The Conte Thread

[Georgy 439]

We're going in the right direction with Conte. Leaving the on field performance alone, under him we have got some good players like Kante, Bakayoko, Morata or Rudiger. We might need to replace Alonso and Zappa but it's not his fault the board couldn't deliver. If he leaves I fully expect us to go backwards again, if he stays next summer he will continue to pressure our board for good players, watching Sandro playing half arsed I think he is as good as ours if Conte stays, same goes for a top class RW/ST coming next season.

[Jase 43,479]

Nice little feature from the club.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

His negativity has ended any chance of retaining the title

[positivefootball 195]

Coward display. Never start Bakayoko again away against teams like Liverpool.

[El P. 1,354]

Never in this season I thought Conte was a sole responsibility for a bad result. This 1-1 draw is on him.

I mean ok - no Cesc from the start, that's not a such a bad decision. But after 55 minutes, after it was clear that we need something more, after it was clear that Bakayoko isn't good enough and that either of Bakayoko or Drinkwater should go out, Conte still keeps them on the field and does nothing. It was all too obvious and he responded way way too late.

[Jase 43,479]

22 minutes ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

His negativity has ended any chance of retaining the title

The draw with Liverpool isn't the result that ended our title challenge. The stupid losses to Burnley and Crystal Palace did. Had we won those 2 games, we would be just 2 points behind City now.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

The draw with Liverpool isn't the result that ended our title challenge. The stupid losses to Burnley and Crystal Palace did. Had we won those 2 games, we would be just 2 points behind City now.

Technically you're correct but this draw did "end" any hopes we had. Now City can afford an 11 point cushion which I believe no one has ever come back from. 9 points was manageable as they'll still drop points. 11 points is just silly. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

Technically you're correct but this draw did "end" any hopes we had. Now City can afford an 11 point cushion which I believe no one has ever come back from. 9 points was manageable as they'll still drop points. 11 points is just silly. 

Let's see over the next couple of games. We have a decent run of games up till January. City have Spurs and United coming up in December.

[FabHazard 655]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Let's see over the next couple of games. We have a decent run of games up till January. City have Spurs and United coming up in December.

We are never catching city this season..That City team will set PL records

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, FabHazard said:

We are never catching city this season..That City team will set PL records

Well, I don't disagree with that. But some are using City's excellence to beat Conte etc for no good reason. Never mind the Premier League, no other side (maybe PSG) in Europe have looked as imperious as City have this season. To expect this squad, filled with so many average players, to match City and overtake them is just silly.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

From Chelsea twitter: "Conte said our tactical plan today stopped Liverpool creating many chances, especially in the first half, and after the break we began to take control."

And this is the stuff that gets to me. It's not Man City away. Why can't we exert our game on them? It's Liverpool. It's not like they are a better team than us. They clearly have inferior players in many positions. In fact excluding wingbacks I can argue we have better players in almost every other position.

When City came to The Bridge, they didn't stop us from creating chances. They don't do that. They just deny you the ball and press in packs immediately they lose it. I long for the day we can play in a similar fashion.  

Anyway, I'm done for today. Very frustrating stuff all round.

[Amblève. 4,995]

2-1 W @ Tottenham

0-0 D vs Arsenal

0-1 L vs City

1:0 W vs United

1-1 D @ Liverpool

2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, and 8/15 points against the other big-6 teams is okay; it's not great but we will live. The Arsenal game is the one result that hurts the most IMO because that side was beatable, the City game was terrible but sometimes you simply have to pay your respects to your oppenent's performance. City would have been favourites against any team in the world at that time.

As @Jason pointed out, the Crystal Palace and Burnley games hurt us the most. You just can't lose your season opener against fucking Burnley (no matter how good they are in the table right now) and to the worst team in the PL this season. 

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, Amblève. said:

2-1 W @ Tottenham

0-0 D vs Arsenal

0-1 L vs City

1:0 W vs United

1-1 D @ Liverpool

2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, and 8/15 points against the other big-6 teams is okay; it's not great but we will live. The Arsenal game is the one result that hurts the most IMO because that side was beatable, the City game was terrible but sometimes you simply have to pay your respects to your oppenent's performance. City would have been favourites against any team in the world at that time.

As @Jason pointed out, the Crystal Palace and Burnley games hurt us the most. You just can't lose your season opener against fucking Burnley (no matter how good they are in the table right now) and to the worst team in the PL this season. 

With things getting tighter at the top these days, we certainly can't afford to be dropping silly points against the lesser sides.

To put this into some context - last season, we dropped 21 points and 7 of those came against non-big 6 sides (Swansea, Burnley and Palace). This season, of the 13 points we've dropped, 6 have come against non-big 6 sides (Burnley and Palace). No doubt that number will increase between now and end of the season.

[Special Juan 28,141]

We have been playing well aside from the Roma away game, we actually are playing good football. We now have two home games, very winnable against two very poor sides.

Spurs have two tough fixtures with Leicester and Watford away and United have two away games against Watford and Arsenal.

[Fulham Broadway 17,312]

No reason why we cant go on an 8 game winning streak now 

[Beigl 1,387]

Yes, we need to go on a winning streak now, considering we have some easier games coming up. Meanwhile United have to play City and Arsenal, so we have the chance to get second over Christmas and leave United behind us.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

And into the dodgy December period we go..Hopefully can get a winning streak going especially as we're only 3 behind United but also only 3 points ahead of 6th place

Should be able to win these games but these days who knows...Thought same about Palace and Burnley...then again thought struggle against West Brom so hopefully be surprises 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Don’t see the fuss after Liverpool game, we didn’t create a lot of clear cut chances but managed to get into good positions and when Cesc came on it was only us that looked like winning.

Hopefully the club can do something in January to boost the squad, City are great yes but they will run out of steam because it’s impossible to keep that sort of form all season, we have seen it with us, Arsenal, United in the past under Ferguson and even City under Pellegrini and Mancini, it is incredibly hard to play at that level for 25 games yet alone 38 games.

 I think we will finish second unless City do something drastic and lose that lead (think we’ll pip United to second, they will drop points against smaller sides) and if we can get a few players in to to help with rotation for likes of Morata, Alonso and maybe even push the boat out and get somebody to play in tandem with Hazard and Morata (ambitious but who knows) then why can’t we go on a run of like 6, 7 or 8 victories and put the pressure on.

If we started the season with more than reasonable back up for Alonso (or replacement) and Morata we would be a lot better off than flogging Alonso by playing him for 90 mins every game (he’s not showing form from last year but he is only option) and having to rely on Michy if Morata is out, who doesn’t really affect the play or offer anything unless he’s got a clear goal scoring chance, then I think the gap could be closer, losing to Burnley sucked as did losing to Palace but we didn’t have certain players in the line up as well as poor performances and whatever else but watching Michy play after watching Morata play the gulf in class and difference in work ethic is incredible. Mentioned all about the poor summer involving sales and recruitment before as well but we are short at LWB, CF and could do with upgrades at RWB and RW, but we know that.

January if we get 2 or 3 guys in the door could give the squad a boost imo, also think we should be looking at some of the players who’s contracts are expiring for pre-contracts/lower fees (some younger, some older): Goretzka, Sanchez, de Vrij, Ozil, Ghoulam, Ander Herrera, Joao Moutinho... and the rest which I’m sure folk are more aware of, few guys in there worth looking at imo. With these many talented players possibly available at knockdown fees or for free 6 months later, we will really see how ambitious some European clubs are, hopefully we will be one of them.

[Blusan Alamb 295]

 

[Jase 43,479]