The Conte Thread

[manpe 10,855]

31 minutes ago, xPetrCechx said:

I didn't say he asked for Danny... I said that because of he let so many players go, the board didn't have any option than going for number of average players to fill in the squad to have enough players, instead of buying 3 World class for example.

Who did he let go other than Costa?

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

9 minutes ago, manpe said:

Who did he let go other than Costa?

Nobody. Costa was the only sale he was responsible for, which for me was a mistake but shit happens. He wanted to keep Matic but for a club owned by a Russian billionaire, £40m was obviously too good to turn down.... unless that bloke is going to turn around and say “he loaned out Musonda who should have started ahead of Willian and Pedro” 😂

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

9 minutes ago, manpe said:

Who did he let go other than Costa?

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Charly Musonda

Tammy Abraham

Kurt Zouma

Kenedy

Bertrand Traoré

Ake

Chalobah

Michy

Instead of letting them go, he could use them and save the money from buying average players like Drinkwater (35 mil), Bakayoko (36 mil), Emerson (18 mil), Zapa (23 mil), Barkley (15 mil) = more than 120 mil... at least 2 top players...

Drinkwater/Baka/Barkley are not better than Chalobah or Loftus-Cheek.

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

1 minute ago, xPetrCechx said:

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Charly Musonda

Tammy Abraham

Kurt Zouma

Kenedy

Bertrand Traoré

Ake

Chalobah

Michy

Instead of letting them go, he could use them and save the money from buying average players like Drinkwater (35 mil), Bakayoko (36 mil), Emerson (18 mil), Zapa (23 mil), Barkley (15 mil) = more than 120 mil... at least 2 top players...

Drinkwater/Baka/Barkley are not better than Chalobah or Loftus-Cheek.

-Loftus-Cheek? Seriously? He can’t even play 90 minutes, he is talented to a degree but he’s not even at the level that Barkley was at Everton. One game v Germany for England won’t change that. 

-Musonda.. who can’t get a game for Celtic? Ahead of James Forrest and Scott Sinclair?

-Tammy Abraham is still not ready for us, he’s not doing too well at Swansea recently just now which is a shame after a productive spell last season and a decent start.

-Zouma, didn’t get many minutes last season and after that injury a loan was probably best move. Im not 100% sure he is better than what we have except Cahill and possibly Luiz at CB. Been really impressed with Rudiger, if Zouma can become a bit more like him with the ball he’d be a great long term option.

-Michy? Limited minutes or not he was useless here. For me he is the definition of an average player. A few goals in Germany against deadrubber won’t change my mind. 

The likes of Chalobah wanted to go so they could play and said that. Traore was the same. Nathan Ake likewise. Although none of them would have improved our first 11. Liked the look of Traore though, think he could have been a good player with a bit of fine tuning. Chalobah staying would of meant no Drinkwater but Nate is 24, he wanted to play, Southgate and England rate him and I’m sure that paid a big part in him leaving.

[DDA 9,570]

1 hour ago, Ledgi said:

When the players know there is unrest between manager and the board, and they know he won’t be here next season, will you give a 100%?

Is that even a serious question?? Of course I would. Then again, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Most of these players are pampered from imfant school until their early 30's. I would play 100 % in every single game if I was professinal footballer bar none.

[Polo7 3,496]

Conte will be replaced in the summer, we will get someone else in and they will do really well for a year. Then whilst every other team strengthens, we wont. Rinse and repeat. 

[Weckerz 3,781]

4 hours ago, Blue_Fox_ said:

He's probably sick of being at Chelsea, and rightly so. Totally uninterested in the team for a few months I reckon.
Nice to see people catching up on what kind of a player Hazard really is, Courtois too. Sell them and build something new.
Also, it's so embarrassing to have only one midfielder at this club.

Red_Fox_ reporting in

[The Chels 2,502]

3 hours ago, FabHazard said:

Conte has protected his players by taking much of the criticism aimed at Chelsea on his own shoulders or deflecting it towards the boardroom over the club’s transfer strategy.
But those players, who owe their winners’ medals from last season to the Italian’s coaching, are giving up on trying to save Conte or at least attempting to send him out in style.
They have sensed change for months and, knowing it is Conte and not themselves who will pay the price for a disappointing title defence, too many have grown tired of his tough training, regular video sessions and dark moods.

