The Conte Thread

[Leif 6,006]

Milan not getting CL next season 100% means that they must sell almost every player of theirs that's Serie A material.

That in mind, there's 1 player who'd elevate our game tremendously, and that's Conti. I thought he'd be moulded into a CB, but what a waste. He might be one of the best wing backs possible. If Conte's here next season, I want that Italian link strengthened. 

[Jase 43,479]

3 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

This season has been hit and miss but before the season even began there were 4 major fuck ups on the board and Conte’s behalf 1) releasing John Terry and NOT offering/begging him to take a coaching role 2) alienating and selling Diego Costa 3) selling Nemanja Matic. Without even mentioning to Man Utd by the way and 4) Poor recruitment.

1. Think if given the chance, Conte would have wanted Terry to stay but he clearly still wants to play and is not going to get that here. Had to leave.

2. Conte may be at fault - to an extent - on his handling of Costa but it's been said many times, let's not pretend Costa hadn't downed tools since January and given his erratic contribution/behavior ever since, you can't blame Conte for saying 'enough is enough' with him.

4. Selling Costa and Matic would have been fine had we bought well but the poor recruitment only really compounded those outgoings.

[quickpassnmove 924]

3 hours ago, Leif said:

To think we could've just gone for a midfield duo of Kante-Fabinho & poured money into an elite winger for the right side. We'd still be lacking, but at least we'd play good football. In fact with that duo, we'd be solid enough to revert to our signature 4-3-3. It was a stale formation, and i was so glad to see us adopt something new - but it could even be time to bring it back now, if not another brand new formation (we can only get more attacking from this point on...right?)

 

The squad needed a lot more from January through the summer: defenders, MF, and FWDs. Especially scoring players (plural) at the top of the formation, more than one top CM, wingbacks, one centre back (plus Andreas returning).

Chelsea are simply far behind the curve right now among A. top European sides and B. playing good football (for me, "good football" meaning, we can play however the hell we want in any given situation but also being a side that threatens with good chances created by more than just 2 or 3 players and is dangerous from back-to-front with good combination play).

Since downgrading the spending and doing the total dumbfuck move of selling Kevin de Bruyne, I'm personally not as emotionally invested in the entirety of CFC situation.

 

Chelsea could dump Conte for Marco Silva (or name your manager), but the questions remain: what is Chelsea Football Club's vision? WHO at the club has any vision (beyond the new stadium)?  Until these questions are answered, the club looks rudderless and has no clear identity. CFC will remain behind the curve, like an Arsenal (who BTW, clearly got a quality player for left back last summer).

So, it looks like we're a transactional club with no clear vision and a board full of business people (as others have said in this forum). No clear identity, no clear footballing vision, no clear plan overall.

Meanwhile, let's watch another manager get sacked and let's watch N'golo Kante's knees/legs go as he tries to keep this club treading water in mid-table.

[Styles 9,790]

#ConteOut

Enough said.

[Alabama 1,992]

4 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

The squad needed a lot more from January through the summer: defenders, MF, and FWDs. Especially scoring players (plural) at the top of the formation, more than one top CM, wingbacks, one centre back (plus Andreas returning).

Chelsea are simply far behind the curve right now among A. top European sides and B. playing good football (for me, "good football" meaning, we can play however the hell we want in any given situation but also being a side that threatens with good chances created by more than just 2 or 3 players and is dangerous from back-to-front with good combination play).

Since downgrading the spending and doing the total dumbfuck move of selling Kevin de Bruyne, I'm personally not as emotionally invested in the entirety of CFC situation.

 

Chelsea could dump Conte for Marco Silva (or name your manager), but the questions remain: what is Chelsea Football Club's vision? WHO at the club has any vision (beyond the new stadium)?  Until these questions are answered, the club looks rudderless and has no clear identity. CFC will remain behind the curve, like an Arsenal (who BTW, clearly got a quality player for left back last summer).

So, it looks like we're a transactional club with no clear vision and a board full of business people (as others have said in this forum). No clear identity, no clear footballing vision, no clear plan overall.

Meanwhile, let's watch another manager get sacked and let's watch N'golo Kante's knees/legs go as he tries to keep this club treading water in mid-table.

