The Conte Era - Chelsea 17/18

Katy Perry wrote:True, I forgot about that. Still, I'm looking forward for some Bat, Chalo, Zouma and Aina action

They are the main ones who should play.

Inb4 Batshuayi still doesn't start

Could happen.

Conte clearly doesn't trust him, yet.

No better way to test his trustworthiness than to give him opportunities to prove or disprove it. And if a home cup game against third-tier Peterborough isn't one to give him such a chance in....

He'll probably leave if he can't get game time against Peterborough

I mean, we all know he's just a 30M placeholder for Tammy. Wouldn't be worried.

No but seriously, the only scenario where he doesn't start is if those rumours about him going out on loan and us getting Llorente (who's having an awful season but was great for Conte's Juve) for the remainder of the season are true. We'll see.

Katy Perry wrote:I mean, we all know he's just a 30M placeholder for Tammy. Wouldn't be worried.

@ChelseaFC wrote: Conte indicates he will play Batshuayi from the start on Sunday and it is a good opportunity for him. #CFC

This settles it then. They also mentioned Kurt will start.

Just like the likes of Eto'o, Ba and Remy were just placeholders for Bamford. Hmmm.

Anyway that's good news from Conte. Needs and deserves the opportunity.

Technically Eto'o and Ba were placeholders for Lukaku .

But you're right, he has a long and full of obstacles way to go. He's an immense talent tho, the best our academy has produced in years. Hope he has the right attitude and ambition to make it in our team.

Maybe I'm being cynical, but years of false dawns and hoping in vain when it comes to youth tells me to be subdued about what he (or any other of our up-and-coming players) is achieving. I don't believe he's doing any significantly better now than Bamford was at a comparable level during stints at Dons, Derby and Boro (even winning Championship Player of the Year the season before last) – and we see how he's turnt out. I'll save my excitement for when these things (i.e. him competing for a place in our side) actually happen.

Albeit against Peterborough, but back to winning ways. Didn't see any of the game, but nice not to even come close to the slip-ups at home to vastly inferior lower-league opposition that we've been susceptible to in seasons past. Though the league should obviously be our main focus, with no Euroe to worry about, it'd be nice to at last have a good run in this cup having been so dormant in it lately after years of dominance. We used to be kings of this competition for years and after nearly 5 seasons without so much as an appearance in a final, reviving our fortunes on this front and making a real push for it this year would be another feather in Conte's cap.

It was a good performance. Granted, it was only Peterborough, but you can only play the hand that you're dealt and we can only comment on what we see.
Chalobah and Michy in particular shined and Pedro dominated, but everyone played well.
The biggest takeaway from this game was seeing that even the players who played less this season seem to have fully embraced and understood Antonio's football philosophy. Or at least deserved the chance to prove their worth against stronger opponents in the future.

Agreed. Whenever I think about the 4 Fa Cup wins in such a short span, it reminds me of how good we were in knock-outs tournaments and how unlucky we were to win only one CL in that timeframe. It would be nice if we made a FA Cup run to make up for our early exit in the League Cup and to show we regained that prowess in these kind of tournaments.

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Conte and Costa had an intense argument and the result of that is that he wasn't called for the Leicester game and Conte straight up told him to GTFO to China.

Alonso, what a boy Absolutely crucial, pivotal win, not only in getting back to winning ways following our defeat in the last matchday and maintaining our gap ahead of the chasing pack, but also to allay fears of an impending/imminent/inevitable implosion in light of this week's [purported] training ground quarrel. Weathering a potentially very tricky away fixture against a side well up for it with our backs so against the wall lately without our best player and with all the surrounding controversy stemming from it, and ultimately in the most commanding way possible, is truly phenomenal. This week's remit was 3 points and aforementioned anxieties eased, and the side certainly delivered those. Now have the benefit of sitting back tomorrow and watching Everton-City and United-Liverpool comfortably. Brilliant weekend

Really great to see us getting back at our best Our wingbacks who were the ones struggling the most in the past games had a blaster, and that is very encouraging because we play 2x times better when they're involved in the play.

Now onto Hull City . Getting the maximum lead from Pool and Gunners before playing them is as important as getting results vs them.

Also, Conte confirmed the media exaggerated the Costa's situation and everything is normal. #fakenews

I'm not worried about Conte-Costa, both have proven to be absolute professionals off the pitch, so if there are any issues, they will be sorted out quickly. However, it does look like it is just an injury problem for Costa.

Happy with the win, too. But I do think we're going to need a new CF if Conte continue's not to trust Batshuayi.

Bring on Hull!

Eh, really like Michy as a player and as a person from what I could see from his social media interactions and would love to have him feature more, but Conte has to make decisions and so far the times he has chosen the false-nine approach we've been successful.

Can't expect that to change either. Conte has only 3 back-ups that he's willing to give minutes, one for role, Willy in the attack, Cesc in the midfield and I predict it's going to be Akè in the defense, and they seem to be enough for now.

Having only one back-up CF in the squad (who himself is young and brand new to the league) is challenging and risky enough, but when the manager doesn't trust that player even in the alternative's absence, it adds up to a real problem for us going forward. It obviously hasn't hampered us too much thus far as Costa has been imperious and mostly free of injury and suspension, but should his form drop, his availability become troubled, or this 'crisis' turn out to have more legs than is currently being made out, then we're in serious trouble.

Which is why Llorente would be a decent option, as long as we keep Bats, too.

Thing is, if we sign Llorente just so a shortage can be filled from now till the summer, we're still stuck with him beyond then. And after the long, dark years of juggling Torres, Ba, Remy, etc. and watching them prevent other, better strikers from being signed, I'm quite keen to avoid a repeat.

I don't think he'd be so hard to sell. Bilbao would always take him back, seeing as they need a back up CF.

@Shed, the reason I wanted Llorente is because IIRC the deal was supposed to be a loan swap and because he would have brought a similar playstyle to the table as the one Costa brings. Obviously less impactful, even if it was the Llorente of the Bilbao days he'd pale in Costa's comparison, but the Llorente seen in 13-14 with Conte would have been a fine back-up.

I mean, the reason Conte doesn't trust Michy is because he brings a totally different playstyle to what Costa offers. And if that's the case, might as well play someone else who brings a different playstyle, in this case someone who had more gametime in this season than Michy and Conte trusted more for that reason. And so far there's no reason to change that outside of Fa Cup games or unavailability of both Costa and one of Pedro/Willy/Eden.

Costa has returned to first team training today. Pictured smiling and even hugging fitness coaching staff. Phantom crisis officially over.

Shed wrote:Costa has returned to first team training today. Pictured smiling and even hugging fitness coaching staff. Phantom crisis officially over.

Can still see Costa leaving in the summer. :\

Yea but that's nothing new. There've been suggestions since pretty much his arrival that he wasn't totally happy in England and would be looking to leave after not too long. I've personally never seen him as a Drogba-esque player who was gonna be with us into his mid-thirties.