Antonio Conte played his most physical game on the touchline yesterday in Chelsea’s win over Arsenal. Afterwards, he defended the Premier League’s physicality against the relative softness of Serie A.
Antonio Conte burns as many calories during a Chelsea game as his players, bar N’Golo Kante*. He out-did himself in the Blues’ crushing victory over Arsenal, proving beyond any doubt how he inspires through passion and example.
In the moments leading up to Chelsea’s opening goal, Antonio Conte looked as though he was controlling his players through the world’s largest Nintendo Wii.
He went for the first header (Diego Costa’s). He recoiled in disappointment when it hit the bar. Seeing the ball drop towards Marcos Alonso, he went for a second header and the ball pinged into the net.
Later, Chelsea failed to notice Arsenal bringing extra players into the box to attack a corner kick. Conte responded by man-handling his top assistant Angelo Alessio. Alessio was in the coaches’ seating area when Conte grabbed him by the collar, shouted instructions at him and pushed him forward to relay his orders to the men on the pitch.
“Angelo Alessio is a victim, always!” Conte joked “Angelo knows me very well, and my passion in this moment.”
After watching Eden Hazard thoroughly humiliate every red jersey to score the goal of the season, Conte took a running start and dove head first into the Stamford Bridge faithful. Nathaniel Chalobah looked on in bemused puzzlement as Conte vanished in a swarm of Blues fans.
Antonio Conte leads by example with both his passion and physicality. Asked about whether Marcos Alonso’s goal should have been disallowed due to Alonso’s high arm against Hector Bellerin, Conte defended the Premier League’s rough-and-tumble traditions.
"In England, in this league, this is always a goal. There was a ball, there was a contest, and Alonso jumped more than Bellerin and scored the goal. To hear this in England I am surprised. In Italy? Maybe!… If we were in other countries maybe we could have a conversation, but here I don’t think it’s right to talk about this. – Chelsea FC"
Antonio Conte often cites the physicality of the Premier League, and the difficulties in adapting to it, as a reason for not playing Michy Batshuayi. Conte clearly has adjusted quite well. Perhaps Batshuayi should start imitating Conte on the touchlines to show he is ready to imitate Hazard and Diego Costa on the pitch.
Next: Cesc Fabregas excels by adapting his game to the strikers around him
*Recent sports science analysis indicates that N’Golo Kante may be powered by cold fusion, or possibly alien technology. As such, we can not compare his calorie expenditure to a human being’s.