Secret to Conte’s sweet success at Chelsea
ANTONIO CONTE has started importing his favourite throat lozenges from Italy to help smooth Chelsea’s move up the Premier League table. Conte is a vociferous coach and has yelled himself hoarse while transforming his team from the wreckage of their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal last month. His tactical changes, including a switch to a back-three, have been rewarded with four straight victories in the Premier League, with 11 goals scored and none conceded. Chelsea have moved to within one point of the top of the table, but the constant barrage of instruction has taken its toll on the 47-year-old’s voice. He has responded by shipping large bags of
Ambrosoli al Miele into London from his native Italy because they are not widely available in England. He goes through dozens of the small honey-flavoured sweets each day at the club’s training ground in Surrey and was spotted celebrating a 2-0 win at Southampton on Sunday by crunching one down just before the post-match interviews. Conte (right) revealed during Chelsea’s pre-season tour in the United States how his voice had suffered from stress at the start of his coaching career and he used a megaphone to get his message through to his players. Communication is central to the Conte method. He also joked about searching for sponsorship from a throat lozenge company. Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich will surely be happy to foot the bill for the soothing medication if Conte continues to improve his team. After crushing defeats against title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, he has inspired a fabulous recovery by changing the shape of the team. He has drilled the players into their new roles with a series of intensive double sessions on the training pitch and in front of the video analysis machines, taking advantage of Chelsea’s lack of European football this season. After winning at St Mary’s, he gave his players a two-day break before they return to plan for Saturday’s clash with Everton. Conte has said his side should not be judged until the New Year, but if they beat Ronald Koeman’s men and Manchester City fail to beat Middlesbrough, his side go top — with Arsenal and Tottenham to play on Sunday. Their fine form has led David Luiz to contradict his boss and insist Chelsea are gunning for the league.
‘We are title challengers,’ he said. ‘It is important to continue. If you sleep for one minute you start to lose and then you lose one, two, three matches.’