What Conte or ZZ would bring to Reds
DIFFERENT STYLES, BUT BOTH ARE PROVEN WINNERS
ANTONIO Conte encountered United six times as Chelsea coach and was victorious on four occasions, losing on both visits to Old Trafford.
The first, a 2-0 reverse in April 2017, was the tactical zenith of Jose Mourinho’s Reds reign. Mourinho rested Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan ahead of the Europa League knockout tie with Anderlecht and switched to a back three, with Ander Herrera stalking Eden Hazard and Marcus Rashford supported by Jesse Lingard in a fluid front two.
A back-three underpinned Chelsea’s championship success that season and Conte would almost certainly insist on a defensive trident if he were to be appointed by the Reds. It is hardly the mythical United way but, whatever that way is, it is outdated and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is certainly not preaching it.
Conte’s two-year tenure at Chelsea remains underrated. They won the title with 90 points in 2016-17 and salvaged the second season with a methodical FA Cup final win over United.
During his post-match press conference at Wembley, Mourinho said he was “quite curious for today, tomorrow, the next couple of days, to read, to watch, to listen to your opinions”.
The accurate implication was Chelsea were defensive-minded (United had 66 per cent possession) and content with defending Eden Hazard’s 22nd-minute penalty conversion as United were without their injured figurehead Romelu Lukaku.
Mourinho had already been dismissive of Marcus Rashford’s credentials as a stand-in and he squandered openings in each half. Antonio Rudiger was the man of the match.
With the majority of United supporters clamouring for managerial change, the analysis of Conte is blindly positive. He is clearly a superior coach than Solskjaer and he has the drive and clout to compete with Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel.
Conte has triumphed with Inter, Chelsea and Juventus and his former Juve team-mate, Zinedine Zidane, won as many European Cups as a coach in three years as United have in their history. Between them, they hold four Italian titles, two Spanish titles, and an English title.
Both are out of work and high up on bookies’ chalkboards to replace
Solskjaer. Both also have an affinity with Paul Pogba as he approaches the last eight months of his United contract.
A playing source familiar with the methods of Conte and Zidane has detailed the stark difference in their approach. At Chelsea, Conte would sit players down and make them study hours of footage of the opposition, which ‘bored the s**t’ out of them.
Zidane, in contrast, would show the Real Madrid players around 15 minutes of footage on the team coach as they travelled to the stadium and even that did not happen on every matchday. Madrid players felt Zidane’s approach reflected his unflustered playing style.
Some figures at United are ‘not keen’ on Conte, who has his own reservations about the club’s structure. Conte nor Zidane have been contacted about replacing Solskjaer.
Conte had not identified United as his next potential destination due to the three-year contract Solskjaer was rewarded in July.
However, the Norwegian’s position is becoming increasingly untenable.