Chelsea have announced that Antonio Conte will take over the reigns of the Blues from next season, confirming the appointment on their website. Conte is currently the manager of the Italian National Team and will take over from Guus Hiddink, once Italy’s campaign in the 2016 Euros ends.
The London giants have endured a miserable season, with Jose Mourinho being sacked midway as the Blues hovered above the relegation zone, while Guus Hiddink has come in and stablized the ship, although Chelsea still find themsleves in 10th place in the table.
As such, Conte has a sizable task ahead of him to revitalize the defending Premier League champions. Here are 5 things we can expect from Antonio Conte’s Chelsea:
1) A revamped defence
John Terry in his prime was the very epitomy of the sort of defender Antonio Conte favours. However, the Blues legend hasn’t been the same this season, and with his contract winding down with Chelsea reportedly unwilling to offer him a new deal, Terry looks set to have left the club when Conte arrives in the summer.
In addition, given Chelsea’s absolutely abysmal form in defence, many expect that Conte will dip in to the transfer market to revamp Chelsea’s defence, with players such as Branislav Ivanovic and Baba Rahman facing the axe.
However, this ignores Conte’s history of eking out the best from his players, especially defenders. The best example of this very improvement would be the case of Leonardo Bonucci, part of Juventus’ miserly defence. The Italian defender credited Conte with his starring role, saying “I must say that Conte has really taught me a lot at a tactical level. If today I’m among the best players in Europe a good part of the credit lies with him.”
Thus, it is quite likely that Conte will stick to tactical advice to revitalize the same Chelsea defence that was rock solid when they won the league in 2014/15. Defenders such as Kurt Zouma and Baba Rahman, who possess all the raw materials but lack positional sense, will definitely profit from the former Juventus central midfielder known for his tactical nous and his ability to impart it to his players.
2) Re-Sign Romelu Lukaku to terrorize EPL defences
Given the countless rumours swirling around Romelu Lukaku’s potential return to Chelsea, this is a bit of an obvious choice. Despite impressing on loan spells away from the club, Jose Mourinho allowed Everton to prise away the Belgian target-man from Chelsea, where he was signed as Didier Drogba’s successor.
While Lukaku has not reached the heights of the Ivorian, he has performed extremely well for Everton this season, scoring 25 goals in 38 appearances so far. Given his form and that he is still only 23, luring Lukaku away from Everton will take a huge bid in the range of £50 million, an embarrasing u-turn from the £28 million Chelsea received when they let him leave.
It will not matter a jot to Conte, who favours a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 formation, which might see the rest of the Premier League gaze upon the terrifying sight of Diego Costa and Lukaku lining up together, a duo that can perform as a battering ram and dovetail with each other while possesing lethal finishing skills, a truly mouth-watering prospect.
Even if Costa decides to leave, after an unhappy spell this season in trouble with the FA, Lukaku can still be the lone spearhead for Chelsea, as Conte’s high-pressing system suits the Belgian to a tee.
3) A proper box-to-box midfielder
Antonio Conte has had a long and storied managerial career. However, in each and every one of his successful sides, Conte has played with a three-man midfield. Chelsea’s current setup operates along similar lines, with Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Oscar forming the midfield engine.
However, two of the trio are completely unsuited to the manner in which Conte plays. The Italian has favoured a direct style of football, with a high-press designed to win the ball back quickly and release the ball to the wings immediately. Fabregas in particular, seems unsuited to a high-pressing game and might find himself out of favour next season.
Oscar is tactically naive as well, but if Conte deems a player sufficiently talented enough, will deploy a protective midfielder. Italian reporter Augusto de Bartolo revealed Conte’s tactics when speaking to Sky, saying “At Juventus, to protect Paul Pogba he had Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio or Arturo Vidal.”
Conte is a known admirer of Radja Nainggolan, previously attempting to lure the Belgian to Juventus. The Roma midfielder has enjoyed a wonderful season with his club, and seems tailormade to power Conte’s engine room in the box-to-box role, which can allow Oscar to thrive.
Players such as John Obi Mikel might also benefit from Conte’s positonal advice, which can result in a very strong pool of Chelsea midfielder’s next season.
4) A very direct Chelsea
Given Conte’s style of play, it’s rather a surprise that he hasn’t been courted by Premier League sides earlier. Of course, the Italian’s success with Juventus did make it difficult to pry him away, but surely a bumper pay packet would have worked it’s charm?
As mentioned earlier, Conte loves to play 4-3-3 and 3-5-2, although the latter system is what earned him the most success with Juventus. However, what’s most typical of his teams is a high-pressing style, which begins from the frontline itself. Conte has tweaked his setup to a back four for Italy, although it has meant that Italy have struggled to score while boasting a rock-solid defence.
That rock-solid defence is what Conte will first seek to establish, only then introducing the high-press, which will require his midfielders to win the ball early and recycle the balls to the wings immediately. Some of the most important members of Conte’s teams are the wingbacks, and Azpilicueta will thrive in a dual attacking/defending role, although the opposite wing might need outside investment.
A Chelsea based on a solid defence, attacking swiftly down the flanks with tall, powerful strikers profiting in the middle? That sounds very much like Jose Mourinho’s very first vintage of 2004/05, a team that romped to the title with 95 points and were 1 game away from an unbeaten season.
Conte has a tendency of going unbeaten, marshalling Italy's unbeaten run in the qualifiers, while also famously going unbeaten throughout the season with Juventus. The Invincibles might have some competition next year.
5) Unity in the dressing room
Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini failed in a task that Antonio Conte succeeded – getting Carlos Tevez to not be a rebel. The Argentine famously antagonized both his managers in the Premier League, with some blatant acts of rebellion, although theTevez that played for Conte was the most disciplined, hard-working and lethal Tevez the world had ever seen.
Multiple interviews from Conte's players refer to the team spirit that the Italian fosters, often instilling a siege mentality within his side to great effect. Conte’s Juventus were extremely hard-working and unified, and with a dressing room boasting the world’s biggest stars, surprisingly had little acts of dissent, with everyone pulling in the same direction.
Conte will heal a Chelsea side that has witnessed the worst of Jose Mourinho’s antics, although he does deal with the bad lemons with ruthlessness. Lorenzo Insigne has suffered the same fate for Italy, being frozen out of the national side due to a ‘lack of commitment’ to the cause, according to Conte.
However, the biggest stumbling block for Conte will be that this is his first foreign assignment, and given that he does not know English, might suffer to get his ideas across initially.
Former Sunderland manager Paolo di Canio had some words of advice, saying “I say [to him] be careful, try to learn the English mentality straight away," Di Canio said. "Try to learn [the language] and put next to you a good guy, an English guy, with good experience that can help you.”
“You can come with your staff because you trust your members of staff but it’s important to have a member of the club who understands everything of English football. Not only in the way you deliver your methodology or your tactics, but also in the way you need to deliver the words at the end of the game, before the game, the message during the week. Don’t do it like Di Canio!”
