Antonio’s Conte first pre-season at Chelsea has been one of mixed emotions so far. The first game of the Conte era ended in a disappointing 2-0 loss to Rapid Vienna, but the Blues bounced back and defeated RZ Pellets 3-0 in Klagenfurt on Wednesday. The former Premier League champions concluded their pre-season tour of Austria with an 8-0 thrashing of Austrian minnows on Thursday, which was behind closed doors.
All in all, it has been an exciting pre-season for Chelsea fans so far with the new man in charge. The club have desperately lacked any real sort of identity in recent years and it looks like Conte is trying to build one. The same youth products that the supporters have been pleading the club to give a chance to over the past couple of months have sparkled under the tutelage of the Italian in Austria.
There is still plenty of work for the three-time Serie A champion to do. There’s still plenty of dross in our ranks and, believe it or not people, a new manager won’t make them world-beaters. He’s a great manager—but not a miracle worker.
Chelsea still need a couple of more signings and the manager has publicly stated that the club will make those in his first press conference. According to Matt Law or The Telegraph, Conte is looking to add four more additions to his ranks—a No.9 in the form of Alvaro Morata or Romelu Lukaku, Antonio Candreva if the club is forced to sell Juan Cuadrado, one of Kalidou Koulibaily, Kostas Manolas or Victor Lindelof for the back-line, and Diego Lopez if Asmir Begovic departs.
The Blues have now flown out to America, and they will participate in the International Champions Cup to face Liverpool in Pasadena, Real Madrid in Michigan and AC Milan in Minneapolis. They will then fly back to London where they will face Werder Bremen at Stamford Bridge in the final pre-season game, a couple of days before they open their Premier League season against West Ham.
Here’s part one of three things we’ve learned from our pre-season so far…
It’s gonna be a 4-2-4
It’s probably as clear as day now that Antonio Conte is to implement a swashbuckling, attack-minded 4-2-4 in the upcoming season, a system he used at Italian clubs Bari and Sienna, both clubs he guided to promotion from Serie B.
Conte utilised the 4-2-4 against RZ Pellets WAC on Wednesday and against Rapid Vienna last Saturday, where Chelsea used the system when in possession. When Pellets had the ball, the two wingers would drop deeper, in line with the central midfielders, thus creating a 4-4-2. It was a 4-4-1-1 when Rapid Vienna had possession last Saturday, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek slotting just in behind Diego Costa and providing that extra man in trying to retain the football.
An unorthodox shape implemented by Conte during his stint at Bari, 4-2-4 requires two midfielders with skill and an incredible amount of fitness, performing both tasks of being an attacker and defender, playing as a half-back. A more attack-minded 4-4-2, the shape consists of four defenders, two centre-halves and two full-backs, two midfielders and four forwards—two strikers and two wingers.
Chelsea midfielder Oscar has revealed that the plan is for the Blues to use 4-2-4 in the upcoming Premier League season.
Oscar, who played alongside Nemanja Matić in a 4-2-4 midfield pairing against RZ Pellets WAC, said that Conte implemented the formation through double training sessions in Austria. “The idea is to play 4-2-4. We tried this every day in training—we’re getting better,” the Brazilian told the Daily Mail.
It makes sense. If we’re being totally honest, it suits the current crop of players more than three-at-the-back does.
In his very first press conference, Conte stated that he doesn’t shoehorn his players into a formation that doesn’t suit, or for that matter, doesn’t fit the dress. “I evaluate the right positions for my players. When I was in Italy, I liked to say that the manager is like the tailor who must build the right dress for the team,” the Italian said at his unveiling. “You have to respect their characteristics, their talent and then you decide.”
The defence is still very bad: and that’s a nice way of putting it
Chelsea conceded 53 in goals in 2015/16. 53. For the record, that’s more than Crystal Palace’s 51, West Bromwich Albion’s 48, Watford’s 50, Swansea City’s 52 and West Ham’s 51.
With a new manager, the same old problems arise. The current central defenders at the club are nowhere near sufficient enough for Conte to achieve his aims. Conte, who had the trio of Bonucci, Barzagli and Chiellini to lean on whenever his Juventus or Italy sides were in trouble, doesn’t have the confidence to play 3-5-2 at Chelsea because of the centre-backs at his disposal.
Thankfully, Conte has identified it as an area in need of strengthening. Kalidou Koulibaily has been linked to Chelsea all summer, as has Kostas Manolas, whilst the Blues are ready to table a £25m bid for Benfica defender Victor Lindelof, according to sources in Portugal. Lazio centre-back Stefan de Vrij is also a name being mentioned.
This pre-season, the Italian has tested a pairing of ever-present John Terry and Papy Djilobodji at the back—rather by force than choice. It’s been pretty bad, with Terry too immobile and sluggish, alongside Djilobodji who, to be fair, is actually very good on the ball and is one of the better defenders at Chelsea, still needs some refinement.
Although he offers those leadership qualities, Terry is not the player he once was and needs to be paired with a better central defender to make up for that maligned lack of pace. Kurt Zouma, the best centre-back at Chelsea in my opinion, is mobile and strong. But if you pair him with a centre-back other than Terry—then you have an XI with no real leaders or characters. And the centre-backs linked, all 25 or under, have barely any idea to lead a squad.
The central defenders, albeit the biggest, are not the only problems in defence. Branislav Ivanovic has been a solid servant to Chelsea since his arrival several years ago but he has been making unnecessary mistakes far too regularly in the past three seasons and made a dreadful error leading to Rapid Vienna’s second goal last Saturday. Cesar Azpilicueta, as sound as he is defensively, will struggle offensively in the attack-minded 4-2-4.
Most of our fans’ summer shopping lists don’t include a new right-back, which is strange, because it is one of the squad’s biggest weaknesses at the moment.
Maybe too early to judge, but Hazard won’t work out wide in a 4-2-4
Antonio Conte is a charismatic, demanding, intelligent figure, who is great tactically. But he is a very strict coach—his players at Juventus had to make sacrifices and adapt to a very strict diet. Hardworking players could get more minutes than stars because in Conte’s shape, he is not hesitant to slate those who are underperforming, simply not good enough for his standard or don’t suit his style or the system.
So far in pre-season, Willian and Victor Moses have been the wingers in Conte’s 4-2-4/4-4-2—the 4-4-2 when in defence is solid, requiring an incredible amount of energy and work-rate from the wide players.
Eden Hazard is an immensely talented footballer, undoubtedly the best player at Chelsea, but there’s a chance Conte could acknowledge the system over the quality the Belgium possesses. Conte isn’t stupid, he knows it’d be absurd to bench Hazard and the decision would trigger a huge backlash from the fanbase; that’s why the role as a second striker would make so much more sense.
With Moses and Willian, they offer plenty of width in the 4-2-4; instead of picking up the ball and cutting inside, they’ve hugged the touchline whenever Chelsea have had the ball. Hazard would do the opposite, roaming inside, clogging space in the 18-yard-box with two strikers prowling, two midfielders venturing forward, combined with the possibility of the other winger adding to the traffic jam.
The Belgian is a wonderful player, but needs to play, ideally, as a second striker, not a winger. But it’s Conte’s decision, not mine.
