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5 hours ago, Hybrid Angel said:

 I sort of agree, imo the reason Matic keeps starting is that he is the only one who can help out Kante defensively. If we had someone like Nainggolan who offers plenty both defensively and offensively nobody would be talking about being over-defensive in the middle of the park. About the decision to play Matic specifically against Burnley, to be fair I think Conte saw Burnley's performance against Liverpool and predicted we would have the same amount of possession Liverpool had, and the way Burnley countered against Liverpool with the two very decent strikers they have up top who could cause havoc if they went head to head with Cahill and Terry. I think Conte was trying to protect the back 4 rather than try to create a balance in midfield against a shambolic Burnley side. Tbf to Matic and Kante, they stopped a lot of attacks and recovered a lot of loose balls, but maybe that was because Burnley couldn't pass to save their lives. 

Overall I'm with you in a sense that I think we should do much better than the current midfield however I'm not fully confident with going into a match with a midfield of Kante-Oscar-Fabregas, no matter who the opponent is.

I agree about players starting that should'n't start. If it were up to me, I would pay whatever it takes to get Nainggolan. He is magnificent. A midfield with Kante-Nainggolan-Oscar/Fabregas would be elite imo. The thing I'm most pissed off about is how Ivanovic is still starting for this club. I swear if someone at the end of last season told me he would be a starter come the next season I would shoot myself. The LB and CB issues have been evident for ages, especially CB which has been a glaring hole in this club for ages. When was the last time we had a top CB? I still believe we're expecting Conte to perform a miracle with his current squad if we're expecting a title challenge.

Then drop Oscar instead of Matic, As I said, it doesn't matter who... it just felt three mainly defensive players were too much. Oscar can do the B2B thing almost decently, I think if Conte instructs him, he would support Kanté as his main role.

I agree a midfield of Kanté, Oscar and Cesc looks too soft (on Oscar and Cesc behalf), but against certain teams we don't need more than that. Also Matic is sooooooo slow, count on him to help the DM to protect the defense demands him to stay lower in the pitch because he can't sprint for his life.

I made the (healthy) decision of ignoring Iva exists. I'm in denial. It's proved to be much healthier than the frustration I was getting from seeing his name. That will work until he makes a mistake that leads to a goal - because that's pretty hard to ignore so I hope for my health it doesn't happen

3 hours ago, The Skipper said:

Well, it's clear to me that if we give Conte a proper team we'll be big title contenders. We still need more players to improve the defence and get someone in that'll reduce the pressure on Hazard. 

 

2 hours ago, Fernando said:

I don't think we will get players that are Conte priority this late in the transfer window. We will just get left over. 

 

unfortunately it feels like that :(

And tbh we'll sign a defender, I'm positive, and he might even be better than Iva, Terry and Cahill, but as it won't be the guy we really need, Conte won't drop any of the three (until Zouma is fit) and we'll continue with the same defense. Which means, we're bringing backup that might even be better than any of those three, but will unlikely play. That's a depressing thought

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37 minutes ago, Chelsea Legend 11 said:

Barbara, no offense, but your opinion is making you look like you don't know a thing about football and we all know that not to be true. It also reeks with personal agenda based on the strong stance you've taken on certain players and philosophies being employed.

Oscar has looked very good under Conte, the Watford game was an exception and I would think the conditions made it harder to play the football we wanted(well that and the fact the Watford were playing in their home opener and were up for it) Matic is adjusting to a new role(like most) it will take time for him to get it right. What he does possess is the awareness to sense danger and some ability to snuff it out now and again. If he can get back to his 2015 form we're laughing with him and Kante.

To my amateur eyes what Conte has done is made the midfield more solid and given the team a stronger foundation to build from. Oscar may not be the creative dynamo Cesc is but, in virtually every other category you judge a midfielder on he is pretty much head and shoulders above him. 

The midfield three looks a lot more fluid this year. There have been times when Kante has gotten forward and initiated attacks, Oscar has dropped back to compensate for gaps and Matic has done the same. All of this would be difficult to pull off with Fabregas marauding forward and when in defense, a walking sieve. Imagine him in the holding role and getting played around only to have Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic left to break up the attack.... Oh wait you don't have to imagine, that exact same scenario played out 100's of times last year.

Bottom line is we need to build a solid base first, one where the XI understand what Conte is trying the implement. Only after they get that understanding is when it is ok to start tweaking it with the likes of Cesc and Michy getting more game time. I think the no.1 reason we are playing the formation we have been has more to do with our back 4 then it does our front 5. We will score goals but with Cesc in the side we will definitely be porous in the middle and ship a ton too.

Well, maybe I don't :P I'll still talk about it

I think any assessment about Oscar is premature. He oscillates too much and then he enters those dark periods of football, so after only 4 games - one of which he was really bad - I think we should just wait before we write him in.

I agree Matic in form is out of this world, problem is he hasn't been in form for at least 18 months now.

Talking about the past, two years ago, we had a very fluid midfield with Oscar, Cesc and Matic. Now we have Kanté which is much better than any of them as a MD. Some matches we'll need more solidness in the midfield, for others more creativity. Everybody here is forgetting Burnley can be a wall defensively, giving the ball to the opponent and closing all space, populating the opponent's  final third with two solid walls of players. If they had executed that part of the plan well (they were miserable defending yesterday, from positioning to tackling, they did very few things right, and were saved from a huge scoreline because of their goalie and our lack of sharpness), Matic + Oscar + Kanté would have done nothing to break them down.

