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TSN Soccer Analyst

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Football’s calendar moves quickly.

This past summer Antonio Conte was a big fish in a small pond at the European Championships; a genuine world-class manager operating inside a world where very few exist anymore. International football, more vulnerable to random results than the club game, has become an area where older men with smaller reputations choose to take on the challenge of conquering tournament play.

Conte stood above them all in France. His Italy side had been called the least talented squad for decades, but he pushed all the right buttons tactically and mentally to get them to a quarter-final penalty shootout loss to the current world champions.

Conte’s job was finished and a move to Chelsea and the Premier League was next. Awaiting him was a far more competitive challenge where he would test himself in larger, deeper waters against the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Arsene Wenger.

He clearly relished the challenge from the start. “This league is the most difficult in the world,” he remarked in his opening press conference.

Chelsea may have a reputation of a club that doesn’t keep managers for a long time, but they are also known to work harder than most in screening their next leader. Conte did something similar, speaking with former boss Carlo Ancelotti who he admitted gave a glowing report of the club and ownership.

Like Conte, Ancelotti was hired at Chelsea at the beginning of July and given the task of rebuilding a crumbling empire. He succeeded, guiding the club to a league and cup domestic double in his first season at Stamford Bridge. A year later he was fired.

The current Bayern Munich boss, who fell victim to Roman Abramovich’s aggressive demands, will have made Conte very aware of the Russian billionaire’s style during their chat on Chelsea.

In his book, Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti calls some of his conversations with the Chelsea owner ‘red flags’ for what was to come.

“We started 2010 playing strongly, but in February two thunderbolts hit me that would seriously affect my relationship with Abramovich,” wrote Ancelotti.

“First, we were beaten 4-2 at home to Manchester City, which was bad because we were outfought and tactically outthought. He called a 9 a.m. meeting the next day to ask what happened. Abramovich is never happen with these ‘thunderbolt’ defeats – defeats that he believes should not happen to Chelsea. The second, and worse, thunderbolt was our away defeat to Inter in the Champions League. The next day Abramovich addressed the group, demanding answers.”

Chelsea under Conte has now lost 2-1 at home to Liverpool and 3-0 away at Arsenal. Neither result was a true reflection to how one-sided their opponents made it look. Back-to-back ‘thunderbolt’ defeats have come during Conte’s honeymoon period at the club.

The 47-year-old had no problem finding the right words to describe the loss at Arsenal and he didn’t hold back: “Bad result, bad performance. From the first minute we had a bad attitude. It is important we understand we must work a lot. We are a great team on paper but not on the pitch.”

This sounded similar to what last season’s boss, Mourinho, said about the Chelsea players when during a seven-minute rant on Sky Sports after a home loss to Southampton: “The first negative thing that happen, the team collapse. It looks like good players are bad players.”

Mourinho was fired in December with Chelsea on 15 points from 16 games. Guus Hiddink’s interim period saw them collect 35 points from 22 games, a small improvement but one that would only see them get 60 points over a 38-game season. Chelsea’s 50 points, and 10th place finish, was the worst title defence of the Premier League era.

“Finishing tenth was not bad, it was a very, very bad season,” admitted Conte who could have easily been repeating words said by Abramovich himself. One year earlier, Chelsea had led the Premier League for more days than any previous champion. Now they were in serious decline and in need of new faces. Never was it more important in the Abramovich era for the club to truly evaluate their own talent properly. The transfer window closed with N’Golo Kante, Michy Batshuayi and David Luiz coming in and many of the stars of the past remaining in the starting eleven.

It was time for Professor Conte to go to work on the classroom and he was sure he could get the club back to its successful ways.

“In this squad there are players, with work, that can improve a lot. I always give education and respect but I demand the same. I give them this and demand this. If I don’t have this you are asking for a problem.”

It didn’t take the Italian long to make a difference. In the first two games, at home to West Ham and away at Watford, he made changes to the team late in games and they scored winning goals after the 87th minute. It was classic Conte, 0-0 at half time, make slight adjustments and win in the second half. He won 83 league games at Juventus in three seasons, 44 of them were secured by game-winning goals in the second half.

A referee mistake at Swansea prevented Chelsea winning each of the first four games and when bigger tests came they failed miserably against Liverpool and Arsenal.

Diego Costa is the only player who really impressed in those games, leaving Conte much to ponder. Can Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill still be trusted to play regularly for a team challenging for a Champions League spot? How do they become collectively more organized? Can they find any balance in midfield? Will Eden Hazard show an appetite to work harder off the ball and not fall asleep like he did on Arsenal’s second goal? Is it worth deploying him off the striker in a 4-4-1-1 where his work rate can be less exposed, knowing there are two connected lines behind him?

Chelsea is clearly in transition and a player as good as Hazard, in particular, will be a pivotal case study in Conte’s leadership skills. Having had more time to evaluate the group he spoke sensibly about what has to happen at Chelsea.

"Sometimes I think it is important to value a manager not only if he wins, loses or draws. Sometimes if you judge only if they win you make a big mistake and you pay for this in the future."

Chelsea fans can only wish Abramovich was listening. Having reeled in the big fish it is now time to allow him to work. Only then will he truly find out which of his players are truly good enough.