The Conte Thread

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, It's too big said:

Bonucci. Sandro. Nainggolan. Koulibaly. Two of those targets were never going to leave Italy, and Juventus and Napoli were being hardheaded about selling the other two at the time. When I say unattainable, I am also including the selling clubs refusal to sell.

Bonucci was clearly available this past summer and the board probably didn't want to pay over the odds for a 30-year-old and a player with no resale value. On hindsight, we probably did the right thing there since we bought Rudiger instead, who has proven more than capable of performing at a high level. Not sure how genuine our interest in Koulibaly were in the summer of last year but again on hindsight, it was a good thing we didn't get him since we proceeded to buy back Luiz, who has been more than decent. Plus, it's not like Koulibaly is setting the world alight at Napoli anyway. As for Sandro and Nainggolan, easy to say they were "highly unattainable" now given what has happened but you never quite know if Juventus and/or Roma would be willing to sell if we came up with a big fee for them in the first place. Fair enough they refused in the end but in Juve case, wonder if they now regret not selling Sandro for the 60-70m we were supposedly willing to pay. And if it's not them, then what other major players that Conte could have gone for? It's also tough on Conte too when the club have been such stingy bastards and keen on continuing with the 'replacing an outgoing player with another one rather than adding to squad' policy.

11 hours ago, It's too big said:

You could probably add Lukaku to that list as he, by all accounts, wanted to join his mate Pogba at Utd. 

Pretty sure we failed to sign him because we refused to pay a high agent fee to Mino Raiola rather than him rejecting us and we certainly dodged the bullet in this.

[cfcs most wanted 657]

Am i the only one who thinks that 3-5-2 is a bad formation for Chelsea, because Hazard and Morata get isolated up top, and it all depends on the form of Hazard how we play, because he is setup as a sole creative force, I think  a 3-4-2-1 should be a better formation, with Morata up front, along with Hazard and Pedro ( or preferably someone we bring in from the transfer window) playing just behind. In this way pressure would be of Hazard to maintain the whole attacking flair.

[The Skipper 20,609]

On 12/03/2017 at 1:57 AM, The Skipper said:

We have an amazing opportunity to grow into a true European elite for the next 5 years if we get our signings right this summer. Conte has been a magnificent appointment, and I genuinely can't wait to see what he can do when he has better players in the side. It's truly incredible how he's managed to guide the team 10 points clear. Absolute winner. He's managed to do so whilst sort of integrating some of the academy guys as squad players as well. At managerial level we're truly set with one of the best. Now it's time to give him the right players.

In my opinion, we need to upgrade on 4 positions next summer. CM, LWB, RWB, RF. So essentially an upgrade on Matic/Fabregas, Alonso, Moses and Pedro. We do this successfully and we're set.

Realistically, there are a few options for us this summer. There seems to be a mix of top players and up and coming superstars available next summer from particular leagues and teams that I feel we should raid. Specifically the French league which is bursting full of talent right now.

At CM, I would look into getting Kante a partner that is a lot more complete defensively and offensively. I would rather them be more inclined towards the latter though due to Kante's defensive ability in midfield. The players I have in mind that are possibly attainable are Tolisso, Naby Keita and maybe Bakayoko. Maybe a cheeky bid for Renato Sanches who hasn't settled at Bayern at all? The pipe dream would be Verratti though.

At WB, Alonso and Moses have done very well this season as a couple but they aren't good enough if we want to be a top European side. Of course, they stay and provide crucial squad depth (which we severely lack in the position). I would look at getting in Semedo from Benfica the most, he is a top top full back. Maybe look at other options like Aurier? Cancelo? On the left, again there aren't that many exciting players available but I heard we're interested in Lemar, who plays LM at Monaco. Maybe could be converted into a LWB, would be a very interesting option. We can also possibly take a plunge on one of the best young English talents to come through recently, Ryan Sessegnon, who at 16 would need a few years to bed in but he is doing very well at Fulham at the moment and starts regularly now. Maybe Grimaldo from Benfica is an option too.

RF is where it gets fun. We have loads of options here, there are many young talents or even superstars available that we could get. Pedro is doing a magnificent job this season, close to being CPOTY for me. However, he is 31 later this year and we need to invest into that position for the future. If we could manage to steal Alexis, that would be fantastic. Bernardo Silva would be excellent too. Then you have someone like Mbappe which would be a ridiculous statement. Maybe make a huge offer for Ousmane Dembele. The sort of player we need to have there needs to have the 'Pedro profile' if anything in my opinion. You can even look at possibly getting in strikers like Lacazette or Aubameyang who could perform really well in that Pedro role, Anelka style. So someone with a goal scorers mentality when in the box and good off the ball movement.

That potentially gives us a team of:

Courtois

Azpi Luiz Christensen

Semedo Kante Tolisso Grimaldo

Mbappe Costa Hazard

That above is a truly exciting side, and should be pretty achievable next season in my opinion. Hopefully we can make even bigger signings though, you never know. The squad depth would be ridiculous as well with guys like Fabregas, Pedro, Willian, Moses, Ake etc. to call on.

