The Conte Thread

[Ledg 639]

I'm in the middle atm.

At one hand, I can't wait for this disaster of a season to end as soon as possible.

On the other, I'm still not pumped for next season because I can't trust our board to make up for this season yet.

I still say to myself it can't get any worse than it is but who knows..

Wish you luck, Conte, atm this is the toughest big club managerial position to be in, so I hope you'll come good.

[bellion 170]

For Conte's sake, I hope he has a get-out clause which he can invoke if the Board doesn't buy his transfer targets.

[It's too big 625]

Let's be honest,  this season is just a totally weird one from start to finish. You have Leicester winning the league, city languishing around 4th, arsenal by some miracle still in top 3, spurs in second place and utd struggling to get into CL again. The league is not going to continue like this next season imo, and I believe us, city and utd will be up there again. We have just been unusually poor this season and there's been no emphasis on defensive duties. I think we bring in a manager who focuses on defensive prowess just as much as attacking prowess, we will do fine. Last season we could grind out results,  this season not so much. A lot of ground has had to be made up since the poor results at the start of season, and there's been various issues at the club that has created a negative impact on us. Next season I am expecting us to be right back up there with a few shrewd signings and integration of 2/3 youth players. 

[bellion 170]

1 minute ago, It's too big said:

Let's be honest,  this season is just a totally weird one from start to finish. You have Leicester winning the league, city languishing around 4th, arsenal by some miracle still in top 3, spurs in second place and utd struggling to get into CL again. The league is not going to continue like this next season imo, and I believe us, city and utd will be up there again. We have just been unusually poor this season and there's been no emphasis on defensive duties. I think we bring in a manager who focuses on defensive prowess just as much as attacking prowess, we will do fine. Last season we could grind out results,  this season not so much. A lot of ground has had to be made up since the poor results at the start of season, and there's been various issues at the club that has created a negative impact on us. Next season I am expecting us to be right back up there with a few shrewd signings and integration of 2/3 youth players. 

The problems at the club cannot be solved by a few shrewd signings and a couple of youth players.

Almost the entire Defence and midfield first team needs to be sold and you expect a "few shrewd signings" to make things up?  Has the club done any shrewd signings for the past two seasons? 

[Blue Armour 4,164]

1 hour ago, bellion said:

The problems at the club cannot be solved by a few shrewd signings and a couple of youth players.

Almost the entire Defence and midfield first team needs to be sold and you expect a "few shrewd signings" to make things up?  Has the club done any shrewd signings for the past two seasons? 

Despite the flop show in the past 2 windows, I would still say that Jan 2014 and Summer 2014 involved good signings with Matic, as well as the early deals for Costa and Fabregas. Key additions to the squad at the time.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

[Melanicus 5,208]

Just what we need.

[Leif 6,006]

2 hours ago, Melanicus said:

Just what we need.

why is it whenever the British press translate foreign footballers & coaches they end up sliding in 'Lads'? Nobody but a few Englishman, and then die-hard fans of English teams, say this. It makes me cringe. It's like they're trying to sit on their backwards chair and connect with the youth.

[the wes 7,212]

According to Italian website Calciomercato, Antonio Conte was spotted in the stands for the game between Inter and Napoli at San Siro.

It is reported Conte was watching Lorenzo Insigne and Jorginho for the Italian national team, but also had a close look at Kalidou Koulibaly and Jeison Murillo, as he wants to strengthen the Chelsea defence.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

19 minutes ago, the wes said:

According to Italian website Calciomercato, Antonio Conte was spotted in the stands for the game between Inter and Napoli at San Siro.

It is reported Conte was watching Lorenzo Insigne and Jorginho for the Italian national team, but also had a close look at Kalidou Koulibaly and Jeison Murillo, as he wants to strengthen the Chelsea defence.

Not again 2 unknown shit defenders.... a la Djilobodji...

[The Chels 2,502]

An interesting piece of tactical analysis on the game against City: http://spielverlagerung.com/2016/04/17/chelsea-manchester-city-03/ 

My favourite part is this bit:

Quote

Chelsea’s defensive organisation was characterised by inadequate distances and therefore poor support in defensive actions. This was in no small part due to the man-oriented nature of their strategy. One characteristic of good defending is using the support of the team members to create a collective stability in defence which has a multiplying effect on the defensive abilities of the individuals involved. With a man-marking strategy however a team takes an individualistic approach whereby the focus on coverage of opponents often means the team relies heavily on the individual defensive abilities of the players.

It highlights a problem we've had for a long time, a problem that Mourinho wouldn't or couldn't fix. It's particularly applicable to our defending of wide areas (explaining why someone like Filipe Luis couldn't succeed here). And that's only the defensive side of things... Conte certainly has his work cut out, and has not been helped by Hiddink making few to no tactical improvements whatsoever. These past few months have been a bit of a waste to be honest. We could have done with a lot more experimenting.

[Essien19 1,415]

3 hours ago, xPetrCechx said:

Not again 2 unknown shit defenders.... a la Djilobodji...

At least it's him who wants them, so they play, for good or worse, we'll see.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

23 hours ago, Robguima said:

We could've looked very different had Hiddink tried different ideas too: moving Oscar into CM after Ramires was sold, moving fabregas up the field a bit. Change formation, but his lineups were the same that jose had tried earlier this season.

I know people like Hiddink from the previous job he did, but he looks out of ideas to be honest.

Yeah, I don't know why he hasn't changed anything.  New formations, etc.  More pitch time for some of the youngsters has been good, but I'd like to see a bit more.  We're basically playing friendlies for the rest of the season anyway.  Ask Conte what he'd like to see, and try it out.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

3 hours ago, xPetrCechx said:

Not again 2 unknown shit defenders.... a la Djilobodji...

Not familiar with Murillo, but Koulibaly has been pretty beastly when I've seen him.

[bellion 170]

22 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

Despite the flop show in the past 2 windows, I would still say that Jan 2014 and Summer 2014 involved good signings with Matic, as well as the early deals for Costa and Fabregas. Key additions to the squad at the time.

I don't expect the window where Costa and Fabregas were signed to be repeated.  Times have changed and purse strings have tightened considerably.  If the club is looking to fund new purchases with sales, I don't believe we will get a lot as the players' performances this season has certainly slashed their potential transfer price tags considerably. 

The only way out of this mess is for Roman to say "Fuck It!" and splash out 200 million pounds NET to clear the decks and rebuild the first team.  It all depends on him now to make that call.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

The fuckers should feel the wraith once Conte arrives.

"They have nothing to play for", " they are saving themselves for euros" blah blah

Im tired of this bullshit. They get paid 100k per week to play shit? Seems they stopped playing as soon as last season finished.

Conte will hopefuly smack everyone who doesnt want to play for Chelsea and throw them out of the door. 

 

[Fernando 6,376]

10 hours ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

Yeah, I don't know why he hasn't changed anything.  New formations, etc.  More pitch time for some of the youngsters has been good, but I'd like to see a bit more.  We're basically playing friendlies for the rest of the season anyway.  Ask Conte what he'd like to see, and try it out.

This is why I wanted Bielsa for the interim because he would have done it. 

When everything is lost you need a mad man to shake things up. Hiddink did nothing of that sort. 

What a wasted opportunity. 

[Chelsea4 1,521]

18 hours ago, xPetrCechx said:

Not again 2 unknown shit defenders.... a la Djilobodji...

 Are you kidding me? Murillo and Koulibaly are great players and they are young.