The Conte Thread

[Captain Ahmed 528]

20 hours ago, Heisenberg said:

Only Pep can really find a solution to this 343, it wont mean that Conte knows Pep flaws, and Pep flaws are way more obvious than Conte's.

Rabah Saâdane only him may find a solution to IlCapo 3-4-3

[Heisenberg 1,824]

1 hour ago, Captain Ahmed said:

Rabah Saâdane only him may find a solution to IlCapo 3-4-3

Hahahahahahahahaha at least Saadane found a solution to Capello's England, when we won 0-0. 

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

When we made this hire, I had high hopes. But in no way could I have imagined such a quick turn around. The attacking prowess right now is magic. Six consecutive PL clean sheets! SIX!

It seems to be as simple as freeing Hazard to roam freely, get Hazard and Pedro inside the wingbacks going forward, insert Moses on the right wing, Alonso on the left wing, insert Luiz at CB and switch to a 3-4-3. Oh, and remove Ivanovic,  Terry, Oscar, Fabregas and Willian from the starting XI. See, it was that simple all along

Seriously though, Conte not only figured out the above formula, he waited before implementing too quickly. Of the five players, most everyone on the board commented on the need for changes, save Terry due to his Legend status. Ivanovic has given us tremendous efforts in prior years (before last year), Fabregas was pure magic prior to last year (but is a defensive nightmare now), Willian gives 100% all of the time, but is a bit slow and struggles to keep pace and finish. Terry is pure Legend and hate that this day has come, but it has. Oscar. Well, he is just still Oscar.

Give Conte another couple of transfer windows and we may make some serious European noises. And I am convinced with his managing skill, we do not have to buy the big splash, millions of pounds signings.

And to think just 12 months ago we were barely out of the relegation zone. What was that guy's name again that was manager before Guus 12 months ago? I cannot remember it now

Oh, and one last thing, Conte has truly been getting the best out of Costa. And without the theatrics and dark art behavior. Costa the last year under that nameless guy was hurting the team and difficult to watch. This Costa is world class all the way!

Thank you Antonio Conte for all you do for Chelsea FC!!

[Styles 9,790]

Love his recent comments about Moses being under appreciated. That is one of the most important things about being a coach: being able to develop players & also being creative enough to try new things.

Have a lot of respect for this guy now. Not ashamed to say I was very wrong about him with some of my comments earlier in the season.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Speaking of strikers, Conte also had a few really nice words about our current starting trio of forwards.
“Pedro? He has qualities of absolute excellence.
He’s perfect for the 3-4-3.”
“As for Diego Costa, Diego is one of the best strikers in the world. For us it’s not just important that he’s a goalscorer, but that he works for the team. The progression in his behaviour is thanks to his application. He realised he had to grow in terms of his temperament.”
“Eden Hazard? Eden’s talent is beyond question, he’s a world class player and a great lad. He has a surprising maturity for his age. He’s already built a family and he’s only 25.”
But the highest praise was saved for none other than Victor Moses, whose level of skill has left Conte dumbfounded that the wing-back had been overlooked by some many other coaches previously.
“I could see his potential from the first days of the summer training camp. Moses has important qualities: technique, physical strength, the ability to cover seventy meters of the pitch.”
“I find it incredible that someone like him has been underestimated.”
-Antonio Conte; source: Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia

[manpe 10,861]

50 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

Speaking of strikers, Conte also had a few really nice words about our current starting trio of forwards.
“Pedro? He has qualities of absolute excellence.
He’s perfect for the 3-4-3.”
“As for Diego Costa, Diego is one of the best strikers in the world. For us it’s not just important that he’s a goalscorer, but that he works for the team. The progression in his behaviour is thanks to his application. He realised he had to grow in terms of his temperament.”
“Eden Hazard? Eden’s talent is beyond question, he’s a world class player and a great lad. He has a surprising maturity for his age. He’s already built a family and he’s only 25.”
But the highest praise was saved for none other than Victor Moses, whose level of skill has left Conte dumbfounded that the wing-back had been overlooked by some many other coaches previously.
“I could see his potential from the first days of the summer training camp. Moses has important qualities: technique, physical strength, the ability to cover seventy meters of the pitch.”
“I find it incredible that someone like him has been underestimated.”
-Antonio Conte; source: Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia

That's what I call a manager.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

1 hour ago, manpe said:

That's what I call a manager.

