On April 4, 2016, Chelsea announced the appointment of former Juventus manager Antonio Conte as their new Head Coach for a period of three years. Currently in charge of the Italian National Team, Conte would bring a breath of fresh air into Chelsea after a disastrous season for the Blues. Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League, their worst finish in 20 years, and sacked their most successful manager, Jose Mourinho midway through the season. During his reign as Juventus manager, Conte led his side into three successive Serie A triumphs, losing just two home league games in the process. What attributed to this level of success was Conte essentially being the know-how of everything related to the club. In the words of the legendary Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, “Conte is the boss of the dressing room. He is a coach who believes in discipline and rules. There is a very strict code of conduct as to how players should behave on the field and off the field. Conte has very clear ideas about behaviour, respect, being on time for training, no phones during certain times." As far as the formation is concerned, Conte favours the 3-5-2 system, most recently seen in the Premier League with Manchester United under Louis Van Gaal and Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers, albeit not as successfully. Conte employs three centre-backs, with a slightly high line of defence and aggressive, attacking full-backs. The defence is backed by midfield destroyers and ball passers, looking to supply the two strikers up front. One of the better things about Conte is that he is tactically flexible, unlike the likes of Arsene Wenger or Manuel Pellegrini. At Bari and Siena, Conte used an ultra-attacking 4-2-4 setup, winning the Serie B with both the clubs. Conte admitted his love for the 4-2-4, saying, “We reached this situation gradually, putting in two attacking wide men and two strikers. You know this is a style of football that I like. I used it at Bari and Siena, winning the Serie B titles. I wanted to do it at Juventus too, but didn’t have the players suited to this tactic." The former Bianconeri manager has also used the 4-4-2 formation, swapping from 3-5-2 occasionally during his time at Juventus stadium. Considering that a three defender formation may not suit the PL style of play, Conte might use the 4-4-2 here. The expectations for a 4-4-2 formation have increased since fellow Italian Claudio Ranieri won the league this year using the same, and Chelsea are repeatedly being linked to big strikers like Lukaku, Higuain, Icardi and Morata despite Diego Costa being at the club. Conte likes to play out from the back, with ball-passing defenders who do not fear to charge forward occasionally. The midfielders have one elite passer to pin point 30 yard passes. The wing backs are very important in bombing up and down the pitch, creating the width for the crosses, and the main striker is a target man, supported by a secondary striker, usually making late runs into the box or getting in behind the defence. Antonio Conte, in addition to being a dynamic coach, is also a dynamic man. He is someone who believes in rules. A man of principle, Conte is not someone who will think twice before giving you a rollicking in front of the entire squad. Conte has his training sessions videoed and even plans the diet the players will take. 'When Conte speaks, his words assault you,' wrote Italian midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo in his book I Think Therefore I Play. 'They crash through the doors of your mind, often quite violently and settle deep within you. I've lost track of the number of times I've found myself saying, 'Hell, Conte said something really spot-on again today'.' Antonio Conte has an ability to improve players- drastically. Sure, the name Paul Pogba comes into mind first and it should. The Italian converted Pogba from a Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson outcast to the hottest property in Europe. Other players include Leonardo Bonucci. Conte turned the Italian into one of Europe's elite centre backs. He paid less than €1m for Andrea Barzagli, a player who is worth 10 times now. With Chelsea’s academy winning the UEFA Youth League for the second year in a row, it should be good news for Chelsea’s youth prospects. While Conte does not spend much, he spends smart. The best example of this can be the purchase of the services of Arturo Vidal from Bayer Leverkusen for a meagre €10.5 million. But his low spending became nature became one of the main reasons why Conte left Juventus. Given that Chelsea need to revamp their squad, a considerable amount will be surely given to the new head coach to bring in the players he wants. Usually compared to Mourinho, Conte is a headstrong manager who will bring something different to Chelsea. The fact that Conte is a strong disciplinarian like Mourinho is a little worrying for some Chelsea fans, who saw Mourinho lose the dressing room to his players with his extra discipline being one of the reasons. Antonio Conte doesn’t think twice before speaking. He works hard in his job, and expects his players to follow suit. His wife had once said that she saw her husband working till 4 or 5 am in the morning, and going for training at the usual hours. The level of dedication Conte puts in is something Chelsea players will need to learn, quickly. Conte demands immediate results and even a little bit of lacklustre attitude won’t be tolerated by their coach. Another worrying fact for Chelsea fans is that Antonio Conte makes his team play attacking football and revamps the style of play totally. Chelsea being the pseudonym of defence, the last time someone tried to change it, he wasn’t successful. That man was Andre Vilas-Boas. Albeit Conte has more potential, but the problem of revamping the style of play persists at The Stamford Bridge. Whatever happens, Antonio Conte to Chelsea is a very exciting project, with owner Roman Abramovich rejecting recently successful Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli for the former Juventus midfielder. Quoting Carlo Ancelotti, “He was my captain at Juventus. He was always really serious, really focused, really concentrated. As a manager he’s the same.” “….with Antonio, I can put my hand in the fire for him. He’s really serious, really honest, a really, really good man.” Regardless of the results, next season in Premier League is going to be very competitive. With Mourinho at United, Guardiola at City, Wenger at Arsenal, Klopp at Liverpool, Pochettino at Tottenham, Ranieri at Leicester and Koeman at Southampton, Premier League is definitely home to the best managers in the world. Author
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