That's my exact argument in the transfer section...for all the sticks morata is receiving its so lucid that we needed more than morata... I mean we needed another goal scoring winger in pedro/willian position...I hope our pathetic board gets it right in January transfer window and invest in either fekir/Malcolm or carrasco and at least a very good left wingback...then in the summer we can address midfield and central defence position...we struggling in front of goal cos we have only two goal scoring players in Hazard n to a bit morata...

[Alabama 1,992]

Can the conteout member brigade take a chill and accept we are only in top 4 race this season due the piss poor summer transfer window our pathetic board had...sake conte the next manager will have to deal with Alonso Cahill willian and fabregas...while these fraud will keep outliving managers...the problem I have with conte is to drop the likes of Cahill and to some extent give bakayoko a rest... 

[Special Juan 28,141]

2 hours ago, Styles said:

#ConteOut

Enough said.

We should be asking questions of the board before asking for rubbish like this.

[manpe 10,861]

17 minutes ago, eemanyooel said:

I hope our pathetic board gets it right in January transfer window and invest in either fekir/Malcolm or carrasco and at least a very good left wingback...then in the summer we can address midfield and central defence position

Not gonna happen. Our policy is to sell and replace like-for-like. For example I can see us selling Christensen because he's very talented, this board hates talent and loves money, and then will replace him with someone older and more experienced around the same price, but not necessarily better or more talented. There will be zero signings in January unless we sell someone, I can almost drink poison on that. In fact even that is not a given, we flushed our team last January and signed no one... The board actually tried pulling the rug from under Conte's feet, but even that didn't stop him from dominating the league. They finally succeeded in doing so with a shit show of a summer though.

 

If January is not an improvement, if I was Conte I would leave in May and find a club that matches my ambitions.

[AlesJuve 264]

9 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

2)Alvaro Morata is a great footballer and will be a good long term investment eventually as he has won a lot and has a good skill set but he’s not Diego Costa. He’s not got that bullishness or brute force that Costa has, not able to bully defenders and that is hurting the team in some games. Morata has got some key goals yes but has shown also some limitations against much more physical defenders in the PL particularly. Sure he’s adjusting still but he needs to get prepared better for next season physically for sure. I wonder what it would of been like if Costa and Conte were on good terms and he was kept until Janary at least. Would of been a great alternative.

Morata did not have to replace Costa. Costa should be replaced by Lukaku. The plan was to play with two strikers one faster and more technical and the other stronger physically. In fact even after buying Morata and having failed with Lukaku Chelsea have been looking for Llorente.Morata is, however, a great champion and will give you many joys even though yesterday made a mistake in the first half, but can happen to everyone. Chelsea can also exonerate Conte if the board no longer believes in him is better for both. But continuing to exonerate big coaches without solving the underlying problems is not the solution.

 

 

[Alabama 1,992]

28 minutes ago, manpe said:

Not gonna happen. Our policy is to sell and replace like-for-like. For example I can see us selling Christensen because he's very talented, this board hates talent and loves money, and then will replace him with someone older and more experienced around the same price, but not necessarily better or more talented. There will be zero signings in January unless we sell someone, I can almost drink poison on that. In fact even that is not a given, we flushed our team last January and signed no one... The board actually tried pulling the rug from under Conte's feet, but even that didn't stop him from dominating the league. They finally succeeded in doing so with a shit show of a summer though.

 

If January is not an improvement, if I was Conte I would leave in May and find a club that matches my ambitions.

So asking for quality players that would improve our team massively and won't cost up to 100m is too much....sad times been a Chelsea fan...anyway your comments is definitely spot on that's is kind of shit board we have...

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Hahah last year almost everyone was throwing Matic and Costa under the bus, now you cry after them and even question Conte?

Surprise surprise...

[Antonio8 736]

these players have the last chance against man united 

to prove they're not trying to kick off conte 

let's see 

 

[drog.ba 239]

There does seem to be a lack of vision, a lot of our signings seem mediocre.

We could have with more foresight had a midfield three of De Bruyne, Kante, Matic which would walk the league.

If he was at Man City under Guardiola I think Christensen would be starting and soon be recognised as one of the best in the league. Here he'll likely be forced out by limited opportunities. Feel like him and Zouma/Rudiger should be starting in a back four, building for the future.

