've come to agree with this sentiment.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

1 hour ago, El P. said:

Our squad on paper isn't that bad, at least in midfield and attack. But is something like an unsolvable puzzle.

Willian - When you have player like Willian on wing, workhorse who can keep the ball but can't actually produce anything, you need to have one freakishly creative attacking midfielder (nope) and somewhat creative another winger (Hazard, ok) to compensate.

Fabregas - Where to start? When you have Fabregas in midfield, you need to have at least good defense (nope) and two working horses around him (usually we have that), and one of those need to be at least somewhat creative and good on the ball to help him (usually we don't have that).

Matić - With him, tall and slow-ish, you need to have two somewhat mobile midfielders around him. Certainly not Fabregas. And of course, midfielders around him should be creative, at least one of them.

Kante - He is best bet. Is great working machine, good movement, mobile, not bad on the ball. Give him somewhat creative partners, maybe even put someone behind him (Xabi Alonso type of player) and you have hell of a midfield.

Oscar - Can't even go in any combination. He is just not good enough for any top team.

So, as I said, unsolvable puzzle. Fabregas/Matić must leave, preferably both of them. They may come good in some another system, but for sure not in this team.

You basically told us why most of these players are bad. They can do this but not that. Matic and Oscar however can't do fuck all.

The difference in the technical quality of our team compared to other top or even some midtable clubs is absolutely staggering. The likes of Ivanovic, Matic and Oscar are not footballers. Real madrid have full backs with with better technique and that's just embarrasing for us.

[Henrique 9,133]

On 28/09/2016 at 7:44 PM, iceboy said:

Anyone have this page 71? Times was one of the best papers around, but it was the first to ask for money from readers, now it seems others will follow this trend, I think Telegraph or Guardian are already asking for money.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

1 hour ago, Henrique said:

Anyone have this page 71? Times was one of the best papers around, but it was the first to ask for money from readers, now it seems others will follow this trend, I think Telegraph or Guardian are already asking for money.

I don't have the page but this article from "the independent" seems to summarise the Times article. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-transfer-news-roman-abramovich-backs-antonio-conte-squad-overhaul-three-day-meetings-a7337016.html#commentsDiv

 Seems to be that Abramovich is backing Conte and 5 players are on the chopping block. Ivanovic, Cahill, Oscar, Matic and Fabregas.

[BoyBlue96 990]

5 hours ago, Belgiannutt said:

I don't have the page but this article from "the independent" seems to summarise the Times article. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-transfer-news-roman-abramovich-backs-antonio-conte-squad-overhaul-three-day-meetings-a7337016.html#commentsDiv

 Seems to be that Abramovich is backing Conte and 5 players are on the chopping block. Ivanovic, Cahill, Oscar, Matic and Fabregas.

3 midfielders....and the last one (Cesc) isn't even that bad imo. But it stuns me that the club realises this new squad overhaul when we, the fans and the critics, knew this when our last 2015/2016 campaign ended.

God I would love it to have a midfielder like Koke in our team...and those are the names we should target next time.

[communicate 2,703]

The worst part for me is we are not supposed to be on "transition" period.

We were under AVB and benitez where we still had lampard and drogba starting for us but we have passed that stage. We are supposed to be challenging year in and year out with this core of Costa,Hazard,Fabregas, a CB and Courtouis.

Yet we need a major squad overhaul, for me that simply cannot happen because it is too expensive to overhaul your squad again and again in short time span

[Special Juan 27,439]

Transition is constant for us because of the amount of managerial changes we make. We will not be stable until a manager is allowed to implement their ideas and structure.

[DYC. 7,542]

13 hours ago, El P. said:

Our squad on paper isn't that bad, at least in midfield and attack. But is something like an unsolvable puzzle.

Willian - When you have player like Willian on wing, workhorse who can keep the ball but can't actually produce anything, you need to have one freakishly creative attacking midfielder (nope) and somewhat creative another winger (Hazard, ok) to compensate.

Fabregas - Where to start? When you have Fabregas in midfield, you need to have at least good defense (nope) and two working horses around him (usually we have that), and one of those need to be at least somewhat creative and good on the ball to help him (usually we don't have that).

