The Conte Thread

[manpe 10,861]

8 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Yes very much stale, that 10/11 season most of our group stagnated and totally lost their hunger, apart from the man united game at home I don't think we had a convincing display all season, and I include those early 6-0s in that, very flattering scores.

We finished 2nd due to a combination of two things, the league being the weakest for a long time and the sheer mentality of the leaders ability to grind out undeserved results.

That season set us back years and left uswitha a massive rebuilding task.

Why no blame for the board? Do you think Ancelotti alone was at fault for this stagnation? It could be seen coming miles away, but the club did nothing, they even made it worse with Torres.

[Tomo 21,751]

1 hour ago, manpe said:

Why no blame for the board? Do you think Ancelotti alone was at fault for this stagnation? It could be seen coming miles away, but the club did nothing, they even made it worse with Torres.

The board deserve their fair share of the blame but some of Carlos tactical decisions and were baffling, I don't blame him for not playing Josh, Gael etc because they weren't ready, but Danny was and to carry on playing the stagnant Kaloudanelka over him was criminal.

And Wilkins said Carlo chose Torres.

[Tautvix 1,321]

I don't think we needed to make so many changes. What's the point? We are not playing CL or EL. We don't have too many games. At least someone like Hazard and Pedro should have started.

[bluephoenix 1,131]

11 minutes ago, Tautvix said:

I don't think we needed to make so many changes. What's the point? We are not playing CL or EL. We don't have too many games. At least someone like Hazard and Pedro should have started.

He probably wanted to give youngsters a chance. Terry isn't suited for Conte's system judging by the way he played today.

[Tautvix 1,321]

12 minutes ago, bluephoenix said:

He probably wanted to give youngsters a chance. Terry isn't suited for Conte's system judging by the way he played today.

I fully understand playing Chalobah but I am talking about someone like Oscar  

[Fernando 6,585]

2 hours ago, Tautvix said:

I fully understand playing Chalobah but I am talking about someone like Oscar  

At least be glad he figured out about Oscar. 

[Kieran. 6,317]

"Usually we learn more from losses rather than wins." - Conte

 

So we learned that Terry is resigned to a bench role throughout the season. Not that bad IMO, the Cahill-Luiz-Azpi trio has been working well so far and we could always use Terry's leadership in the dressing room......might I say like Drogba in the 14-15 season

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

What I wanna see at the back next season:  Romagnoli - Christensen - Luiz/Azpi/Zouma

What I understood from Conte's demands for the profile of players for a 3 at the back formation was that Christensen shouldn't play as one of the wide CBs. Hes not really aggressive, but he is fantastic on the ball and I think he would be a great option playing the Bonucci rule.

It's clear we need one more CB. Romagnoli seems perfect for the LCB spot to me; left-footed, ball player, aggressive, and very good. He really impressed me last season and continues to do so in the current one.

Bring Kenedy as cover for Alonso. Bring in a b2b mid to challenge a spot with Matic(the real one). Azpi as backup to Moses is fine imo.

I guess this would be asking too much here but Griezmann as the right forward in the front three would be absolutely perfect. Hes not an out and out striker, but he is also not a winger. Hazard -Diego - Grizzi would almost be too perfect. Too good.

[nofacej 132]

I know it's easy to say after the match, but I was expecting a bad result in this game.

Hopefully Conte has learned a lot from this match and our squad improves as a result.

I've always thought the League Cup was a waste of time, so I'm not bothered by the L.

Why does England need two Cups when the other major leagues only have one?

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Am I the only one that thinks that Willian would be a good RWB?  I think he's better suited to that role than Azpi is.  The best part of his game is in the first 2/3 of the pitch.  The final third?  Not so much.  He can run all day and he tracks back.  I'd be happy to just get in an attacker (preferably left footed) for the RW/SS position.  I also think that Ivanovic would be a fine (good enough) back-up for Azpi at the RCB in the back 3.  He's not quick enough to be a full back, but he's okay on the ball for a CB.  If Cahill can be good at the LCB position, I don't see why Ivan can't do the same on the right.  He is, after all, a CB.  I know he's been shit for a while now, but we're talking back ups and cover.  He obviously provides a great deal of leadership in the dressing room.  

Alonso/Kenedy/Baba at LWB.  Alonso has also played CB before, he could provide some cover for the LCB position if we don't get anyone in (I think we will) or we get someone in and Cahill is moved on.  Luiz and Christensen in the middle of the back 3.  