 

 

[AlesJuve 264]

20 minutes ago, Antonio8 said:

these players have the last chance against man united 

to prove they're not trying to kick off conte 

let's see 

 

I do not think players are playing against Conte.Simply Chelsea's rose is too short for four competitions, while last year with only one game per week could overcome the problem due the greater physical and tactical preparation that Conte's methods give This summer Conte had said "it would be the most difficult season of my career" and he was right.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

If you ask me, I don't think we'd be better off by having any other manager out there right now in the place of Conte and I firmly believe on this. During the summer I said it time and again that the board is letting us down big time and now that the season is in full flow, it's getting painfully obvious. It's criminal for me that we did not go out and buy a LWB in the summer, I mean how hard it is to understand that the three at the back formation is highly dependent on having dynamic wingbacks and it's one of the most if not the most demanding positions and having top quality wingbacks can make or break a three man defence formation. However, our board in their infinite wisdom wasted all summer chasing a goose egg that was Alex Sandro when it was clear as day that Juventus (a club with actual decent ambition) won't sell him after losing Bonucci and Alves, yet we persisted with this wild goose chase and did not secure proper competition for Alonso. I just can't wrap my head around how poor the board has been during the past three summers, it's absolutely appalling. Davide is a good player no doubt but again there were better options out there but we put all our eggs in the Oxlade-Chamberlain basket and in the end had to scamper through to get a deal done for a decent RWB. Also going into the season in which we'd be playing 3 matches per week almost every other week with just 4 midfield options is mind boggling. We needed five players in midfield yet we only got our 4th choice midfielder at the very last hour literally. Our board had placed all its bets on us having another injury free season but it's clear that its not going to be the case and I for one hope that no matter what happens, we don't let go of Conte. Conte must not pay for the sins of this incompetent and ambition less board.

[Leif 6,006]

I agree with that above sentiment. 

Conte is classy towards players & managers.
Conte is up to date tactically; in fact he revolutionised the Premier League of all leagues moments after stepping into it.
He isn't necessarily transforming our players into freak-versions of themselves, but at least he isn't asking Hazard to be a wing back. 
He's simply likeable by fans & media alike. He's authentic. 
He's shown more balls with our lineups (successfully) than any other manager of ours in the past 7 or so years. 
It can only be a good thing that he demands an unreal fitness level, which hasn't actually sidelined that many of our players compared to other clubs, who lose just as many players but with half the lungs.

Now as for managers we could bring in... there are only a few clubs (easier listing club names than managers) with 'top', proven coaches - Napoli, Atletico, Inter, Man City.. and that's about it. Now, Atletico play terrible football, anti-football almost, IMO. Napoli's coach is proving himself in Serie A, but what can he do with superstar egos? (Not that we have many superstars right now.) I'm not sure - plus, he wants to leave Napoli due to the board & president. Man City - Pep isn't coming. And as for Inter, Spalletti is not a long term coach for any top club, but a brilliant short-term manager. 

Internationally, there is Sampaoli. But, I think he's more the type to transform Tottenham into league winners who go deep in the Champions League, more than he's the type to take already-league-winning Chelsea to a level where the trophies keep coming in, but the football style is improved greatly. I don't think he can do both in the most high pressure league. It's just not something he has experience with.

So in my mind, the only 'top' manager that's available and that'd keep us at the top is...Ancelotti. And that's almost like bringing Hiddink in. 

Forget the tier below of Poch, Marco Silva, etc - you can see in their eyes that they'd do everything they're told by the board, and that's not something we want to enable. (Makes sense that the only managers with big balls are the ones who already have brilliant reputations. If you're still 'coming up', you'll care more about keeping your first top job than you'll care about appeasing the fans & players.) After Conte showing some balls to our board, our next potential manager must continue chipping away at that wall of ignorance in our club. 

Simply, there is no better than Conte, and every team from United, to Juventus fans (not the board of course), Roma, Milan, Atletico, Barcelona, Bayern would gladly lap him up next season should we cut him off. And he'd be damn brilliant, because he'd have the players he needs. 

The only way to go after Conte is down.  

[ccheongf 211]

Sad case. Chelsea is exposed. When pressed high by opponents the back 3 or 4 are like lost sheep.They dnt know what to do with the ball. There are no midfielders, wings  who can keep ,pass, dribble to start an attack.And when in attack only a handful players follow through. Ive wrriten before, Chelsea will be fightning for 4 to 6 spots in the premier league. In the Champion league ,if  lucky can go to the next round , will be knock out .

[Alabama 1,992]

12 minutes ago, Leif said:

I agree with that above sentiment. 

