The Conte Thread

[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 7,226]

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 20,593]

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 7,226]

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.

[Jase 43,479]

8 hours 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.

True but I'd say Alonso is worse than Moses in defensive situations. The former has been getting beaten a tad too easily - especially against pacey players - but we are fortunate that we haven't been punished for it yet.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

18 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

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.

It will be fantastic to get a right winger who makes off the ball runs in behind the defence like Pedro but is a better finisher. 

But without Champions League football it will be hard to get the right quality we need to improve that position so I'm hoping we get the Champions League spot at the end of the season, then we go all out for absolute quality in Griezmann, dybala or even mahrez (last season player of the year) so that Hazard being double marked is taken completely out of the equation. If it's possible a quicker leftback who can defend and cross like Alonso will really settle fears on Alonso's lack of pace. 

But so far, we can cope without anyone in january 

[Unionjack 7,531]

2 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

It will be fantastic to get a right winger who makes off the ball runs in behind the defence like Pedro but is a better finisher. 

But without Champions League football it will be hard to get the right quality we need to improve that position so I'm hoping we get the Champions League spot at the end of the season, then we go all out for absolute quality in Griezmann, dybala or even mahrez (last season player of the year) so that Hazard being double marked is taken completely out of the equation. If it's possible a quicker leftback who can defend and cross like Alonso will really settle fears on Alonso's lack of pace. 

But so far, we can cope without anyone in january 

So we dont buy in Jan sales to either upgrade nor strengthen/add good depth for key positions?.

In late Jan we are 6 points in the lead. Alonso gets a broken toe and Moses gets a Groin strain in the Africans Nations cup as he has already been out 3 weeks its going to take ages to recover,rest and get better.

Who do you suggest we use for WBs  or do we change formations?

[kellzfresh 7,226]

17 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

So we dont buy in Jan sales to either upgrade nor strengthen/add good depth for key positions?.

In late Jan we are 6 points in the lead. Alonso gets a broken toe and Moses gets a Groin strain in the Africans Nations cup as he has already been out 3 weeks its going to take ages to recover,rest and get better.

Who do you suggest we use for WBs  or do we change formations?

Moses is not going for African cup of nations, Nigeria didn't qualify. But we have even Willian who is defensive enough to play that role. 

I hear we are recalling Kenedy from his Watford loan. So he can easily slot into that wing-back role as a sub for Alonso. The Kenedy recall is the only reason why I realized we don't need to delve into the market in january. 

[BoyBlue96 990]

Antonio better BEATS FUCKING TOTTENHAM

[Unionjack 7,531]

37 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

I hear we are recalling Kenedy from his Watford loan. So he can easily slot into that wing-back role as a sub for Alonso. The Kenedy recall is the only reason why I realized we don't need to delve into the market in january. 

Why not? The lads been brilliant for Watford!!!!

 I really liked Kennedy and yes IF HE WAS THE PLAYER WHO LEFT US I think he might make a good WB. I was upset he left but he wont be anything like the player who left us. Theres reports of him getting a bad attitude too.

So even if he did get his form back he wont be ready to play at our level for weeks. Not if Conte thought Bats wasn't Chelsea standard fit after just being in the Euros.

[Unionjack 7,531]

Soon time for managers press confrence

http://www.chelseafc.com/videos/chelseatvlive.html

[Unionjack 7,531]

He doesn't let anything slip does he. No answers about anything but NOW!

[BoyBlue96 990]

42 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

He doesn't let anything slip does he. No answers about anything but NOW!

That's how he is. He only works behind the scenes. He's never transparent. 

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 minute ago, BoyBlue96 said:

That's how he is. He only works behind the scenes. He's never transparent. 

LOL Infuriating. But he does it with a smile.

It wouldn't hurt us if he said yeah we might be looking for this or that. Just for impatiant bastards like me haha