Conte revives Chelsea with blend of logic and passion

Italian has prospered at Stamford Bridge through laying down rules, hard work and tactical flexibility

Pre-season training at Chelsea, and the messages from the new manager Antonio Conte were clear – and delivered in English. In fact all the Italian’s ultraprofessional coaching staff have been ordered to speak only in English around the Cobham training ground even though, for Conte, it has been exhausting at times to explain himself in the language.

But it is part of the clarity and precision that this most demanding of coaches insists upon. Nothing is left to chance. Every decision is analysed, explained and backed up with detailed evidence – from video clips to medical data. It is the cold, but polite, logic that complements his fiery touchline passion and a temper that can be volcanic.

There is another clear rule and another simple one: players will play only if deemed fit – as has been witnessed by John Terry’s delayed return to the team – and will play only on merit. And the manager listens intently to Chelsea’s medical and fitness staff and pores over their updates.

It is because, above all, the players have to work hard. Very hard. “Always stay in the game,” Conte has told them. Except Chelsea were not in the game. A draw away to Swansea City was followed by the damaging home defeat to Liverpool and then another, crushing, loss away to Arsenal. By late September there were growing concerns that Chelsea might be slipping out of contention – they were eighth and eight points adrift of Manchester City – and Conte had seen enough.

He nodded his head vigorously on Friday lunchtime when it was put to him that those two losses were the seachange in the season. “The message was very clear,” he said. “When you arrive at the one point where you see that every game you concede goals and many chances to score other goals, it means you have to change something.

“For this reason I changed it. I try to give more balance offensively and defensively. This happened. Also because I see that the players enjoy this type of football, this system.”

“This system” is the 3-4-3 approach which many believed would be Conte’s default position when he arrived in the Premier League after adopting it so successfully at Juventus and with the Italian national team. But it was only as he stood on the touchline at the Emirates, watching with increasing frustration as Arsenal humiliated Chelsea, that he decided to turn to it.

“We must look in our own house for the problem,” Conte said after that match and, on Friday, he explained what he then did. “The first two weeks we worked a lot, above all the first week because we changed it after Arsenal, before Hull City [the next game],” Conte said. “Then there was the international break. Then we started to work very hard.” Conte’s anger was fuelled partly because he recognised it was his mistake.

“I must be honest, because we started our season in my idea,” he said. “There was another system and because at the start I wanted to play with 4-2-4 with two forward roles and two wingers. Then when I saw we didn’t find the right balance, I tried to change 4-3-3, to play with midfield more. Then I change to 3-4-3.

“3-4-3 was an alternative with 4-2-4. When we prepare the season, together with the club, the club knew my idea and the first idea was 4-2-4, the second idea was 3-4-3. I knew that these type of players, the system is perfect for them. I repeat: I started in my mind, in my idea, to try to play 4-2-4.”

The lack of European football, with Chelsea not involved, then helped. Conte could work the players hard tactically. He had more time on the training pitches for pattern-of-play drills and, interestingly, he worked them physically as well. As he whipped them into shape on the pitch – literally dragging players into position – his fitness staff worked them in the gym. The squad was split in two – half with the manager, another with the conditioning coaches. And then they swapped.

There were key changes in personnel, also. Injuries to Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic helped in changing the line-up while Willian and Oscar were given compassionate leave – also a sign of Conte’s maturity – and returned to Brazil. It meant opportunities emerged for the energetic Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, with Pedro getting his chance further forward.

The results were transformative. Chelsea were fitter than last season, and with Eden Hazard injury-free and relieved of many of his defensive duties, and with Diego Costa focused and hungry – not least because there was Michy Batshuayi putting pressure on him for his place – the team had their match-winners back.

Chelsea head to Middlesbrough today having won five league games in a row – scoring 16 goals and, remarkably, conceding none – since the formation change which has also given the players a mental boost. They believe in it. Since Hull away, with the introduction of the back three, there has just been one alteration, with Pedro in for Willian.

“I like to see my players always involved in the project, in the idea of football, when we are playing,” Conte said. “Always stay in the game.” For example, he has drummed into Hazard to “be a point of reference for his team-mates”.

Will it last? Given that Conte, over a couple of lunches with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, has already indicated that the squad need an overhaul in the next two transfer windows, then it would suggest he thinks not. Abramovich is understood to have agreed, and while Chelsea’s upturn in form may convince some at the club that they can make do with what they have got, the manager’s hand has been strengthened by the way he has handled things.

Finally, Conte does not chastise or upbraid in the way Jose Mourinho did and when they are away from the club the players are left alone. It all means that Chelsea are in good shape.