Clayton Beerman interrupts our summer slumber by taking us through the various Chelsea related performances of the Euro 16 Tournament…
When Antonio Conte was appointed our manager, I wrote this
” 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 far he’s had an immaculate tournament and has been lauded as Italy’s biggest asset. His touchline antics it appears have already endeared him to our fans. There was however one horrendous photo I saw with him standing on the touchline and in the background the fourth official who just happened to be Martin Atkinson who was just looking at him. I suspect Atkinson was thinking about how he would cope with Mr C.
There is no doubt he has something special, Mr C not Atkinson. When you watch players who looked bang ordinary in the Premier League playing like world beaters that has to be down to him. In stark contrast with our own lamentable ex England manager who managed to perform the same trick but in reverse. The Italian national side however has the Juventus goalkeeper and back 3 who have all been magnificent. Watching the legend that is Buffon stroll on to the pitch to embrace Martin O’Neil and Roy Keane is one of my highlights of the tournament thus far.
It is hard not to be excited about the prospect of Mr C joining us. I hope he is able to instil the same passion and commitment into our underachievers. In an interview for BBC World Service he spoke about learning English. He was asked if he had a favourite English word, he replied that he liked the verb to fight. Interesting.
Watching the way he has set out his team it is obvious we are going to need one if not two centre halves and the same with our full backs. That being said Kenedy looks like he has the potential to be a wing back but does he have the discipline. We already have de Silva and Aina in the ranks, so it will be interesting to see what can be achieved with them.
So what other interest has there been for Chelsea fans at the euros. Let’s start with poor old Gary Cahill. A man who until relatively recently had a legend playing 
next to him two dependable full backs and keeper behind him. It’s fair to say that this season has not been kind to him. I like Gary but he needs to be surrounded by quality. In this tournament he has endured the same torrid time as he did with his club. Absolute bedlam all around him, no protection and a goalkeeper whose hands were made of sand. He looked shell shocked as they all did to be fair and I suspect he may never recover internationally. It will be interesting to see if he makes the first team for Chelsea next season.
Spain had three of our guys. They had a strange tournament and got blasted away by Italy. Both Axpi and Pedro were rarely seen but Cesc played in all the games. As we know he is a decent performer outside of the frantic premier league pace. I was pleased to see the photo of Conte talking to both Axpi and Pedro in the tunnel. He may have just been asking for his bus fare home but I hope they were talking Chelse!
So to Belgium. We have all been looking at Nainggolan , having been heavily linked with him throughout the summer. It doesn’t look like he is coming and I cannot say I am heartbroken. He is the type of player we need certainly but I haven’t been blown away by him. Maybe he is one of those players who you don’t appreciate until he is not there?
We are now led to believe that we are about to bolster our ranks with another Belgian. A forward who isn’t the one who’s a cross between Maradona and Emile Heskey. Again if it happens these are big bucks for a relatively unproven talent from Marseilles. Worked out pretty well for us last time and so we’ll have to wait and see and be patient. The reports I have read tend to imply he’s good but greedy.
As for our current Belgian contingent it’s fair to say they have been pretty decent. Our goalkeeper looks his old self apart from his one comedy moment, which thankfully did not cost him or his team. Perhaps some time away from his current goalkeeping coach has helped. As for Eden, he is fit and on top of his game. He looked decent in his first few matches but against Hungary he looked spectacular. There is no doubt that the opposition were not the best albeit they had not lost yet in the tournament. When however a player does what Eden did in that game the only way you can deal with him is to kick him and to be fair to Hungary they didn’t. The set up for the second goal where it looked like he’d kicked it too far in front of him and he chased his own pass and crossed was a thing of beauty.
I think at this point it would be remiss of me not to mention both De Bruyne and Lukaku at this stage. As anyone who knows me or reads my blogs knows, I love Jose but selling these two remains a mystery and ultimately a poor decision. I can understand Lukaku more but the bigger picture is the chemistry between the three of them. Watching the interplay between all of them at the Euros has just gone to emphasise the decision cannot have been based on footballing reasons.
There are reasons to look at the two and find fault but my question is whether they would get into and add anything to our first team and with KDB the answer has to be yes.
So England yet again leaves a tournament early. It should not be a surprise any more but the frustration is palpable. For what it’s worth the blame for me is at the door of the FA. Why appoint such a mundane uninspiring manager in the first place and why did he keep his job after another abject showing at the last world cup? What is interesting is though I would rather my club won a league rather than England win a tournament the impact and feel good factor of a successful national side cannot be underestimated. Sadly we are unlikely to ever find out!
So Forza Conte. I can’t wait to see you at the Bridge.
