Antonio Conte has parted company with Chelsea following two seasons as Head Coach.
While at Chelsea, Conte, 48, has enjoyed success. In his debut season, the Italian transformed Chelsea into a title-winning side following an extremely poor 10th placed finish in 2015/16. Chelsea won the title in 2016/17, seven points ahead of nearest challengers Tottenham Hotspur and amassed 30 wins in the process.
Within those 30 wins, there were the 13 consecutive wins which came as a consequence of Conte changing to a three-man defence following the capitulation at Arsenal last September. Notable victories within that run included a 4-0 emphatic win over Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United in which Pedro scored after 30 seconds; not to mention the 2-1 win over rivals Tottenham as well as the second half turnaround at the Etihad which saw Chelsea defeat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City by three goals to one.
The following season was undoubtedly more challenging. Conte failed to secure his primary targets in the summer transfer window such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Juventus’ Alex Sandro. Throughout the season, there was always an aura of animosity between Conte and Chelsea’s Board of Directors, such as Marina Granovskaia who is responsible for finalising transfers.
Chelsea ended the 2017/18 season with a 5th placed finish, eliminated by Barcelona in the Champions League last 16 and winning the FA Cup, against Manchester United. The FA Cup victory at Wembley added some respectability to what was a bitterly disappointing season. Chelsea was far too inconsistent and thus failed to make a serious attempt at defending the Premier League. Finishing fifth in the League was due to poor performances, notably the 2-1 defeat away to Crystal Palace in September, a 4-1 defeat away to Watford and an extremely embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth in January. You could include the 3-0 defeat against Newcastle on the final day, but most Chelsea fans would accept the writing was on the wall by Gameweek 38. It was the aforementioned which cost Conte and Chelsea; Chelsea missed out on Champions League qualification by six points (realistically), and it is pretty self-explanatory when you analyse the results.
Chelsea now have to select Conte’s successor. Napoli’s Maurizio Sarri looks set to be leaving the Serie A runners-up and has been heavily linked with the Club. More notably, he has turned down an offer from Zenit Saint Petersburg who was willing to pay his €8 million release clause.
Written by Chris Bradford – @Bradford_cfc97
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