Conte is classy towards players & managers.
Conte is up to date tactically; in fact he revolutionised the Premier League of all leagues moments after stepping into it.
He isn't necessarily transforming our players into freak-versions of themselves, but at least he isn't asking Hazard to be a wing back. 
He's simply likeable by fans & media alike. He's authentic. 
He's shown more balls with our lineups (successfully) than any other manager of ours in the past 7 or so years. 
It can only be a good thing that he demands an unreal fitness level, which hasn't actually sidelined that many of our players compared to other clubs, who lose just as many players but with half the lungs.

Now as for managers we could bring in... there are only a few clubs (easier listing club names than managers) with 'top', proven coaches - Napoli, Atletico, Inter, Man City.. and that's about it. Now, Atletico play terrible football, anti-football almost, IMO. Napoli's coach is proving himself in Serie A, but what can he do with superstar egos? (Not that we have many superstars right now.) I'm not sure - plus, he wants to leave Napoli due to the board & president. Man City - Pep isn't coming. And as for Inter, Spalletti is not a long term coach for any top club, but a brilliant short-term manager. 

Internationally, there is Sampaoli. But, I think he's more the type to transform Tottenham into league winners who go deep in the Champions League, more than he's the type to take already-league-winning Chelsea to a level where the trophies keep coming in, but the football style is improved greatly. I don't think he can do both in the most high pressure league. It's just not something he has experience with.

So in my mind, the only 'top' manager that's available and that'd keep us at the top is...Ancelotti. And that's almost like bringing Hiddink in. 

Forget the tier below of Poch, Marco Silva, etc - you can see in their eyes that they'd do everything they're told by the board, and that's not something we want to enable. (Makes sense that the only managers with big balls are the ones who already have brilliant reputations. If you're still 'coming up', you'll care more about keeping your first top job than you'll care about appeasing the fans & players.) After Conte showing some balls to our board, our next potential manager must continue chipping away at that wall of ignorance in our club. 

Simply, there is no better than Conte, and every team from United, to Juventus fans (not the board of course), Roma, Milan, Atletico, Barcelona, Bayern would gladly lap him up next season should we cut him off. And he'd be damn brilliant, because he'd have the players he needs. 

The only way to go after Conte is down.  

Sadly the conteout member brigade can't comprehend this simple fact...the only way we go after conte is down...

[Tomo 21,751]

17 hours ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

False.

According to Transfrmarket.co.uk -

Arrivals -  £179.1 million 

Departures -  £176 million 

We aren't really improving the squad.  We're just replacing like for like. Our net spend is Arsenal like. It's what we've been for a long time now. In reality we've been standing still for several years :

Premier League net spend since 2014:

Man City £448.7m

Man Utd £424.7m

Arsenal £193.8m

Chelsea £126.9m

Tottenham £20.5m

What Abramovich and the board put into the club is what we get.  Roman is not all that interested in going crazy in the market anymore. He can't compete with Abu Dhabi and the coffers at Old Trafford. It's high time we accept that reality as supporters of the club.

And the team bottom of that list have been the most consistent team in this league for the last few years (despite not winning it) and the most well balanced aswell. Conte did an absolutely unbelievable job last season, even better than Jose's work the first time but this season he is making silly mistakes and the transfer window can only cover his arse to a point. Don't get me wrong, i am not for a second saying he should go last season gives him enough credit in the bank for quite some time unless we hit a 15/16 or even 10/11 rut, but he needs to wake up because this squad while flawed are not as bad as what's been shown this season.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

1 minute ago, Tomo said:

And the team bottom of that list have been the most consistent team in this league for the last few years (despite not winning it) and the most well balanced aswell. Conte did an absolutely unbelievable job last season, even better than Jose's work the first time but this season he is making silly mistakes and the transfer window can only cover his arse to a point. Don't get me wrong, i am not for a second saying he should go last season gives him enough credit in the bank for quite some time unless we hit a 15/16 or even 10/11 rut, but he needs to wake up because this squad while flawed are not as bad as what's been shown this season.

Spurs don't win trophies though. They've won nothing in a decade. Consistency and balance means nothing without silverware to show for it. Sure, you can debate who the better manager is Pochettino or Conte and how Pochettino will potentially do with more resources to spend but I don't think Spurs are the team we should be looking at as any sort of model.