City boss full of praise for a ‘master tactician’
ANTONIO Conte didn’t even get a proper goodbye from Chelsea as the club that specialises in sackings finally announced his departure with a curt statement after letting speculation ping around the web for a day.
If the Italian will not receive due credit for his work from the place he worked for two years, Pep Guardiola will not forget his contribution.
It was Conte that the Catalan namechecked as a ‘master tactician’ in his opening press conference as City manager when all were trying to drum up a Mourinho tete-a-tete, and it was Conte that left both superstar coaches in the shade as he eased to the Premier League title in his first season.
However ugly the divorce ended at Stamford Bridge, there will be relief from the inner sanctums of the Etihad that Guardiola does not have to measure himself against Conte once more.
“What Antonio has done here in the Premier League, maybe the people don’t realise,” he said as City bulldozered their way to the title last season.
“He introduced another way to attack with five at the back, another system, a lot of teams, even Arsenal, had to do a lot of imitating to do that.
“Tactically he is a master, he did it amazingly with the national team with Italy and when he went to Turin. I think Conte is going to leave something to English football. I’m sure of that.”
But from one Italian fire comes an Italian frying pan in the form of Maurizio Sarri. The cigar-smoking Tuscan is a canny operator and produced devastatingly beautiful football last season at Napoli that came closer than anyone else to matching City.
Having fought Aurelio De Laurentiis and lost this year, the veteran coach will do well to avoid sparring with Roman Abramovic and following the same explosive journey that every Chelsea manager seems to.
But if he can recreate the stormy best of his Napoli side he will threaten City’s supremacy – especially with Guardiola’s primary mid- field target Jorginho sitting in his XI. United and Liverpool are the teams seen as most likely to challenge the Blues, given they came closest (while not coming close at all) to top spot last year and Arsenal’s first signings under Unai Emery do not scream at a title tilt, but Chelsea will be wildcards under Sarri. One thing Guardiola will not be is unprepared. The serial winner Pep Guardiola on outgoing Chelsea boss Antonio Conte bested him twice last season in the Champions League, knows well the style of football he can expect, and has been relishing the prospect of locking horns again for some time.
“‘If he comes to England, it would be a pleasure,” he said in May.
“For somebody like me, who loves watching games at home on the sofa, Napoli are spectacular and his brand of football is a joy to watch. Often a coach is judged on wins, but you’ve also got to look at the shape as well as the substance – Sarri had Empoli and Napoli playing great football, and he did a fantastic job.”