I call that bolded font of forum post, but whatever floats your boat man

[Captain Ahmed 528]

I'mma simple man, If i see Conte, I click
Me to my finger :Who give you the permission to click?
My finger : Shut up it's Conte

[BlueLyon 9,359]

On 21/11/2016 at 3:41 PM, Unionjack said:

Ive read that the best formation to play against a 3-4-3 is Shitys 4-3-3.

Do we reckon Conte will stick to it or change?

Tbh I think its good for us that Yaya dosnt play for Pep (at least I hope he wont). 

We always had problems with Yaya because he is strong, direct player and if Pep keeps him out of game, it will be good for us

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

12 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

Tbh I think its good for us that Yaya dosnt play for Pep (at least I hope he wont). 

We always had problems with Yaya because he is strong, direct player and if Pep keeps him out of game, it will be good for us

Ehm... Did you miss Citys win against Crystal Palace...?

[Adnane 1,101]

Yeah Yaya will probably be the first name on the team sheet against us. 

[Antonio8 736]

On 23/11/2016 at 10:57 AM, Styles said:

Love his recent comments about Moses being under appreciated. That is one of the most important things about being a coach: being able to develop players & also being creative enough to try new things.

Have a lot of respect for this guy now. Not ashamed to say I was very wrong about him with some of my comments earlier in the season.

never mind, i forgive you 

now all together towards the glory

[BlueLyon 9,359]

11 hours ago, NiclasCFC said:

Ehm... Did you miss Citys win against Crystal Palace...?

I know. But before that he didnt play single minute. 

Thats why I hope he played Yaya because of CL match and not because he suddenly thinks he can be a starter again.

[Unionjack 7,531]

If you think about it not as a Blue you have to say Conte has done a great job. His part in our turnaround is nothing short of magic.

As A Blue when we were going thru the back end of Mou theres no doubt we was in a mess. We was being linked to every manager in the world whether he was working or not. I remember MOST of us were hoping for Allegri and all the reports said hed got the job. But with his club now playing shite in the league even tho they beat Celtic arent you all bloody chuffed now we got Conte! He himself is suprized how fast and well the lads have cottoned onto the 3-4-3. But its only been a very short while. Can you imagine just how much better we could get after using it for a few months!! Its exciting. But we cant get carried away. And we can't lose faith when that time comes we have a real shite day and end up losing to a Stoke on a cold foggy tuesday night cause something like that is bound to happen eventually.

What did suprize me was Contes quote saying the team was complete and he wasn't looking at transfers! Because we all know we are far from completer. Whether its upgrades to go into the 1st team now or for good depth for key positions. We would be fucked without our current WB specially.

ButI I'm happier about the state of us than any of our opponents and wouldn't swap Conte right now for anyone. 

Chelsea's Antonio Conte is the Premier League's best new manager

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/club/chelsea/363/blog/post/3003564/chelseas-antonio-conte-is-the-premier-leagues-best-new-boss

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Some fun Chelsea training video I saw. Hazard volleys into the net

http://talksport.com/football/chelsea-fc-video-eden-hazard-thibaut-courtois-and-nathaniel-chalobah-beat-david-luiz

 

 

[The Skipper 20,609]

The biggest weakness I can see with this 3-4-3 is the space in behind the wing backs. Because both of our wingbacks aren't fantastic defenders, if you've got that space and you've isolated Moses or Alonso and are a decent dribbler, you should be able to exploit it, and then you can exploit further by either putting in a good cross if no support comes in, or having another player attack the channel that is left behind by the support player if support does arrive. It's something that could be a problem against City specifically since they like their players underlapping and moving in these channels and spaces.

It'll be interesting to see how Conte deals with this if it gets properly exploited.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

11 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

The biggest weakness I can see with this 3-4-3 is the space in behind the wing backs. Because both of our wingbacks aren't fantastic defenders, if you've got that space and you've isolated Moses or Alonso and are a decent dribbler, you should be able to exploit it, and then you can exploit further by either putting in a good cross if no support comes in, or having another player attack the channel that is left behind by the support player if support does arrive. It's something that could be a problem against City specifically since they like their players underlapping and moving in these channels and spaces.

It'll be interesting to see how Conte deals with this if it gets properly exploited.

IMO the biggest weakness I saw from 3:4:3 is when our defense is not positioned/returning back, we can leave quite some space if opponent makes good pass in free space. 

Boro did that last week which resulted in player almost alone infront of GK, but they didnt took advantage.

