Conte at Chelsea

Onyx wrote:--------------------Courtois
----------Zouma----Terry----Bonucci
---------------------Matic
-Cuadrado---Fabregas---Nainggolan---RicRod
---------------Costa-------Pato

Bonucci won't leave Juventus, he'll retire here. He is seen as captain material after Chiellini together with Marchisio.

Onyx wrote:--------------------Courtois
----------Zouma----Terry----Bonucci
---------------------Matic
-Cuadrado---Fabregas---Nainggolan---RicRod
---------------Costa-------Pato

Hmm...

First of all, there's no way Terry is in the lineup regularly. He'll be 36 next season. There's simply no way that he can keep up in the PL. Assuming Conte sticks with a back 3 (certainly not guaranteed...), I would think Ivanovic, Cahill and Zouma would be the preferred starters.

Even if Conte does keep the 3 CB setup, I sincerely doubt that he'll retain the "1 behind a 2" midfield. That was a setup that was born out of a need to get Pirlo, Marchisio, and Vidal on the pitch (Pogba would come into the picture later). Matic simply doesn't fit the role that Pirlo had at Juve, and there's no need for a pure shielding player in the 3 CB variants. Chances are he'll stick with 2 deep in Matic and Nainggolan with 2 wingbacks.

Azpilicueta should work well as a wingback. In my eyes, Azpilicueta is a nice option for what Lichtsteiner provided Juventus, a defensively sound, hard-working wing-back. On the opposite side, CHelsea would likely need a new attacking wingback/winger. I'm continuing to work under the assumption that Hazard will likely not be with the club next season (my money's on PSG). Therefore, I would guess that either a true winger or an attack-minded LB would be brought in for this position.

In attack, he may choose to go with 2 behind a one, given CHelsea's abundant AM/Winger options. Some combination of Oscar, Willian and Pedro will likely man one or two spots behind the strike(s). With the current squad, I'd guess it'd be Willian and Pedro behind Costa. However, that could obviously change with changes over the summer.

My guess for the squad (again, working under the assumption that Conte will retain a variation on the 3 CB system, which I am not married to...) would be something resembling the following:

---------------------Courtois
----------Ivanovic----Cahill----Zouma
Azpilicueta------Matic---Nainggolan---New LWB/Winger
----------------Willian-----Pedro
-----------------------Costa

Conte certainly doesn't like to play with 3 at the back without the left CB being left footed.


Pep would be proud

But anyway, I think he'll play a 4-3-3

He'll play 4-3-3, and Fabregas will be starting as very few players actually have their place cemented, Fabregas is one.

If anything, it'll be:


For the RB/CB spots, we'll either sign a CB or recall Christensen, or sign a fullback and move Ivanovic to CB.

and for DM, we'll only sign one if Matic leaves.

We're also likely to sell Oscar and Mikel, to make room for Nainggolan.

Surely Ivanovic will either be a rotation player or shipped off to Serie A - If Chelsea cant find a better CB than him then sure stick him at CB. But certainly not optional at RB.

It's a tough one, without Terry, Ivanovic will be captain, so he either has to play or our new vice captain will lead the team on most games.

It all depends on if we buy a CB or a RB, we only realistically need 1. Cahill, Zouma, Azpilicueta and probably Baba + youth will fill up the other spots.

Ancelotti on Conte: Coming to ENG from ITA he will find a different world: less pressure, no violence, a great atmosphere, full stadiums.

RealGunner wrote:Ancelotti on Conte: Coming to ENG from ITA he will find a different world: less pressure, no violence, a great atmosphere, full stadiums.

No violence...

Beginning of the end?

1 man down most of the match and almost recovered, just a scare IMO. Top 4 finish for sure.

He has an awful team right now, more signings are needed.

Did they lose anyone from last season...?

Diego Costa and Matic. Then downgraded into Morata and Bakayoko.

Costa the half a season player?

