Clayton Beerman gives us his thoughts on Chelsea’s new Manager – Antonio Conte – and gives him a hearty “Benvenuto!”
We have a new m
anager with a tailor made name for puns. So am I excited beyond belief as I have loved all but one of the Italian managers we’ve had so far, so what could go wrong? Well, not really but that has got nothing to do with him I’m just very skeptical.
What I do know is that he has been a successful player and now manager. I’ve read lots about how he loves to do this that and the other but what he does here will be dependent on various factors. I also know that sadly every misplaced pass by an Italian player in the Euros will be looked upon by the great and the good of social media as being incontrovertible truth that we have employed a dud. You know it’s true.
So what can we expect? I would imagine he will be given some money and he will be able to bring in some players who will fit in to the style of football he will want to play. He may possibly be encouraged to use some of our academy players in his squad and I would imagine that he has been watching a lot of them since his official appointment.
He may possibly bring back Juan Cuadrado who apparently has turned into the best player on the planet since he left us. He was certainly one of the worst before he went. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between but we shall see.
He may announce that he couldn’t possibly do the job without JT being part of his team. This maybe something that is part of an initial charm offensive but I have a sneaking suspicion he will bring in his own Italian enforcers. Personally I think he would be foolish to get rid of JT but that as we all know is another blog.
As an Italian of the “old school” I am expecting and indeed hoping he repairs our defence. It is sadly broken and has been a huge problem this year. It was interesting to see that even the Holte End under 11s we played at the weekend found their way through without much difficulty. It was only their complete lack of interest that prevented them scoring. It’s difficult to pin point why it is so bad but bad it is. As we know a side defends all over the pitch and midfield is where we need a general. Someone who kicks first and asks questions afterwards. It seems that Conte’s teams have always had that sort of player and he hopefully has a black book full of numbers.
I do not intend to dissect the squad and say who should stay or go but whoever stays needs to want to be there. This I hope more than anything else is something he will be able to instill back in the club. Yes we look better than we have in the first part of the season but that isn’t hard.
So to the elephant in the room, whether our new manager will be able to actually manage. Not his ability but whether he will be allowed to manage his way through the level of interference which has been in place. We as a club need to get away from a style of club management which we currently have. If he is not allowed to get on with what he wants to then what is the point of employing a decent manager? From what I have read and heard about him he seems strong willed and it may be that the club have decided that is what they need. So maybe we can have a period of stabilisation before he has the rug pulled from under him ( no pun intended).
It seems churlish to moan about my club when we have won so much more than I could possibly have dreamt of but the scatter gun purchase of players without any real thought has come home to roost. The punch bag for fans is Emenalo but not one of us have an idea what he actually does or what he has actually been responsible for. The nadir of our transfer policy was the purchase of Papa and Hector. Both players bought without the manager wanting or knowing about them. A slap in the face to him and every decent youth player at the club or on loan.
We then had the Pato deal. With the appointment of Conte I now wonder whether he was parked here to get fit and see how he settled in. Well the signs were good at the weekend albeit within the context of the opposition. He however looked rather pleased to be here, which is more than can be said for a few of our players this season.
In terms of his coaching staff , let him choose his own. I hope there is a place for Steve Holland who seems a decent man. If there is it will show me that Conte appreciates he will need help in learning about the players and the league. He will have spoken to others who will have all expressed an opinion but he looks like a man who knows his own views and will not suffer fools.
The main worry is when will he be able to get things put in place? The final of the Euros is on 10 July 2016 and the start of the premier league is 13 August 2016. Most teams in the premier league will have players away but not their manager. So who does what. Will Guus be there to start the training and then we are off on our world tour again with no lessons learnt. I do not want to deny any of our wonderful Stateside supporters the opportunity to see our guys but the timings here are really not ideal for what is our most important season in decades. I suspect these things have been thought about and discussed but with his Italy duties who has been delegated to start things off. Perhaps an ex Nigerian footballer?
I do know that one of the reasons Conte fell out with Juve was his displeasure with an overseas pre-season tour. Just saying…
Clayton Beerman
