The Conte Thread

[Melanicus 5,208]

• In Italy, Conte  is known as a martello - a hammer. He pounds away at you and never stops. It doesn’t matter whether you’re John Terry or Kenedy. Reputations interest Conte little. Nor, as former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has found out, is talent enough on its own
• You’re only as good as your last game, your last training session. Conte wants you to sweat. “Eat grass” was the maxim at Juventus. He expects you to cover every blade and make the same sacrifices he did as a player. Fail to do that and you’re out
• Pirlo rates him as the best coach he has ever had. A measure of it is Conte’s knack for telling his players how he believes a game will unfold. They have lost count of the number of occasions things have gone exactly how he said they would and are left in awe. By anticipating the problems they will encounter, he’s also able to give them the solution they need to prevail. The preparation is meticulous
• The job Conte did at Juventus is a strikingly similar to the brief one he has at Chelsea now, The Bianconeri had finished seventh in back-to-back years. They were out of Europe altogether. But Conte immediately and improbably restored the Old Lady to her throne, where she has sat ever since

 

[Special Juan 28,149]

10 minutes ago, Melanicus said:

• In Italy, Conte  is known as a martello - a hammer. He pounds away at you and never stops. It doesn’t matter whether you’re John Terry or Kenedy. Reputations interest Conte little. Nor, as former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has found out, is talent enough on its own
• You’re only as good as your last game, your last training session. Conte wants you to sweat. “Eat grass” was the maxim at Juventus. He expects you to cover every blade and make the same sacrifices he did as a player. Fail to do that and you’re out
• Pirlo rates him as the best coach he has ever had. A measure of it is Conte’s knack for telling his players how he believes a game will unfold. They have lost count of the number of occasions things have gone exactly how he said they would and are left in awe. By anticipating the problems they will encounter, he’s also able to give them the solution they need to prevail. The preparation is meticulous
• The job Conte did at Juventus is a strikingly similar to the brief one he has at Chelsea now, The Bianconeri had finished seventh in back-to-back years. They were out of Europe altogether. But Conte immediately and improbably restored the Old Lady to her throne, where she has sat ever since

 

The problem I see in all that is reading that bit "He pounds away at you" and with some of the massive egos in this club they will either embrace it or throw it back in his face.

[Melanicus 5,208]

2 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

The problem I see in all that is reading that bit "He pounds away at you" and with some of the massive egos in this club they will either embrace it or throw it back in his face.

I think the difference between him and Mourinho that we will see is that Conte has no invincibles. While Mourinho continued to start underperforming and unmotivated players, what it seems like in this article and from what I've heard is that Conte has no intention of allowing players to start if they don't put in 100%. I agree with you that players may not respond, but it seems as though Conte isn't going to put up with their shit.

 

[Special Juan 28,149]

1 minute ago, Melanicus said:

I think the difference between him and Mourinho that we will see is that Conte has no invincibles. While Mourinho continued to start underperforming and unmotivated players, what it seems like in this article and from what I've heard is that Conte has no intention of allowing players to start if they don't put in 100%. I agree with you that players may not respond, but it seems as though Conte isn't going to put up with their shit.

 

Well that's good then, as long as he is consistent and doesn't drop his guard throughout the season.

[Parky 739]

 

Rebuilding the Bridge

Make no mistake, this summer will be a rebuilding job at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea having dropped from champions to mid-table. However, Conte has the relevant experience on his CV.

He revived struggling teams at Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta and Siena, but his work at Juventus stands out the most.

Having finished in seventh in 2010/11, Conte took over from Luigi Delneri and led Juve to the league title without a single defeat, the first club to do so in Italian history.

Conceding just 20 goals in 38 games, it was their first official league title since 2003 after being stripped of two Serie A crowns for their involvement in the 2006 Calciopoli scandal.

Tactics-wise, Conte is not restricted to his 3-5-2 formation, used predominantly at Juventus and with Italy. He has been known to switch to 4-3-3 successfully, a flexibility which has seen him lose just 18 games in his 167 as a manager since starting at Juventus in 2011.

Sky in Italy reporter Gianluca Di Marzio believes rather than shoehorning players into his system, Conte would adapt his system according to the players' capabilities

In a column on his website earlier this week, Di Marzio said: "As Conte himself has said many times, he believes a good manager adapts to the personnel he has and not the other way around."

