Supreme manager has healed a fractured club
LIFE was a bit different on Saturday, September 24. Half-time at the Emirates, wondering whether to bother with the rest of the game with Chelsea 3-0 down at Arsenal or just head straight to the pub for a moan.
It seemed like all the problems of last season had returned. Players who didn’t look competent or interested, and had been taken apart by a hated rival. Little did we know what was happening in our team’s dressing room. Antonio Conte, furious with his players, switched to the now-famous 3-4-3 system. Chelsea didn’t concede another league goal for two months.
Quite apart from the tactics, the spirit he has fostered at the club has set the tone for the season. So many trips this season have ended with our Italian manager fistpumping in front of a packed away end. So many goals at Stamford Bridge have been celebrated by him highfiving fans.
That’s why the loudest chant at the Hawthorns, and at every game this season, has been ‘Antonio, Antonio…’
He has brought a fractured club and its supporters back together.
That mentality is clear to see in the players as well. The tactical system has worked so well because every man is committed to his role, and performs it like he would die for the cause.
Victor Moses being brought back into the fold, an unfancied buy like Marcos Alonso being one of the best players in the run-in, our favourite son John Terry being eased out of the team and still being delighted — this is management on a supreme level.
That Michy Batshuayi, who has barely got a lookin this season, scored the title-winning goal proves this point. The celebrations showed just how pleased everyone was for a player who has found it tough to make his mark. A team that couldn’t have looked more divided last season look like they would do anything for each other.
It has definitely been one of my favourite seasons supporting Chelsea, and almost certainly my favourite Premier League title win since the first in 2005. Above all others, we have one man to thank.