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When Antonio Conte first came to England, he was hoping to deliver big things. And he did deliver in his first season and was even hailed as a revolutionary in several quarters for upsetting the prevalent 4-at-the-back system.
His team, without having to shoulder the pressure and having to endure the fatigue that comes with European football, made quick work of their opponents and went on to clinch the trophy in an utterly dominant manner.
Chelsea even looked unstoppable at one point during the 2016-17 campaign. However, following the end of the season, everything has gone south as far as Antonio Conte is concerned.
He now finds himself hanging on to a thin string as the Chelsea boss after his side failed to qualify for the Champions League campaign in a largely disappointing season. His usually animated presence is absent and he cuts a frustrated figure in the tactical area more often than not and it does not inspire any confidence among the fans.
On that note, let's take a look at 5 reasons why Chelsea are better off without Antonio Conte.
#5 Chelsea could be playing much better football
When Chelsea went to Etihad in March, the Cityzens were expected to come away with 3 points. Still you can't fault the Premier League fans for thinking Chelsea will not go out without a fight. Unfortunately though, they did exactly that.
Just look at this.
At that point, Chelsea were 1-0 down and chasing (well, not exactly) the game. And they didn't put up a fight. They had surrendered before the kick off whistle even blew.
Even in Chelsea's FA Cup final triumph against Manchester United, they were lucky to have come away with a win. United had the better chances. Chelsea had one chance all game and it was down to a Phil Jones mistake and Eden Hazard's individual ability.
Throughout the season, Chelsea have gone through spells of playing abysmal football.
There's a creeping lethargy about Chelsea's game. They do not have squad depth despite being active in the transfer market. They rely too much on Hazard and the latest target man strategy of using Giroud has not gone down well with the fans either.
Chelsea could be doing much better and if they want to be playing better football, it looks like they're going to have to do it without Conte.
#4 Poor transfer decisions
Chelsea's activity in the transfer window, simply put, has been suspect. They have made some terrible signings and have let go of players who they really shouldn't have.
If you look at Chelsea's incoming and departure lists from the 2017-18 season, you'd be appalled. While they bought players like Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Ross Barkley, Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Rudiger, Davide Zappacosta, Emerson and Olivier Giroud, none of them, except maybe Antonio Rudiger, has become a hit at Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, the players they have let go of in the season are Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic, Nathan Ake, Juan Cuadrado, Bertrand Traore, and Nathaniel Chalobah. Charly Musonda and Michy Batshuayi were sent on loan.
Nemanja Matic was sold to title rivals Manchester United in what was a shocking decision. They've also opted to go for players who are approaching their 30s while letting go of talented youth academy products.
Chelsea have some major issues to resolve when it comes to their activity in the transfer market.
#3 He has already fallen out with the board
Antonio Conte has been quite blunt when it comes to addressing his dissatisfaction with the Chelsea board. The Italian manager had gone on to say that he is not happy with the club's transfer policy.
After even the January transfer window proved to be non redeeming, Conte went on to say that the recruitment policy entirely rests with the club’s executives including director Marina Granovskaia.
He said,
“I think the club decide our transfer market. As I said before, my task is to try to improve the transfer market, from the summer, the club decides every player.”
Conte has constantly expressed his dissatisfaction with the board and he has done that on several occasions this season. And we all know how that bodes with the club's top brass. He also doesn't look like the kind of manager who will like being a puppet at a club where his views are not expressed. So it's best for both the manager and the club to part ways.
#2 Looks rattled by the competition
When Antonio Conte was at Juventus, he was the big shot manager. His team was far superior to any other in the land. He walked around with an aura that left the rest of the competition in awe of him.
However, in the Premier League, nothing of that sort happens. Banter is thrown everywhere. Plus, he has to deal with at least 5 other teams that can give him major competition in the title race.
On top of that, these clubs are all headed by big personalities- Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Arsene Wenger (ex-boss now) and Mauricio Pochettino. All of them are vocal and ready to engage in a war of words with a rival if need be to spice things up a bit.
Conte committed the grave mistake of engaging Jose Mourinho in a mindgame. Mourinho is the master of mindgames and his diverting the press' attention on to things from Chelsea's past and the snide jibes they threw at each other seemed to have rattled Conte.
Mourinho went about his business as usual while Chelsea stumbled from 2nd place all the way down to the 5th on the Premier League table.
Simply put, Conte doesn't look the most comfortable when he has intense competition to deal with. On top of that, the fact that he is not in his home country and that he cannot communicate with the players as freely as he could back home seems to be getting to him.
#1 Top players unhappy or want to leave
Conte's fall out with Diego Costa left a crater in Chelsea's 2017-18 campaign to say the very least. His man management skills seem to not be working at Stamford Bridge this season. While Costa could be a tough cookie, Conte should have understood the importance of the player better.
With Costa's departure, the goals dried up at Stamford Bridge with Morata having some terrible outings.
After Costa, it was David Luiz's turn and you couldn't help but wonder if that couldn't have been handled better.
If you go back to Chelsea's pathetic performance against City, you could also see that the players are not happy about what's going on. Eden Hazard, in the post-match presser, said,
“When you leave the pitch you have the impression that you’ve ran, but that you haven’t played a game of football. That’s a pity. We could have played on for three hours, and I wouldn’t touch a ball. Only at the end it went better: in the last 10-15 minutes, we had more possession. But we should have tried to do that all game.”
Hazard walked off from the field and did not spare his gaffer a glance. Willian seems to not be happy with Conte either as he did this on his Instagram photo of Chelsea celebrating their FA Cup win.
Thibaut Courtois had revealed during the course of the season that his heart is in Madrid and has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid ever since.
With top players unhappy or wanting to leave, it does not look like Conte staying at Stamford Bridge is going to do the club any favours.