From Matt law

Says a lot about this players mentality

Hah, is Matt Law on Conte's payroll now as well? The first sentence doesn't even make sense. Conte's "deflecting blame towards the club's transfer strategy", i.e. is saying that the current set of players isn't good enough. How is that protecting them? Just because he hasn't been super openly critical of the players doesn't mean he hasn't implied all the same things. Let's not forget all the drivel like "we're getting what we deserve" or "I'm taking the maximum from my players," etc.

He's done nothing but shift the blame elsewhere. Very Mourinho-esque. Too proud to consider the possibility that his own limitations might be (are) at fault too.

[Tomo 21,681]

11 minutes ago, The Chels said:

He's done nothing but shift the blame elsewhere. Very Mourinho-esque. Too proud to consider the possibility that his own limitations might be (are) at fault too.

The way he's acting is worse than anything Jose ever did.

The one thing you can't take away from Mourinho is that he was committed to the job right up until the moment he was fired, Conte is basically stealing a living at this point.

[Superblue 6,331]

Conte still has the opportunity to leave behind some building blocks for next season and has shown that he is capable of making some big decisions (phasing out Terry, dropping Cahill).

Emerson and Barkley need some games this season to build some confidence and momentum to take into next season. 

I'm sure I read when he first joined that Conte originally was looking at playing a 4-2-4 style formation. Why don't we try it, see which of these players already at the club could adapt back to a back 4, etc. 

Give Hudson-Odoi more game time to see if he could possibly be a squad option next season (and in doing so hopefully save us some money on a squad place with that money being available to use elsewhere)

This season has been a monumental calamity, and Conte has to take his fair share of that blame but he can help us now start building towards next season.

[Strike 6,958]

6 hours ago, Tomo said:

VVD wanted Liverpool, and only Liverpool even City couldn't get him. The money is there, what we are failing on right now is recruitment.

This. Chelsea is no longer an attractive option for players. Selling Costa and Matic without signing replacements beforehand shows that the club is too proud to accept that they are no longer an attractive option. They thought they could identify and bring in the players they wanted in the summer but Lukaku preferred United, Danilo preferred City, deals for several others did not happen. Hope it has learnt its lesson

[Jase 43,479]

7 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Honestly think it’s about time he starts throwing players under the bus because some of them could sure as hell do with it. He’s obviously not gonna stay come the summer and if the club want to sack him or not, he’ll probably walk anyways so to get some results and to get some players to have a long look at themselves (particularly the ones who have been offered new deals or talks of getting new deals but not showing anything to warrant such a reward), I think he should have a go at them behind closed doors at least. Yes if you haven’t guessed the players I’m talking about are Courtois, Hazard - clubs going to “reward” them with new deals and pay rises if they want to sign them - , Cesc and Moses in particular.

He might not have done it like Mourinho but Conte has definitely been throwing players under the bus of sorts, by constantly playing down their quality and even last season's title success. And why would he have a go at the board or players behind closed doors at this point? Doubt that would have any effect when doing so publicly hasn't done him or the team much good. It's clear he cannot give a crap anymore and is waiting for the end of the season and that big pay off. He has completely checked out since the start of 2018.

[Tomo 21,681]

26 minutes ago, Strike said:

This. Chelsea is no longer an attractive option for players. Selling Costa and Matic without signing replacements beforehand shows that the club is too proud to accept that they are no longer an attractive option. They thought they could identify and bring in the players they wanted in the summer but Lukaku preferred United, Danilo preferred City, deals for several others did not happen. Hope it has learnt its lesson

I think what swung Lukaku's deal in United's favour was Jose guaranteed him unconditional playtime, something Conte wouldn't.

[Tomo 21,681]

18 minutes ago, Jason said:

He might not have done it like Mourinho but Conte has definitely been throwing players under the bus of sorts, by constantly playing down their quality and even last season's title success. And why would he have a go at the board or players behind closed doors at this point? Doubt that would have any effect when doing so publicly hasn't done him or the team much good. It's clear he cannot give a crap anymore and is waiting for the end of the season and that big pay off. He has completely checked out since the start of 2018.

The part don't get is, if he is so intent on leaving and it's decided, why is he even doing this? If he left us in the summer with us in a solid top 4 place his stock would arguably be even higher cause of the not so great circumstances. He has proven he can get great performances out of flawed squads, so if he's going, why is he not focusing ALL his energy on going out in a blaze of glory? If he is that desperate to stick two middle fingers up to Roman and the hierarchy, what better way to do so than walking away with a CL medal round his neck? 

