Reactions were split when Chelsea manager Antonio Conte called last season’s title win a “miracle”. Turns out he was right all along.
Months ago, Antonio Conte called Chelsea’s title win of 2016/2017 a miracle. He believed that take a team that had finished tenth to making them champions the following season was a great and unexpected achievement.
Reactions to the comment and other similar ones before and after were mixed. Non-Chelsea fans mostly agreed. Chelsea had no Champions League to deal with and nearly every other rival had that and a new manager to adjust to. They also believed that the tenth place finish the previous season was an outlier. Some Chelsea fans agreed but most believed Conte had reignited the fire in the squad. There was not Champions League to deal with, yes, but that does not take away from the many records the Blues set in their pursuit of the title.
But now, with Chelsea firmly in fifth and requiring others to get them into top four, it appears that Conte was right all along. The title win was a miracle.
The roots of it can be traced back to the previous title win in 2014/2015. The first half of the campaign had Chelsea rampant. It was perhaps the most attacking a Jose Mourinho side has ever been. Then on New Year’s Day, Chelsea lost 5-3 to Tottenham Hotspurs. That was the turning point both for the club and for Jose Mourinho.
After that loss, Jose Mourinho shored up his squad. The attacking flare was gone and keeping a clean sheet was priority one, two and three. Eden Hazard had to pull the club over the finish line.
That summer, the biggest mistake Chelsea made was failing to strengthen. The board largely believed that the title winning squad was complete enough to repeat. Mourinho did not. But what happened next could not have been thought of in any Chelsea fan’s worst nightmares.
Chelsea lost. Again and again and again. Points were dropped in a never ending torrent of misery. Mourinho began to lash out and ultimately he was sacked with Chelsea in the relegation battle spots. Guus Hiddink took charge for a second time and merely turned the losses into draws. It was enough to see Chelsea finish in tenth.
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Enter Antonio Conte who was tasked with whipping the squad back into shape. He had done so previously at Juventus in a similar fashion and had three consecutive league titles to show for it. The squad strengthened to suit Conte’s wishes. After losing to Arsenal 3-0 that September, he changed the formation to a 3-4-3.
From there, Chelsea were as rampant as they were in the first half of 2014/2015. They gained win after win and set record after record as they relentlessly marched to the title. And then familiar patterns reemerged.
Again, the board failed to strengthen. Even more, they allowed key players to depart. In their defense, they did replace them. But they were rarely Conte’s first choice and often his third or fourth. With Champions League added to the plate, Conte was asked to take a weaker squad on paper and repeat.
And then the squad of 2015/2016 showed itself once more. The degree of it was much less but the mentality was the same. Player mistakes cost point after point. Conte stubbornly stuck with tactics that were not working and was slow to react to the mistakes. Eventually, Conte made tactical adjustments but it proved too late.
So Conte was right about the title win. It was a miracle. One in which he conducted a showcase of tactics and player motivation. But it, again, was not built upon by the board. And again, the manager was slow to react when a previously winning plan stopped working. And again, the players allowed simple mistakes to ruin whatever tactical plan was in place.
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The blame fall upon many. But taking a tenth place squad to winning the title the next season looks more and more like a miracle the more Chelsea solidify themselves in fifth this season. When a miracle like that happens, the club must not assume it is the natural state of things. They must strike while the iron is hot. Or else this same cycle will repeat over and over until ultimately Chelsea find themselves without a miracle.