Is a whole season of Morata worth more than half a season of an in-form Costa?

I would say so. As mentioned in another thread too, Chelsea fans hardly rated Matic last season and were ok with getting rid of him.

People calling Chelsea's squad awful are doing the same thing as last season. The squad is really good, and Conte's doing well to get the best out of them, but they should be challenging for the title with their squad. They aren't a bunch of scrubs which people made it seem last season.

Ok, asking again here to see if there is a response from someone who knows, so why is it Conte doesnt want Costa in his plans?

Add to that, why Matic chose to leave?

The problems as everyone can see now. Firstly Conte discrupts the team by not wanting Costa whos worked well for Chelsea clearly. And then to sell Matic to Man U whether its the boards or whoevers decision just doesnt make sense, its not like Chelsea cant match financially or need money.

CBarca wrote:I would say so. As mentioned in another thread too, Chelsea fans hardly rated Matic last season and were ok with getting rid of him.

People calling Chelsea's squad awful are doing the same thing as last season. The squad is really good, and Conte's doing well to get the best out of them, but they should be challenging for the title with their squad. They aren't a bunch of scrubs which people made it seem last season.

I actually always thought they werent that good overall, and underestimated way until the end I mean the likes of Pedro, Alonso, Moses, I just didnt think would be so good for them, so credit to Conte of course as I think they overperformed to their capability really (yes last season many other contenders were quite weak but still they walked the league pretty much). But then why he leaves out Costa when everything is working for a start and then everything until today, its just strange.

Their squad isn't awful it's imbalanced compared to other contenders.

I'd say the same thing about City last season tbh, it wasn't a bad squad ( far from it) it just wasn't as balanced as teams around them.

They don't have a single creative player to help Hazard, i criticize Morata but i think he's a good fit for what they need and they probably don't have enough pace either.

But what they do have is a fantastic DM, CBs and are very organised as well as a really talented winger/AM.

A couple of signings in key areas and they'd be just as good on paper as City or United or despite not proving yet have the two most talented squads imo.

I'd say Arsenal and Spurs have similar talent level to Chelsea but they have different issues, all 3 teams would be ridiculously talented with a couple of key signings.

But talent isn't everything, who knows how they will actually perform.

rincon wrote:Is a whole season of Morata worth more than half a season of an in-form Costa?

Yes. Considering Costa isn't even a half season player. More like 35-40%. His hot form ends in December. There's still January to May. That's 5 months of playing like complete piss.

We have a good group of players. We're just short on numbers. Since January, we've lost Oscar, Mikel, Ivanovic, Begovic, Terry, Zouma, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Matic and Costa. That's 10 players and we've only brought in 4 players to replace them. Of course we're short on numbers. We need at least 4 more signings to strengthen the squad and make up numbers and we'll be fine.

Do you think that some key signings will be made before the window closes? Who is a possibility? Haven't been keeping up with too rumours.

I still say that a massive reason that Chelsea won the league is they had a good team who looked rested and fresh EVERY week, never underestimate not having to travel to random shitholes in Europe like their rivals had to. Even Liverpool competed with their trash squad because of the same reason ffs.

Conte's obviously a good manager but I didn't see him tactically boss anyone last season

I'm expecting this season to be bumpy for them, still think they'll do well but I don't think they compete for the title as they are now

could all change if they get in some fresh faces before the window shuts, agree with Mole, they need a creative force that isn't Hazard. I don't even know who they should be looking at there though.

Maybe they could get one of the newly ostracized players from PSG. Pastore, Lucas, Draxler?

I don't think Lucas is a creative force tbh, haven't watched much of Pastore either

Draxler though, he seemed to be doing well after his 35 or 40 million movie to PSG..ostracized already

Bernardo Silva would have been a top signing for them, need someone in that mould

I guess Pastore is pretty much in the Silva mould, he just wasn't that consistent.

It's pretty late in the window to be looking for key players.