Good times ahead hopefully, as long as the board and Conte don't mess up the summer transfer window. We need to spend big, because our competitors will. City and United, and Arsenal and Liverpool potentially too. The PL is going to be exciting next season. This is highly optimistic and idealistic but don't see why we can't be. We'll be champions with a lot of cash to spend.

How times have changed...

We *still* arguably need a LWB, a CM, a RWB and a RW.....

[manpe 10,861]

19 minutes ago, cfcs most wanted said:

I think  a 3-4-2-1 should be a better formation, with Morata up front, along with Hazard and Pedro ( or preferably someone we bring in from the transfer window) playing just behind.

I don't see how that's different from the 3-4-3 we play, 3-4-2-1 is basically the longer, more specific name for the same formation.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

6 hours ago, cfcs most wanted said:

Am i the only one who thinks that 3-5-2 is a bad formation for Chelsea, because Hazard and Morata get isolated up top, and it all depends on the form of Hazard how we play, because he is setup as a sole creative force, I think  a 3-4-2-1 should be a better formation, with Morata up front, along with Hazard and Pedro ( or preferably someone we bring in from the transfer window) playing just behind. In this way pressure would be of Hazard to maintain the whole attacking flair.

Imo the 3-5-2 is our best formation when we go up against top teams. We've seen in the past that the 3-4-3 is vulnerable against teams that overload the central areas. The 3-5-2 allows us to remain solid in the central reas while allowing Hazard a free role to cause damage.

It even allows us to play Fabregas against the top teams. Something which isnt possible in the 3-4-3.

Ofcourse that extra solidity in midfield comes at a price. We basically take out an attacker and add a midfielder so we lose something going forward. 

So the 3-4-3 is probably better suited for playing against teams that defend deep and narrow.

[Fernando 6,602]

I think he should continue with us for a couple of more seasons. 

But our club is run by nuts, so I expect him to leave this summer as most people say. 

Even though he don't like the talk. 

[OneMoSalah 8,889]

I generally think Conte is the best manager we’ve had in a good few years in terms of motivational skills and tactics. I hope he stays in charge for another 1 or 2 seasons at least as I don’t think he’s done building the team or squad he wants, he is clearly wanting to challenge Man City next year for the title as he’s said in a few interviews and I believe that if anybody is capable of challenging City next season for the title it will be us. I still think we can get the points gap down this season but it will be pretty tough.

This talk of Carlo coming back would be an extremely poor and backwards move for us I feel. Carlo is a good proven coach but at Bayern the complaints was he wasn’t anywhere near as demanding or intense as Pep (although not many are) and I feel he would have the same issues here. Conte is a demanding and intense coach, who works a lot on tactical aspects based on improving the team and players in training where as Carlo is not and although he had a very good spell here I think this group of players wouldn’t be as productive or willing to push themselves anywhere near as much as they do now, just because of how Carlo is.

[Tomo 21,751]

8 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

I generally think Conte is the best manager we’ve had in a good few years in terms of motivational skills and tactics. I hope he stays in charge for another 1 or 2 seasons at least as I don’t think he’s done building the team or squad he wants, he is clearly wanting to challenge Man City next year for the title as he’s said in a few interviews and I believe that if anybody is capable of challenging City next season for the title it will be us. I still think we can get the points gap down this season but it will be pretty tough.

This talk of Carlo coming back would be an extremely poor and backwards move for us I feel. Carlo is a good proven coach but at Bayern the complaints was he wasn’t anywhere near as demanding or intense as Pep (although not many are) and I feel he would have the same issues here. Conte is a demanding and intense coach, who works a lot on tactical aspects based on improving the team and players in training where as Carlo is not and although he had a very good spell here I think this group of players wouldn’t be as productive or willing to push themselves anywhere near as much as they do now, just because of how Carlo is.

If Conte remains next season a drastic change in pre season is needed, so far under Conte we have started the season's slow and inconsistent, last season we got away with it but this time round we lost serious ground bar October. City will likely have another relentless start 

[Tomo 21,751]

On December 17, 2017 at 10:08 PM, Jason said:

Said this before, if we get Ancelotti again, we can forget about winning the league and prepare for lots of inconsistency.

I have never before been demotivated for a season before it's begun, but if a Carlo returns coincides with Hazard leaving, i'd find it seriously hard to keep that record up.

[Jase 43,479]

20 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I have never before been demotivated for a season before it's begun, but if a Carlo returns coincides with Hazard leaving, i'd find it seriously hard to keep that record up.

I've seen fans on Twitter wanting him back because we apparently played attacking football under him. Those 4 games where we scored 7+ goals have really brainwashed people.

[Laylabelle 9,539]

Why go backwards. Know we did it with Jose but that didn't work out. He got sacked. What's 's the point. Sack Conte.. In comes Carlos give it a season or 2 and he'd be gone. 