 

 

[manpe 10,861]

10 hours ago, Tomo said:

And Wilkins said Carlo chose Torres.

I can't believe some people still believe that it was Carlo who signed him. Do you really think Roman was like "Okay Carlo, I don't trust you and am thinking of sacking you if things don't improve, but I will dish out club record fee for goldilocks just because you said so". Bullshit, it was the biggest marquee signing the club has ever made, otherwise they wouldn't have paid this insane money just because Carlo, who was sacked shortly after, wanted him. And the way the club held onto him showed that they were desperate to make it work regardless if other managers after Carlo wanted him. He might not have been against it and maybe even was warm to the idea, but I am 100% sure it was the club who went out and got him and would have done so regardless of the manager. People need to understand how transfers work(ed) in this club, especially for such money... it has little to do with the manager.

[Leif 6,006]

I'd rather get knocked out of a domestic cup comp than run players like Kante into the ground. Conte's experience in Serie A in this regard cannot carry over; over there, you can play your best players in whatever competition, the scheduling is less hectic and there's usually less chance of injury since they're more pansy-like. 

I can't help but feel he'd think it's a bigger achievement than it is to win one of the smaller cups, and it'd just make sense that we exhaust ourselves to get one while finishing 3rd or 4th come the end of the year. 

Focus on the league and we can do it. Split our attention and I don't believe so.

[Leif 6,006]

4 hours ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

Am I the only one that thinks that Willian would be a good RWB?  I think he's better suited to that role than Azpi is.  The best part of his game is in the first 2/3 of the pitch.  The final third?  Not so much.  He can run all day and he tracks back.  I'd be happy to just get in an attacker (preferably left footed) for the RW/SS position.  I also think that Ivanovic would be a fine (good enough) back-up for Azpi at the RCB in the back 3.  He's not quick enough to be a full back, but he's okay on the ball for a CB.  If Cahill can be good at the LCB position, I don't see why Ivan can't do the same on the right.  He is, after all, a CB.  I know he's been shit for a while now, but we're talking back ups and cover.  He obviously provides a great deal of leadership in the dressing room.  

Alonso/Kenedy/Baba at LWB.  Alonso has also played CB before, he could provide some cover for the LCB position if we don't get anyone in (I think we will) or we get someone in and Cahill is moved on.  Luiz and Christensen in the middle of the back 3.  

 

 

Willian is the same player as Marcelo in my eyes. I agree he'd make a good RWB. He'd be perfect for Barcelona, there's no other player more suited to them right now. It's important to have versatility in a squad, so speaking just for Chelsea it'd be great in the long run to know that all of Azpi, Willian, Moses & Aina can play the role, defending well enough and also getting forward.

When you use squad players like squad players you get results. We've been needing a versatile bench player like Belletti. Experience & versatility; not inexperienced and potentially versatile (RLC) or experienced & not versatile at all (Fabregas).

[Tomo 21,751]

7 hours ago, manpe said:

I can't believe some people still believe that it was Carlo who signed him. Do you really think Roman was like "Okay Carlo, I don't trust you and am thinking of sacking you if things don't improve, but I will dish out club record fee for goldilocks just because you said so". Bullshit, it was the biggest marquee signing the club has ever made, otherwise they wouldn't have paid this insane money just because Carlo, who was sacked shortly after, wanted him. And the way the club held onto him showed that they were desperate to make it work regardless if other managers after Carlo wanted him. He might not have been against it and maybe even was warm to the idea, but I am 100% sure it was the club who went out and got him and would have done so regardless of the manager. People need to understand how transfers work(ed) in this club, especially for such money... it has little to do with the manager.

I think that at this (and most) clubs it's a sort of in the middle thing between the manager and board/owners, i do however think if Carlo was so dead against Torres and gave a detailed analysis on why say Aguero would work better, i'm sure that would have somewhat changed the water. Also Roman may have been considering sacking him in January but wasn't in the summer when we looked almost certain to get him until he signed a new deal with Liverpool last minute. He was probably not the only one that wanted Nando but i'm fairly certain he wasn't hoisted on him against his will.

Also this notion of manager's having total control on everything is a romantic myth that only Fergie had the privilege too, most clubs have a hierarchy were a number of people, manager including, have some say about all the logic regarding transfers etc, i mean after all if we gave our manager's total control on the transfer side Drogba would have been replaced by Adriano, which would have meant no glut of goals in 2010 and possibly no double, no magic Munich penalty and possibly not the trophy atall.

