Chelsea Football Club and Italians have always been synonymous with success. The likeable genius of Gianfranco Zola, a mercurial stud on his day—became a bona-fide legend at Kings Road in his seven seasons in England, and was the catalyst in the path of refinement that Chelsea had set themselves on in the 90’s & early 2000’s.
Roberto Di Matteo was another gifted Italian who will always remain a legend in the eyes of Chelsea fans. Signed from Lazio in 1996 for a club record fee of £4.9 million, Di Matteo was, like Zola, at the forefront of this cultural and footballing revolution Chelsea were submerged in. The Italian helped the side to three FA Cup titles, two Football League Cups, the European Cup Winners’ Cup, their first European honour since 1971, and the European Super Cup in his time before retiring prematurely due to injury in 2001.
Returning to Chelsea as interim manager in 2012, Di Matteo won the FA Cup and the first Champions League trophy in the club’s history. His fervent celebration with Eddie Newton on the Camp Nou touchline, after Torres slotted into an exposed net after rounding Victor Valdes, embodied the impetuous passion Di Matteo has built for the Blues.
Carlo Ancelotti’s record-breaking league title triumph in the 2009/10 campaign was another Italian success story at Chelsea. 102 goals scored in the league alone, Ancelotti’s stylish, high-octane brand of football was imprinted on the players from the day he arrived, and the Blues’ FA Cup triumph that season was truly the cherry on the cake of what was a remarkable season.
Claudio Ranieri brought the Blues to their first ever Champions League semi-final, achieving the club’s highest ever Premier League finish—2nd, the same campaign. He also laid the foundations for the subsequent success of Jose Mourinho, signing players such as Frank Lampard, William Gallas, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Claude Makelele and Hernán Crespo. As manager, Gianluca Vialli won an array of trophies, such as the League Cup, the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the European Super Cup, an FA Cup trophy and a third-place finish, finishing just four points behind champions Manchester United in 1998/99.
All in all, Italians and Chelsea have fit like a jigsaw piece together in the past—Zola, Di Matteo, as both a player and a manager, Ancelotti, the list goes on—and the man banked on replicating that success from over the years is Antonio Conte.
Some might say Conte is the type of coach Chelsea and Abramovich were yearning for back in 2013. A transitional period in the club’s history, moving on from the old guard, and flooding the side with the new. But Jose Mourinho got appointed instead—tasked with the objective of recreating the transition he engineered in his first spell at Chelsea with an array of new players back then, too. It worked for one season, but in hindsight, our collapse this campaign has further fuelled that Mourinho is just a quick-fix manager, and that his appointment in 2013 was not right for where the club wanted to go.
Conte has had experience in this type of role before, rebuilding Juventus after a turbulent period in their history. Chairman Bruce Buck’s expectations are clear from the off—saying that Conte will find at Chelsea “all he needs to maintain that high standard of achievement”.
Still, it won’t be easy. Conte inherits a squad in a bad condition, one with a sizeable amount of areas in need of serious bolstering.
At Juventus, he had powerful, energetic midfielders like Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio at his disposal. Conte employed his trademark 3-5-2, with Andrea Pirlo dictating the play from deep. Two of the three aforementioned midfielders—Pogba, Vidal, Marchisio—Conte planted just ahead of the Azzuri ace to maximize Pirlo’s effectiveness.
Cesc Fabregas is a suitable candidate for the playmaking role Pirlo carried out. But the lack of midfield powerhouses to supplement the Spaniard at Chelsea in this crop of players is staggering. The recent links to strong-runners Radja Naingolann and former Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal suggests Conte has already identified that this is an area in desperate need of strengthening. After all, he has the club’s full support in the transfer market.
Another question impending Conte’s arrival in England is whether his trademark 3-5-2 system can truly work in this country—a flexible shape which yielded Juventus unprecedented success under the Italian. Before we talk about that, let’s run through the basics of the formation.
Firstly, it is unique as it allows teams to continue to field two strikers of a traditional 4-4-2 shape, but it still offers the luxury of three midfielders and the width that the wing-backs provide.
The formation also works best against opposition with two strikers, primarily the 4-4-2. The use of three centre-backs allows two defenders to man-mark both forwards and the other to pick up any marauding attacking midfielder or simply just have the responsibility of carrying the ball forward, while the width that the wing-backs provide neutralizes any kind of threat from the wingers.
The extra man in the centre of the park up against a 4-4-2 can be very useful for keeping possession of the ball, whilst allowing one midfielder to find space and create opportunities for the two front men. Up front, one striker may drop deep whilst the other plays on the shoulder of the opposition defence.
However, it is weak against teams with a lone striker as the third defender becomes redundant. That could be a problem in the Premier League, as fielding a lone striker is becoming increasingly common.
If Conte wants to employ the 3-5-2 next season, it will need some serious work. For instance, a common aspect of a three-man defence is to have one defender, typically the one playing most central, who can bring the ball out from the back, join the midfield and have the confidence to pick out a pass—there is none of those type of defenders at Chelsea.
The wide midfielders/wing-backs are a key part of the 3-5-2, probably the most physically demanding role in the formation. The increasing pace in modern football has made it almost impossible to find two wing-backs with enough stamina to last for 90 minutes. It’s hard to see how it will work with the current full-backs/wide midfielders at Chelsea.
But the 3-5-2 is still a solid formation—with a high chance of succeeding in England and at Chelsea Football Club. Teams such as Juventus, Napoli and Udinese have successfully adapted it into a very effective formation. Barcelona, under Pep Guardiola, would often switch to a 3-5-2 when in possession and revert back to a back-four when the other team had the ball.
Still, there’s the possibility of Conte going for a 4-2-4 or a traditional 4-4-2—formations he used before his time at Juventus and as Italy manager. As Juventus manager, his original plan was to employ a 4-2-4/4-4-2, but he adapted to the players at his disposal.
With the good chance of the 3-5-2 succeeding, the option of a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-4, the past success of Italians at Chelsea, and the board’s full financial backing, it’s hard not to tip Conte for success at Stamford Bridge.
