Simon Phillips argues that Conte’s negative attitude is counter-intuitive.
“Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology…”
Whatever your opinions are on Antonio Conte, I cannot help but think that he is currently contributing to his potential downfall at Chelsea. There is a broad feeling across the footballing world that his time at Stamford Bridge will be up this summer, regardless of what achievements this season might bring.
I’ve always rated Conte as a coach and have fully supported and backed him. He pulled off a near miracle to win the Premier League last season, and I’ve loved seeing such a passionate and emotional leader on the sidelines. I also believe that the club are in desperate need of some stability and longevity in the Manager.
However, this season has seen a decline in Conte’s persona and the way he carries himself – he is continually talking about how he has a small squad and that the quality of that squad is not perhaps what he had asked for. His issues with player recruitment have been apparent for all to see. That is undeniable, and maybe he has not been given the exact shortlist of players that he asked for and had been left with mediocre backup versions of those.
But for me, this has turned him into a rather sceptical and negative coach in recent weeks, almost as if he is now diverting the blame elsewhere and he continually insists that he’s done the best he can under his circumstances. He often speaks in public before big games playing down any hope of Chelsea winning the match. Many have mentioned mind games, but for me, Conte has never been about that, I genuinely think he’s got to the level now where he genuinely has no belief, and he feels he is just realistic.
Now, there is nothing wrong with being a realist and staying grounded in general life. But my problem with this is that his job is mostly a coach. Now for me, a coach’s job is primarily to motivate his players and instil belief into the camp, while keeping an element of realism, despite the problems that you might be facing.
His words in public before significant games recently for me, is not doing this. He is essentially saying to the players that you are not good enough and it will be near impossible for you to win this game. That is not ideal preparation and will surely influence players who are already lacking confidence.
I want to see Conte be a leader again, stand up, motivate the team and state that they can do this, that they do have the ability to turn any team over on their day. For me THAT is a reality – this team can beat anyone on their day, so tell them that, coach that into them.
This week Conte stated that Chelsea doesn’t have the experienced players like Juventus have, who are capable of getting results from these big types of matches. While that is true to an extent, Chelsea still have a number of players who have won many league titles, play for their countries regularly and have a vast amount of champions league experience. Juventus have players to the other end of the scale, some who are ageing. You can’t have it all.
I entirely agree with Conte that Barcelona are a fantastic team and yes going there and getting a result will be tough. On paper they have better quality and more experience than Chelsea, this is just the truth. They will keep the ball and have more possession. So why not admit that, but then follow that up with something like ‘even though it will be hard, we have the quality to hurt them on the counter-attack and believe that we have a chance to advance’. The players seeing this type of leadership talk in public will help them also believe that they can do it. I get we are underdogs, and there is no pressure but being defeatist will only generate negativity.
Against Manchester City, there was a feeling that stemmed from Conte that we had lost the game from the off and nobody had any positivity – that reflected in the gutless performance. He lined up as 5-4-1, and that one up top wasn’t even a centre-forward. That for me is unacceptable. We are Chelsea; we won the league last season. We had under 30% possession in that match, and even though the opposition are full of quality, this was simply not good enough.
The first leg of Barcelona we lined up the same, although the shape of the 3-4-3 stayed very much in that way during a lot the game and we actually took it to them. Yes, we had 11 behind the ball at times, but we still attacked in numbers when needed and were unlucky not to win the game. This is the kind of realism I want to see against the big sides. Yes, we were prepared, organised and compact when defending, but we have to offer something going forward and be positive when attacking.
I’ll conclude by saying that in my opinion, I believe that Conte’s mind is already elsewhere – I think he is off in the summer and already knows this. This has forced him to feel sorry for himself and adopt this cynical and defeatist attitude that I believe is not helping Chelsea at all right now. We need a leader and a motivator.
I’ll remain positive though and predict Barcelona 2 Chelsea 2 tonight, with the blues to advance on away goals. A man can dream, right? It’s written in the stars?
Written by Simon Phillips – @SiPhillipsSports