And the hardest thing to take from all of this is we were in a strong position in January, we were comfortably in top 4 and it looked very likely we would finish 2nd (United were flaking and Spurs/Liverpool were at arms length), but Conte had another episode and now we look certain to be playing Thursday nights next season. If Conte left in December i would have been devastated, if he leaves now i'd happily offer to clear his desk myself. 

Literally feels like we have had two different managers since Conte took over, one was every bit as good as Jose the first time (if not better) and the other's worse than Scolari.

[Alabama 1,992]

1 hour ago, Strike said:

This. Chelsea is no longer an attractive option for players. Selling Costa and Matic without signing replacements beforehand shows that the club is too proud to accept that they are no longer an attractive option. They thought they could identify and bring in the players they wanted in the summer but Lukaku preferred United, Danilo preferred City, deals for several others did not happen. Hope it has learnt its lesson

Danilo didn't prefer city...we only failed to pay up the amount Madrid wants... That danilo cannot even buy a game in a makeshift city defence... 

[Alabama 1,992]

What is so frustrating is that d start of 2018 we were comfortable in 3rd position even had a shot at 2nd position due to united meandering performance till he starts to moan about the signings and transfers...accepted the board is pathetic but haha! Conte the current crops of players is enough to earn u top 4 comfortably....

[manpe 10,855]

3 hours ago, Tomo said:

The part don't get is, if he is so intent on leaving and it's decided, why is he even doing this? If he left us in the summer with us in a solid top 4 place his stock would arguably be even higher cause of the not so great circumstances. He has proven he can get great performances out of flawed squads, so if he's going, why is he not focusing ALL his energy on going out in a blaze of glory? If he is that desperate to stick two middle fingers up to Roman and the hierarchy, what better way to do so than walking away with a CL medal round his neck? 

And the hardest thing to take from all of this is we were in a strong position in January, we were comfortably in top 4 and it looked very likely we would finish 2nd (United were flaking and Spurs/Liverpool were at arms length), but Conte had another episode and now we look certain to be playing Thursday nights next season. If Conte left in December i would have been devastated, if he leaves now i'd happily offer to clear his desk myself. 

Literally feels like we have had two different managers since Conte took over, one was every bit as good as Jose the first time (if not better) and the other's worse than Scolari.

He did it again after yesterday's game, saying that he got the maximum out of the players (instead of saying the players gave their best or whatever). We lost, so he's basically calling them losers.. again, while washing himself of all blame. This same team won against that same Spurs away, so I bet such words aren't much appreciated by the players (who still need to look into mirrors, but to call that display the maximum they can offer is a dumb lie). He's basically trying to deflect blame by making it look like he's doing a fantastic job while the players suck (the same champion players he praised to high heavens last season).

[Superblue 6,331]

4 hours ago, Tomo said:

The part don't get is, if he is so intent on leaving and it's decided, why is he even doing this? If he left us in the summer with us in a solid top 4 place his stock would arguably be even higher cause of the not so great circumstances. He has proven he can get great performances out of flawed squads, so if he's going, why is he not focusing ALL his energy on going out in a blaze of glory? If he is that desperate to stick two middle fingers up to Roman and the hierarchy, what better way to do so than walking away with a CL medal round his neck? 

And the hardest thing to take from all of this is we were in a strong position in January, we were comfortably in top 4 and it looked very likely we would finish 2nd (United were flaking and Spurs/Liverpool were at arms length), but Conte had another episode and now we look certain to be playing Thursday nights next season. If Conte left in December i would have been devastated, if he leaves now i'd happily offer to clear his desk myself. 

Literally feels like we have had two different managers since Conte took over, one was every bit as good as Jose the first time (if not better) and the other's worse than Scolari.

Agree, I think there is a huge element of sympathy for Conte with what happened in the summer. We made a complete dog's dinner of the transfer market and spent a lot of money on a lack of quality.

I actually felt that our January signings weren't too bad given the circumstances and we didn't exactly pay silly money for any of them. Emerson and Barkley certainly were an eye towards the future and Giroud was a necessary short term purchase which we didn't get fleeced for.

The fact is though that in 2018 we've taken 11 points from a possible 30. That is barely bottom six quality, and that has to be placed at Conte's door. He has failed to arrest the alarming form, pick the players up, change up tactics/personnel, etc.