That and still be same major issue.. Transfer window.. Targets.. Get randomers instead and wonder what is going on.. 

[yuvala 2,167]

We can never build an empire if we keep sacking managers.. You can't build a squad like that. Not with the current managers policy and not with this transfers policy.

[bluephoenix 1,131]

I can't believe that we are having this discussion about sacking Conte. Last season we were high praise and didin't want him gone ever. Club doesn't support him with right transfers coupled with poor results and we want him out. And this would be the case even if Pep were to take over( which he would never ever dream of). I mean at this rate we will never be able to attract good managers nor players.

We need a manager to rebuild and if I remember correctly we thought Conte was the man for that... I don't know why we are not giving him a chance to do that. I mean look what Pep did in his first season, he studied the squad and league and a season later look what he has done to City. I believe if we give Conte time and back him in the proper way he could get us closer to realizing our dream of having a good team.

[Alabama 1,992]

Is it TC discussion or media reports about conte going cos at this point the right calibre of players we need to sign to be dominating as a team is all we to discuss not sacking or conte going.....However if and if the board refuse to sign him the right targets starting from January window...I pray and hope he walks away at the end of the season...cos he deserves better than our piss poor amateur board...

[manpe 10,861]

5 hours ago, bluephoenix said:

Last season we were high praise and didin't want him gone ever. Club doesn't support him with right transfers coupled with poor results and we want him out.

Who on here wants him out other than Styles and Henrique?

[Special Juan 28,188]

5 hours ago, eemanyooel said:

Is it TC discussion or media reports about conte going cos at this point the right calibre of players we need to sign to be dominating as a team is all we to discuss not sacking or conte going.....However if and if the board refuse to sign him the right targets starting from January window...I pray and hope he walks away at the end of the season...cos he deserves better than our piss poor amateur board...

There is absolutely no surprise that Pep is grinning like a Cheshire Cat right now.

Last night conducting the orchestra of City fans chanting his name for 3 minutes at the end. Not to mention they are running away with the league, but in all of this there is something even more simpler as to why he's as excited as dog with a line of trees and belly full of piss.......He's being backed and getting exactly the players he wants, and needs. There is no coincidence in what's happening at City right now, they are strangling everyone else because at the fore-front of their philosophy is a simple analogy 'Do whatever it takes'

I love Conte, problem is the board don't have 'Do whatever it takes' approach and it's a crying shame for both Conte and the fans. Antonio is sick as fuck, you can see that in his face, he isn't receiving the backing he needs and it's quite frankly shite.

[OneMoSalah 8,889]

14 hours ago, Tomo said:

If Conte remains next season a drastic change in pre season is needed, so far under Conte we have started the season's slow and inconsistent, last season we got away with it but this time round we lost serious ground bar October. City will likely have another relentless start 

Tbf I don’t think we started the season particularly slow last year or in particularly this year. Inconsistent this season yes but we had injuries at the start of the season, hardly had the depth to deal with it, which doesn’t help coupled with a bad start against Burnley but if Man City hadnt won 16 on the bounce we’d be 5-7 points off them. The CL games against Roma doesn’t help. Also last year we had two big game losses in succession but other than that we still started decently enough.

City won’t start as well next year just like we didn’t start as well as we did when we won the title under Jose a few seasons back. Everyone is raving about Man City which they did about us last year when we were on that run. It’s just a pattern that seems to repeat itself every season. There’s no way this City team is the best team in PL history like some idiotic pundits and journalists are suggesting.

[Miki-Liki 405]

38 points from 18 games is not even that bad, I'd even go so far as to say that the team is still punching above their weight. Sure, there were inconsistent performances, but that's to be expected with a squad severely lacking talent. I couldn't imagine the shit show if Chelsea were 7th like Tottenham... Or one point above the relegation zone before Christmas...

[Special Juan 28,188]

We have done really well, some little slip ups but with them unbeaten, every slip up by others just gets highlighted even more their huge margin. The league is over, forget what silly arse pundits say, they won't be caught. From our point of view we have played good football I think, not only that but the emergence of Christensen a massive plus point and hopefully so strength to add come January

[cfcs most wanted 657]

15 hours ago, bluephoenix said:

I can't believe that we are having this discussion about sacking Conte. Last season we were high praise and didin't want him gone ever. Club doesn't support him with right transfers coupled with poor results and we want him out. And this would be the case even if Pep were to take over( which he would never ever dream of). I mean at this rate we will never be able to attract good managers nor players.

We need a manager to rebuild and if I remember correctly we thought Conte was the man for that... I don't know why we are not giving him a chance to do that. I mean look what Pep did in his first season, he studied the squad and league and a season later look what he has done to City. I believe if we give Conte time and back him in the proper way he could get us closer to realizing our dream of having a good team.

But then again he hasn't really hidden the fact that he wants to go back to managing in Italy sometime, so shouldn't the time and patience of building a team be given to a manager who actually has committed to a long time future here?