Conte was equally impressive in the transfer market, and despite some inevitable misses, hits included Andrea Pirlo (free), Paul Pogba (free), Carlos Tevez (£6.75m), Arturo Vidal (£9.4m) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (£7.5m). During his three seasons at Juve, Conte never spent over £15m on a player.

What they've said

"I am extremely lucky I met Antonio Conte, I had so many coaches to compare him too, and he is the one who surprised me the most. I was expecting a good coach, but not that good." - Andrea Pirlo, 2014, in I Think, Therefore I Play autobiography.Andrea Pirlo says he is 'lucky' to have played under Conte

"The secret of our success is the ambition our coach has. Conte has brought a new mentality to the club. He has pushed us to sweat, to find strength and to undergo hard work in order to cancel out the last two disappointing campaigns." - Gianluigi Buffon, 2012

[jernej93 569]

Hard work over talent anytime ... Conte you are the man !  


 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I found this video on his 3-5-2 tactics

Juve tactics

[Ledg 643]

Just a reminder - Conte's Italy play tomorrow night against Scotland at 19:45 UK time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Eidur the Spider 4,515]

Mani Djazmi ‏@Mani2911  May 27

Just done Antonio Conte's first English-language interview. Asked what the most important words are that he's learned. "I like 'To fight'"

 

[Captain Ahmed 528]

9 hours ago, Melanicus said:

• In Italy, Conte  is known as a martello - a hammer. He pounds away at you and never stops. It doesn’t matter whether you’re John Terry or Kenedy. Reputations interest Conte little. Nor, as former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has found out, is talent enough on its own
• You’re only as good as your last game, your last training session. Conte wants you to sweat. “Eat grass” was the maxim at Juventus. He expects you to cover every blade and make the same sacrifices he did as a player. Fail to do that and you’re out
• Pirlo rates him as the best coach he has ever had. A measure of it is Conte’s knack for telling his players how he believes a game will unfold. They have lost count of the number of occasions things have gone exactly how he said they would and are left in awe. By anticipating the problems they will encounter, he’s also able to give them the solution they need to prevail. The preparation is meticulous
• The job Conte did at Juventus is a strikingly similar to the brief one he has at Chelsea now, The Bianconeri had finished seventh in back-to-back years. They were out of Europe altogether. But Conte immediately and improbably restored the Old Lady to her throne, where she has sat ever since

 

Baby Blues Boys (RLC,Baker,Traore,Timori):Capo One  should give some chances to these lads

[Laylabelle 9,536]

9 hours ago, Special Juan said:

The problem I see in all that is reading that bit "He pounds away at you" and with some of the massive egos in this club they will either embrace it or throw it back in his face.

Hopefully if so they'll just get over themselves...wont have any of that refuse to play bollocks.That the case they can sod off

[Madmax 9,219]

20 hours ago, Eidur the Spider said:

Mani Djazmi ‏@Mani2911  May 27

Just done Antonio Conte's first English-language interview. Asked what the most important words are that he's learned. "I like 'To fight'"

 

[Italian fan 69]

Hello,

I am a Juventus italian fan and maybe I can help you to understand which kind of coach Conte is...(sorry for my english, I hope you will understand)

When he arrived in Juventus, he found a tragic situation...the previous season the team, with Del Neri, arrived at the 7th place and all the fans were demoralised.

However, the 2011 summer was spectacular: we bought Pirlo, Vidal, Vucinic and Lichtsteiner and we inaugurated the new stadium.

When he arrived, he said that the best tactic for him was the 4-2-4, the most difficult to teach and to do, he said. So, the first official match against Parma we played so:

Buffon;  Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Chiellini, De Ceglie;   Marchisio, Pirlo;   Pepe, Del Piero, Matri, Giaccherini

It was probably the best match I ever seen of Conte's team (ok, the opponents weren't extraordinary) and I think that that match can help you to understand some important things: the key role of the wings, the importance of the movements without the ball (see the Marchisio's goal) and the importance of the defense.

We played in such way also the next games, then he understood that he had a fabulous midfielder: Arturo Vidal. So he changed the tactic and we played with the 4-3-3, with Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal;  Pepe, Matri, Vucinic. You can see this tactic in the match against Milan at Juventus Stadium (2-0, Marchisio, Marchisio), with some differences (not Matri, but Vucinic as center-forward and Krasic as winger). Another great game. It was a 4-3-3, but when we hadn't the ball, it turned into 4-5-1, because for Conte it is very important the sacrifice of the wingers when the team hasn't the ball.

