Antonio Conte: the perfect path forward for Chelsea FC
As Chelsea FC regroup after a horrific season, it is clear that much work lies ahead. Incoming boss Antonio Conte may be the perfect man to carry it out.
To say that the 2015-2016 season has been a disappointment would be a little bit of an understatement for Chelsea FC. The campaign would perhaps be better described as a truly shameful act of malignant wantonness. Now that the season is essentially over, the time for finger pointing and blaming is over as well. With that, it’s time to look toward the future which will hopefully be much brighter.
The announcement of Antonio Conte as Chelsea FC’s next coach should bring joy to Chelsea fans around the globe. It is a sign that despite the club’s haphazard season they still have enough of a reputation to draw a truly wonderful and first class talent to West London.
The Blues seemingly have a wonderful relationship with Italians (Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri, Gianfranco Zola) and the fit with Chelsea and Conte does appear to have been one that was made in heaven. Conte will show up and immediately spark improvement from what was a depressingly underachieving squad this year.
As a writer, fan and football analyst I actually wanted Chelsea to sign Conte rather than bring back Mourinho for his second spell. I know to every Blues supporter that sounds like utter madness but it seemed a little bit too much like Chelsea were trying to be the Chelsea of 5-6 years ago and not the team of the future.
Needless to say Chelsea hired Mourinho and Conte set off reestablishing the Italian national team after one of the most disappointing group stage exits in recent memory. Now, I’m not saying that Mourinho’s second spell wasn’t good. Chelsea won the Premier League again and the team looked to be something that would dominate in English football and on the continent for years to come.
Unfortunately, whatever deal was made last year ended up being paid this year in what is now historically recognized as the worst title defense by any team in the Premier League ever.
With Chelsea outside the Europa League places let’s look at the situation that Conte is inheriting from caretaker manager extraordinaire Guus Hiddink. Chelsea will most likely finish the season in 9th or 10th place and there’s not a lot of room to change there. The unfortunate thing about this is that while it will be necessary for the club to make changes this summer, the absence of that all-important European football will play heavily into the club’s transfer plans.
Footballers understand that their careers are short and incredibly risky due to the injuries that can be sustained with high-level athletics. Thus, few of the truly ambitious ones are willing to take time out of their careers to rebuild fallen clubs whom they hold no emotional allegiance too.
The fact that Chelsea will not be in the Champions League will limit their ability with transfers and make it absolutely necessary for the players already there to grow. Conte has shown the ability to make the most of what he has and that is genuinely the most positive thing that he can do in his early time at Stamford Bridge.
Fortunately, this situation draws many similarities to the one Conte inherited at Juventus. The year before Conte took over at Juventus they had finished in 7th place in the Serie A, something equally if not more unacceptable to the Bianconeri than Chelsea’s position this year.
At Juventus, Conte immediately reestablished The Old Lady atop the Italian game and they showed substantial improvement in every single year establishing a stranglehold on the league title. They tallied 84, 87 and 102 points respectively in each of his three championship winning seasons. The campaign in which they scored 102 points is a Serie A record for points accrued in a season as well.
The summer of 2011 was one in which he totally remade the Juventus squad bringing in Stephan Lichtsteiner, Arturo Vidal, Mirko Vucinic, Andrea Pirlo and Reto Ziegler for a grand total of €40.5 million (Juventus.com). They won Serie A that very year and have won it every year since with the team’s backbone still reliant on players that Conte brought in. This includes the leading midfielder in world football, Paul Pogba, whom he signed for free.
That is what brings me to our next point: developing youth. It’s a term that has been thrown around a lot these past few years with Chelsea FC but nothing has really happened. That all despite the club having the most dominant youth team in world football since Manchester United’s famous “Busby Babes”.
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It is perhaps unfair that Chelsea expected Jose Mourinho to do this as he has never had any interest in promoting youth in his career. The Blues were essentially hoping a dog would teach itself new tricks.
Antonio Conte famously told Pogba that the best players are the ones selected, with fairly little heed given to reputations. That is all it took for Pogba to leave Manchester United where he was again stuck behind the ever aging Paul Scholes.
Chelsea have a lot of youth players who this writer secretly believes are better than some of the players starting in the first team and could help establish that fighting culture that the club have so sorely lacked this season.
It is often said that the most important coach a footballer will ever have is the one who gives them their break. That being their shot, their moment, their chance to prove themselves underneath the big lights and the big crowds. Players often identify strongly in character with that coach.
If the Chelsea youth players who hopefully build the backbone of future sides identify with Conte’s key ideals of organization, intensity, desire and sacrifice, then it is hard to see them ever falling to the depraved levels of this year’s team.
One of the issues the Blues have faced for years is how to handle the transitions between generations. In my opinion, no club has actually handled those transitions worse. Conte should sort this matter out very quickly. If the youth players are good enough they will play and they will play often. In his first season at Juventus Paul Pogba started 37 times. If the youth players are good enough in training this is proof that Conte will show them the field as well.
When Andrea Pirlo described Antonio Conte in his memoir Andrea Pirlo: I Think Therefore I Play he did so by saying “he is allergic to errors”. Pirlo on several occasions describes Conte as one of the best managers that he has ever played for (he has played for Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi as well).
"When Conte speaks, his words assault you. 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’. – Andrea Pirlo"
It’s hard to find a player with the same level of quality and sustained success as Pirlo in the modern game. He has won the Champions League (twice), Serie A (six times) and the World Cup. If Pirlo says that the man is special then he well and truly is.
Chelsea supporters should feel very positive about moving forward with a manager of Conte’s quality. He is a special manager and the sort of man who builds dynasties that win for the better part of a decade (look at his Juventus team). They are not one season champions. The Blues do seem to be moving in that sort of more patient and stayed direction as well and Conte seems to be the perfect fit.
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As should have been expected with Jose Mourinho, matters blew up this year and Chelsea supporters have been left to wallow in the empty shell of their old hopes. However, this writer truly believes that it will be worth it should Conte usher in a genuinely new era for the football club.