Bottom line is I'm not saying it didn't work - it obviously did, my post was before the match and if Burnley had showed the defensive solidness they did against Liverpool we would have struggled to create anything with a midfield like that. I think Eden's early goal - which was 100% on him, it wasn't about approach, tactics, nothing, just the magic Conte worked on him and his own magic that has been dormant for a year, that helped us more than anything because then Burnley didn't know what to do (continue to be ultra defensive or try to bite something) and as a consequence, they did nothing well. There will be matches were we'll face those solid defenses , those three aren't the answer for that kind of game and that was my only point before the match. When the other team is as poor as they were, you just capitalize because GD can be really important at the end of the day. I prefer 8x1 rather than 3x0, but I understand who thinks the clean sheet at this stage is overly important.

I complained BEFORE the match, I didn't complain AFTER the match, after the match I simply answered posts justifying what I claimed before and then commentated on how bad Burnley was. I was happy with the display, of course I was, even if I dreamed of something else.

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1 hour ago, Barbara said:

Bottom line is I'm not saying it didn't work - it obviously did, my post was before the match and if Burnley had showed the defensive solidness they did against Liverpool we would have struggled to create anything with a midfield like that. I think Eden's early goal - which was 100% on him, it wasn't about approach, tactics, nothing, just the magic Conte worked on him and his own magic that has been dormant for a year, that helped us more than anything because then Burnley didn't know what to do (continue to be ultra defensive or try to bite something) and as a consequence, they did nothing well. There will be matches were we'll face those solid defenses , those three aren't the answer for that kind of game and that was my only point before the match. When the other team is as poor as they were, you just capitalize because GD can be really important at the end of the day. I prefer 8x1 rather than 3x0, but I understand who thinks the clean sheet at this stage is overly important.

I agree with you to be honest. The issue about Kante-Matic-Oscar is not one of whether it 'works', since we have to analyse and infer what Conte's aim even is. So yeah if it's an approach that's designed to shut out the opposing teams so we keep a rigid shape in front of the back 4 then you can say it 'works'.

But as you've pointed out quite clearly, it's not going to help break down stubborn teams who keep 10 men behind the ball. An example of this is Hull City yesterday, they kept a good defensive shape and simply didn't allow United to get into the 6-yard box but allowed them all the possession. Sure United struck late through a massive bite of luck but how on earth are we going to break down these defences when we only keep Costa, Willian and Hazard as our only attacking outlets? Sure we can bring on Pedro, Cesc and Batshuayi. But what if we could replace Oscar and get someone who brings in his work rate but is simply more able in the attacking sense of the game?!

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24 minutes ago, xPetrCechx said:

We were conceding over 6-7 shots on target a game last season. This season we have conceded just 5 in 3 Premier League games.

 

LOL, we're 4 games in & just kept our first clean sheet in a long time on Saturday. Useless comparison.

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5 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

LOL, we're 4 games in & just kept our first clean sheet in a long time on Saturday. Useless comparison.

This time last year we won 1 out of 4 games. Set a trend for the rest of our season.

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Just now, Polo7 said:

This time last year we won 1 out of 4 games. Set a trend for the rest of our season.

Yeah but it's new manager syndrome and we've yet to be properly challenged. The strongest we've played is West Ham and they were without key players anyway :lol: 

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6 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

Yeah but it's new manager syndrome and we've yet to be properly challenged. The strongest we've played is West Ham and they were without key players anyway :lol: 

What do you mean challenged? Did we finish 10th last season just by losing to the top 4? No we lost points against everyone. If you cant see the improvement from last year to this season then give up watching football mate.

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11 minutes ago, Polo7 said:

What do you mean challenged? Did we finish 10th last season just by losing to the top 4? No we lost points against everyone. If you cant see the improvement from last year to this season then give up watching football mate.

No I'm saying it's too premature to assume we won't cave in again mate. Yeah confidence is up now and things seem to be going well, but when that winter slump comes and we're exposed with Cahill, Terry & Ivanovic then we'll see what 'improvements' are there. If we keep a great defensive record then I'll be happy to say I was wrong, but that initial statistic makes no shred of difference to me because it's too early lol. 

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Conte: "It is very strange that at home we conceded for 13 games. God," #CFC (Telegraph)

Conte: "I reminded this to my players so I was very pleased to get a clean sheet." #CFC (Telegraph)

Conte: It’s important to score 1 more goal than the opponent, but to keep the clean sheet is important for the confidence for the whole team

Conte: "We must go day by day and step by step and to face every game with the right intensity, concentration and focus" #CFC (Telegraph)

First priority for Conte going into transfer deadline week remains finding an experienced defender to add to his squad (Telegraph) #CFC

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2 hours ago, LDN Blue said:

No I'm saying it's too premature to assume we won't cave in again mate. Yeah confidence is up now and things seem to be going well, but when that winter slump comes and we're exposed with Cahill, Terry & Ivanovic then we'll see what 'improvements' are there. If we keep a great defensive record then I'll be happy to say I was wrong, but that initial statistic makes no shred of difference to me because it's too early lol. 

Don't jinx it mate. :rant: We haven't really had a winter slump for some time now.

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1 hour ago, Jason said:

Don't jinx it mate. :rant: We haven't really had a winter slump for some time now.

Haven't we? In the title winning season it was more than apparent. We stumbled over the line! Last season was just a write off from the beginning anyway.

I really do worry about our lack of depth in defence and their ability to cope :lol:. Sure no European football will help but its still a long season regardless!

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