Then, there was the match that changed everything: Napoli-Juventus (3-3), the first time that Juve played with the 3-5-2 (that was because also Napoli played so) and with the defence with Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini. That was not a great match, but was the beginning of the current Juventus.

We played so the rest of the season and we win the title. 

This was the 2011-2012 season, maybe the best title in Juventus' history (because we didn't expect it). 

I tried to explain you the principles of Conte's style, but the most important is: never give up.

I hope that you will understand what I write, this evening I will tell you the season 2012-2013.

Every correction in my english is welcomed 

CIAO

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

21 minutes ago, Italian fan said:

When he arrived in Juventus, he found a tragic situation...the previous season the team, with Del Neri, arrived at the 7th place and all the fans were demoralised.

However, the 2011 summer was spectacular: we bought Pirlo, Vidal, Vucinic and Lichtsteiner and we inaugurated the new stadium.

Thank you for your insight. I have a couple of questions for you.

1. It seems that Eden Hazard is a nailed on starter on the left wing, no doubt about that. But on the right wing Chelsea have Willian and Pedro who can play there and Cuadrado is coming back this summer. Wanted to ask you - what do you think Conte will do? Is Cuadrado one of his favourite players? Or at least he was when Conte was managing Juventus? Do you think he will prefer Cuadrado over Willian or Pedro?

2. How is Conte on the transfer market? You, asa a Juventus fan, looking over the current Chelsea squad, what do you think Conte will do? He will look to spend big in order to rebuild the squad, or try to do something with the players that are already here, maybe add one or two more?

3. And the last question - what tactics do you think Conte will use at Chelsea? 3-5-2 or 4-2-4?

 

Thank you.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Looking forward to the first training session 

[Clevemayer 764]

must say after last season... just want to see the men perform on the sidelines.... somehow he seems a perfect fit for us... dunno why....

[Italian fan 69]

27 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

Thank you for your insight. I have a couple of questions for you.

1. It seems that Eden Hazard is a nailed on starter on the left wing, no doubt about that. But on the right wing Chelsea have Willian and Pedro who can play there and Cuadrado is coming back this summer. Wanted to ask you - what do you think Conte will do? Is Cuadrado one of his favourite players? Or at least he was when Conte was managing Juventus? Do you think he will prefer Cuadrado over Willian or Pedro?

2. How is Conte on the transfer market? You, asa a Juventus fan, looking over the current Chelsea squad, what do you think Conte will do? He will look to spend big in order to rebuild the squad, or try to do something with the players that are already here, maybe add one or two more?

3. And the last question - what tactics do you think Conte will use at Chelsea? 3-5-2 or 4-2-4?

 

Thank you.

I can try to answer 

1 Conte loves Cuadrado...he said it many times when he  was in Juventus... I don't think he changes his opinion...but i don't know who will play...

3 maybe I can make a mistake, but I think that he will not play with 3 defensemen...in Juventus there was Bonucci, you don't have a player like him....and I can nor find a similar defenseman...

 2 In Juventus Conte was not a manager...the key figures are Marotta, Paratici and Nedved...I don't know what power will Conte have in Chelsea...but I know one thing (like all the italians): the first thing to do is to fix the defence...

Edited May 30, 2016 by Italian fan

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

start with transfers............!

[Italian fan 69]

Chelsea is very different from Conte's Juventus

1 There is no Bonucci (a defenseman that can make long pass like a top midfilder)

2 There is no Pirlo (one of the best midfilder in history)

I think that he will change his way to play. 

I will be very surprised if he doesn't buy a defenseman....and in Juventus he always wanted defensmen that can speak italian, so he can easily speak  with them...I think he will try to buy a defenseman that plays (or played) in Serie A 

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

34 minutes ago, Italian fan said:

Chelsea is very different from Conte's Juventus

1 There is no Bonucci (a defenseman that can make long pass like a top midfilder)

2 There is no Pirlo (one of the best midfilder in history)

I think that he will change his way to play. 

I will be very surprised if he doesn't buy a defenseman....and in Juventus he always wanted defensmen that can speak italian, so he can easily speak  with them...I think he will try to buy a defenseman that plays (or played) in Serie A 

He's probably going to go with a 4-4-2 (4-2-4) We (Chelsea) have players most suited to that system, and he recently used it with the national team as well.
As you say, a 3-5-2/3-4-3 are not the most practical way to go as we (Chelsea) don't have any top defender at our disposal.
 

1 hour ago, Italian fan said:

but I know one thing (like all the italians): the first thing to do is to fix the defence...

This made my day  well said.
Welcome to the forum.