[Tomo 21,751]

What last night and the previous couple of games has helped show are the big winners and losers in this system. For Moses, Alonso, Kante, Matic, Hazard and Luiz this system is a godsend and brings the best out of all of them and plays to their strengths, it's actually probably saved Cahill's at least immediate Chelsea future as he was surely going to be condemned to the bench if we remained with four at the back. For Costa he looks right at home in both systems we have played under Antonio, as does Azpi. Chalobah out of the youngsters has benefitted from this system as he in the last two league games got brought on for Pedro when leading as we switched to 3-5-2 to shore things up and he has done very well.

However the big losers are quickly becoming apparent. Terry, Cesc and Oscar have absolutely no place in this system, Cesc maybe as a desperation last 15 minutes sub if we are losing but beyond that, no. Ivanovic will be condemned as a squad player but as a back up RCB he might work, certainly more likely to somewhat work in this system than JT and he will probably be needed at some point. Out of the youngsters there doesn't seem to be a place for RLC unless he improves his work rate, fuck this romantic one club man thing, he needs a loan, fast!!!! Aina doesn't look to comfortable as a wing back to say the least, ill give him time because he's young but he looked like a total lost puppy last night. 

 

[manpe 10,861]

32 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I think that at this (and most) clubs it's a sort of in the middle thing between the manager and board/owners, i do however think if Carlo was so dead against Torres and gave a detailed analysis on why say Aguero would work better, i'm sure that would have somewhat changed the water. Also Roman may have been considering sacking him in January but wasn't in the summer when we looked almost certain to get him until he signed a new deal with Liverpool last minute. He was probably not the only one that wanted Nando but i'm fairly certain he wasn't hoisted on him against his will.

Also this notion of manager's having total control on everything is a romantic myth that only Fergie had the privilege too, most clubs have a hierarchy were a number of people, manager including, have some say about all the logic regarding transfers etc, i mean after all if we gave our manager's total control on the transfer side Drogba would have been replaced by Adriano, which would have meant no glut of goals in 2010 and possibly no double, no magic Munich penalty and possibly not the trophy atall.

Exactly, you speak the truth. When you said that Wilkins told Carlo wanted him, I got the impression you thought he and only he was responsible for signing him, which is ridiculous as you know. Therefore I blame the board more than Carlo or any manager for setting us back in those years with clueless signings and appointments, with maybe Mourinho being the only exception as I feel he was given unprecedented control over club matters. His claws even extended to triviality like having a say over who hosted Chelsea TV (I swear there was some kind of conflict between Mourinho and a CTV host who was later ousted, or am I making things up?), then the public Carneiro meltdown and the rest is history... he lost everything there but luckily Conte is here to pick up the pieces.

[Captain Ahmed 528]

Magic

https://video-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.1790-2/14844853_684203228401156_30122280684093440_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjMxNSwicmxhIjo1MTIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoic3ZlX3NkIn0%3D&rl=315&vabr=175&oh=79008a4c7a661972026452a709f56e77&oe=58125E74

[bluephoenix 1,131]

On 10/26/2016 at 1:55 PM, Tautvix said:

I fully understand playing Chalobah but I am talking about someone like Oscar  

haha probably thought Oscar will the more experienced person given the changes he was making. I am totally in for playing the youngsters again because we have been screaming for this for many seasons(giving opportunity to the youngsters). It so happened that his whole sale changes didn't click. This is the best way to up their game. If I can hypothesize further, may be he wanted to see if he can actually have a team b without most starting 11. That way when we have an absentee, he would have a viable option who would fit right into his system take the place of the absentee.

Unless you take risk you never know, but again just that one defeat alone won't be sufficient in my book to right the youngsters off the pitch.

 

[Cripen 110]

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte admits he’s worried about his health
 

 

“I’m worried about this, it’s true,” Conte told reporters. “For this reason I pay great attention to my health.

“I always eat healthy food and I run and do fitness too. I don’t do the same as the players because in the training session I prefer to observe and give instructions.

“But when we finish if we have time and I’m not tired I try to have my period of fitness. We have four pitches and I run around them for 40 minutes.

“In one game I’ll try to put the GPS or a heart monitor on me and measure my stats.”

[!Hazard! 3,394]

I love this guy. We  just need to be aware of what went wrong at Juventus so that the same thing cannot happen at this club. Conte is the closest thing to Simeone in world football but he has way more class than the Argentine in my opinion. The future is looking good for Chelsea once again.