Matić - With him, tall and slow-ish, you need to have two somewhat mobile midfielders around him. Certainly not Fabregas. And of course, midfielders around him should be creative, at least one of them.

Kante - He is best bet. Is great working machine, good movement, mobile, not bad on the ball. Give him somewhat creative partners, maybe even put someone behind him (Xabi Alonso type of player) and you have hell of a midfield.

Oscar - Can't even go in any combination. He is just not good enough for any top team.

So, as I said, unsolvable puzzle. Fabregas/Matić must leave, preferably both of them. They may come good in some another system, but for sure not in this team.

Willian needs De Bruyne and Hazard.

Fabregas needs Atletico's defence and Vidal and Modric.

Oscar and Matic need Jesus, Mohammed and Moses. And Buddha.

Kind of amazing how Mourinho and the TD managed to find these players.

[jernej93 565]

Saying that Ivanović, Cahill, Oscar and Matić are not good enough but still play 90minutes every weekend ... 

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Conte says he and the players are using last season as an instrument to push them more to improvement. #CFC

it doesn't look like....

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Conte says we must think about the present now rather than think about spending money in the future. #CFC

Conte says he likes clear communication and to talk to Roman Abramovich is interesting because he is very passionate about football. #CFC

[El P. 1,354]

1 hour ago, DYC. said:

Willian needs De Bruyne and Hazard.

Fabregas needs Atletico's defence and Vidal and Modric.

Oscar and Matic need Jesus, Mohammed and Moses. And Buddha.

Kind of amazing how Mourinho and the TD managed to find these players.

I was reading this and... Willian, yes yes, ok. Fabregas, yes yes, ok. Oscar... Jesus (Navas), Mohammed (Salah) and Moses (Victor). I WAS LIKE WTF DUDE  And then comes Buddha, and then I realized...

[Fernando 6,488]

Chelsea’s Antonio Conte says he has no magic wand to solve team’s problems

Chelsea manager points out 10th place last season shows scale of his task
John Terry to miss Saturday’s game at Hull after being kicked on ankle

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/30/chelsea-antonio-conte-no-magic-wand

[jernej93 565]

1 hour ago, Fernando said:

Chelsea’s Antonio Conte says he has no magic wand to solve team’s problems

Chelsea manager points out 10th place last season shows scale of his task
John Terry to miss Saturday’s game at Hull after being kicked on ankle

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/30/chelsea-antonio-conte-no-magic-wand

He had whole preseason, right? He doesn't only have 11 players that play every game in the squad, right? 

[Fernando 6,488]

1 hour ago, jernej93 said:

He had whole preseason, right? He doesn't only have 11 players that play every game in the squad, right? 

Yeah but he wanted like 5 players in the summer after Kante and Bats. And the club didn't get anyone one except their choice at last minute window.

He knew the team was crap but the club didn't do much.

 

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

11 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Transition is constant for us because of the amount of managerial changes we make. We will not be stable until a manager is allowed to implement their ideas and structure.

It's the different style of managers that is hurting us, much much more than the number. We don't have a football philosophy and that's the worst aspect about this club. Jumping from a Mourinho to an Ancelotti in matter of 2 years just shows this board lacks any sort of direction and is just looking for short term success.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

11 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Transition is constant for us because of the amount of managerial changes we make. We will not be stable until a manager is allowed to implement their ideas and structure.

Edit: Double post.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

I don't think the squad is as bad as you guys make it sound. Sell of the deadwood, buy 3 top top players and bring in 3 of our best youth players from loan and suddenly it is a proper squad. Because of the amount of serious talent on loan and in the academy, and because of the fact that many players like Matic, Oscar, Pedro and Fabregas still have significant re-sale value, "a total overhaul" won't be as expensive as it might sound.

 

A core of Courtois, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Kante, Hazard and Costa is actually really good. The question is, will the board be able to attract world class players and are they even willing to spend outrageous amounts on few individuals? Last thing the board needs to do is what Spurs did after selling Bale and what Liverpool did after selling Suarez. Buying bunch of mediocre players for £20-30m won't do the job. Instead, the focus should be on couple of world class players.