As for wingbacks goes, yeah we have yet to face realy quaility opponents, but IMO Moses and Alonso track back brilliantly and if opponent escape we have Azpi and Cahill ready. On top, Pedro does alot of tracking and we have great pressing, which means opponents on wings face little space. 

But perhaps the left side is weaker, because Hazard goes rarely back to goal, Alonso is not that fast and Cahill aint no Azpi either. 

That said I can see City exploit our left side by quick passing and runs, which will give them space, much like game vs Boro (they did get one or two such chances from left side; while Moses did much better). 

What we have to exploit is Pep being Pep. He will go for dominating performance with pressing and lot of possesion, but on counter they will be very fragile like all Pep teams. If we squeze them and press back, we will force them in mistakes and we could score with Eden and Costa both in form. Then we sit back and finish them on counter. Considering we dont need to go all out, perhaps Conte will go for more balanced play, sitting deeper, but the last thing I want is to let City dominate from first minute and let them have ball and dictate attacks. That way we will surely lose like we did vs arsenal, unless we will have luck on our side and we will score one goal from one shot with 30%possesion. 

I would go with high pressing, not all attack but to break their midfield play. Then hopefuly we score and after Pep will go even further up, then we can do them on counter. 

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

That way we will surely lose like we did vs arsenal, unless we will have luck on our side and we will score one goal from one shot with 30%possesion. 

We are a totaly different team to then in all ways and if we played them now it would be a different kettle of fish.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

5 hours ago, Unionjack said:

We are a totaly different team to then in all ways and if we played them now it would be a different kettle of fish.

True. That time I criticized Conte for our lack of pressing when we were using that 4-2-3-1, because sitting back will require hazard and Willian to follow the fullbacks everytime which isn't good especially with only 2 centerbacks to cover for the eventual crosses. 

But now with this 3-4-3, if we sit back Alonso and Moses mark those on the wings, while the runs in behind can be easily tracked by dedicated defenders in Azpilicueta and cahill who are used to defending instead of Hazard. That closes the space on the flanks, and because we are more compact,(5 at the back with Moses and Alonso tucked close to the centerbacks) we always have 3 defenders to deal with the incoming crosses which is better than the 4-1-4-1 before with only 2. 

The only real weakness is when a long ball is switched quickly from one end of the pitch to the other flank (Middlesbrough did this in the beginning of the last match to put ramirez through) But this will require an inch perfect long range pass with speed on the pass combined with a perfect first touch to put us in real danger. Any tactics that forces the opponent to have to play long balls is a good one. 

Our defense is far more solid and compact than it ever was in the beginning. 

[Unionjack 7,531]

41 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

True. That time I criticized Conte for our lack of pressing when we were using that 4-2-3-1, because sitting back will require hazard and Willian to follow the fullbacks everytime which isn't good especially with only 2 centerbacks to cover for the eventual crosses. 

But now with this 3-4-3, if we sit back Alonso and Moses mark those on the wings, while the runs in behind can be easily tracked by dedicated defenders in Azpilicueta and cahill who are used to defending instead of Hazard. That closes the space on the flanks, and because we are more compact,(5 at the back with Moses and Alonso tucked close to the centerbacks) we always have 3 defenders to deal with the incoming crosses which is better than the 4-1-4-1 before with only 2. 

The only real weakness is when a long ball is switched quickly from one end of the pitch to the other flank (Middlesbrough did this in the beginning of the last match to put ramirez through) But this will require an inch perfect long range pass with speed on the pass combined with a perfect first touch to put us in real danger. Any tactics that forces the opponent to have to play long balls is a good one. 

Our defense is far more solid and compact than it ever was in the beginning. 

All right

Luiz is doing those long passes and I like it. Gives us more crteativity options.

But even tho the lads stepped up and making the most of Willians mums illness etc I really do think we need to upgrade that position and have needed to since Eden came.

Sadly with no Cescy or anyone else thats able to step up, we cack good creativity. And when teams come and double mark him or come and kick 10 loadsa shit out of him we realy nerd for that right side to take over. If we had another Eden like lad teams would be even more spread out than now with them having to go wide to chase the WBs. I know it will be difficult to get someone but I dont think we should penny pinch on him. It would almost be like having 3 strikers

But it does make me worry a little hearing Conte say hes not thinking about bringing in transfers and the team is complete. Thats sounding like the way Mou fucked up. WE all know we could upgrade/strengthen/add STRONG depth. And its always best to strengthen when you're winning.

So these next 2 windows should really make us and hopefully dominate Europe next year.