The Conte Thread

[Beigl 1,387]

And again he brings the best out of a rather ordinary side. You can have your Tuchels and Sarris, but until we don´t change our profil of players we won´t play beautiful football. Conte is the man. 

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

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[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

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[Fernando 6,376]

2 hours ago, Fernando said:

What a boring lineup. 

He really has no more ambition with us. 

Gone this summer. 

Well I got a slap in the mouth. 

But still gone in the summer. 

[11Drogba 2,000]

5 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Well I got a slap in the mouth. 

But still gone in the summer. 

 

[KevinAshburner 1,270]

Giroud probably would have scored and put in a cameo performance and won it for us. #ConteOut #CunteOut

[Fernando 6,376]

45 minutes ago, 11Drogba said:

 

Still gone in the summer. 

[El P. 1,354]

Only way to play with Fabregas and not Drinkwater against side like this was to compensate mobility somewhere else on the field. Conte did that by playing Pedro instead of Morata/Giroud. So with the help of Willian and Pedro, Fabregas wasn't exposed much for Barca.

Never, ever in this game Barcelona looked like scoring. And he benched our captain, who is also an Englishman, against bloody Barcelona.

This man deserves all the praise he can get. Hats off.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Very good performance until the first goal. Then, all of the sudden, when we should have brought in Giroud and continued to chase for another goal, the team parked the bus. I truly hate when that happens. I hated when Mourinho did that and I hate it now when Conte does it. You can park the damn bus when game is 2-0, 3-0 but not when it's only 1-0 at home. Barcelona was very poor but for some reason we gave them the chance to tie the game by retreating.

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

Very good performance until the first goal. Then, all of the sudden, when we should have brought in Giroud and continued to chase for another goal, the team parked the bus. I truly hate when that happens. I hated when Mourinho did that and I hate it now when Conte does it. You can park the damn bus when game is 2-0, 3-0 but not when it's only 1-0 at home. Barcelona was very poor but for some reason we gave them the chance to tie the game by retreating.

When did we park the bus? It was just one of those spells where Barcelona bossed the possession and ultimately did nothing with it. Same thing happened in the first half. We had counter attacking chances after going 1-0 up and should have punished them but didn't.

[Jase 43,479]

Not sure if was just the occasion but the Conte we saw on the touchline tonight was more like the Conte of old. Very animated and was hugely 'involved' in the game.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Henrique 9,133]

He was brilliant today. I have total confidence that he can beat Barcelona at Camp Nou or get a plus 1 goal draw.

[Jase 43,479]

15 hours ago, Henrique said:

He was brilliant today. I have total confidence that he can beat Barcelona at Camp Nou or get a plus 1 goal draw.

Have I been seeing things? First, MrExcalibur praised Conte and now you too? Only need Styles to do the same to complete the hat-trick!

[robsblubot 3,223]

If he does stay, and goes ask for a striker in the summer what would the board's response be? Perhaps they should ask, "if we buy a 3rd striker will you play them?"

Oldest trick in the book and completely inexcusable when playing at home IMO. Populate the midfield which provides volume of play sacrificing your ability to score. 1x1 at home against a better team in a single-elimination comp is never a good result.

Sorry, but he chose to go out in style - by not losing by much - thinking about his resume and next job.

[Cosmin 2,484]

The false number 9 tactic finally worked and yet people are complaining about not using a striker. 

[nathangeorge99 27]

For me, the performance last night shows, in a way, how frustrating the season has been. On our day, we can beat anyone, like last night, Tottenham, and Atletico showed. However, throughout the season we have been so inconsistent, taking one step forward, two steps back.

Anyway, I hope Conte with the system, and doesn’t go 3-5-2 at the Nou Camp. As a whole, it worked last night, so why change a (nearly!) winning combination, and we need to score a goal to stay in the Champions League! However, I think a few tweaks could do our chances in the 2nd leg the world of good. On the basis of that, I would go with this for the Nou Camp:

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Christensen - Rudgier

Moses - Fabregas - Kante - Emerson

Willian - Giroud - Hazard

Despite Christensen’s mistake, and Rudgier’s slight uncertainty, I still think that’s the best back three. Christensen is still brilliant, and Rudgier edges out Cahill, even though I thought he was shakier than most last night.

In midfield, had we kept the 1-0 lead, I would have probably either not played Fabregas, or played him in a three. However, with it being 1-1, I would keep him in alongside Kante. We need a bit of magic to unlock them, and he’s the only one to do it. It is a risk setting up like that at the Nou Camp, but it was alright last night, and we need to have something to work with in the rare moments we do have the ball.

I would also play Emerson over Alonso. He offered nothing going forward last ought, compared to Moses on the other side, who I was pleasantly surprised had a fantastic game. Defensively very solid, and at least when he had the call in the attacking third, and ran at them, it caused them problems. Alonso did none of that, and we could really do with two Wing-backs who have the ability to run at their full-backs with pace on the counter.

Up front, I think we only just about got away with the false 9 system because the defensive was organised so well. However, we still missed a focal point who could relive some of the pressure. Because of that, the ball was a bit like a yo-yo, constantly bouncing back towards our own half even when they cleared it. At the Nou Camp, since we’ll be under even more pressure, and will need to concentrate 10X as hard, we need someone who can do that. Giroud would do that much better than Morata, so for me, has to play in the second leg. Willian and Hazard on the flanks is a no brainier. Our right side of Azpi, Moses and Willian was fantastic. However, our left hand side was much weaker. Pedro and Alonso were anonymous, and Rudgier had one or two dodgy moments.

Overall, 1-1 is probably a decent result for us. I did though feel gutted last night just because we hit the post twice, and the goal was such a stupid one to give away. However, last night proved that, even though we are up against it, we can score and defend against them. Also, it’s not a 2-2 or a 3-3, so we only need to score once to give ourselves a really good chance of going through. And I genuinely believe that we are capable of scoring a goal, and getting some kind of a result out there. I just wanna play that 2nd leg now! Up the Chels!

[El P. 1,354]

I think we can all see now that false-9 system isn't problem by itself. What is problem is false-9 system WITHOUT FABREGAS.

Also, one more thing - Morata <-> Pedro and Drinkwater <-> Fabregas were both decent changes, and well timed. Maybe Giroud was better option, Alvaro couldn't keep the ball to save his life.