Can this Italian coach be a success at Chelsea?

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Since the dismissal of Jose Mourinho in December many have been speculating who his eventual successor at Chelsea will be. Various names were linked but following the news that Carlo Ancelotti will be replacing Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich and with Pep choosing the Manchester City job there are not many other candidates. Diego Simeone was another name that was doing the rounds but there was no interest from the Argentine who continues to impress at Atletico Madrid. However, it has very recently been reported that the man to take the Stamford Bridge hot-seat will be current Italian national team coach Antonio Conte.

Since Mourinho’s dismissal, Chelsea fans have seen a vast improvement in performances under the tutelage of Guus Hiddink with the Dutchman always able to motivate players even in the worst situations. He admitted that within the first 20 minutes of seeing Chelsea he had identified the problem and in an ideal world he would be Chelsea’s next permanent manager but has already confirmed has will not be extending his stay past this season. “I have put two dates in my mind. The 25th and 28th of May, then it’s finished and I can go home on the 29th,”.

Would Conte be a good fit for Chelsea?

It is hard not to be impressed with Conte’s CV, all be it a CV that has completely revolved around Italian football. He is a hard task master and that is something that Chelsea may not necessarily want following the implosion of Mourinho’s second spell at Stamford Bridge.

As a player, Conte won all there was to win at Juventus; five Serie A titles, Champions League, Uefa Cup, Coppa Italia and four Italian Super Cups. He worked under the commanding presence of Marcelo Lippi who is one of the most respected coaches in Italian football history, he has a great pedigree and there is no reason to expect him to fail in English football.

The 46-year old Italian has also earned plaudits on the other side of the touchline as he brought the glory days back to Juventus. After five years of not winning a trophy,  Conte started as he meant to go on by winning the first Scudetto in his first season (2011-12), and he then at “the old lady” by retaining the trophy in both 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

It was not just about silverware for Conte though as the club were dominant in his tenure. He equaled Fabio Capello’s 28 game unbeaten run which was set back in 2006 and also had some big wins which included a 5-0 demolition of rivals Fiorentina in 2012.

There have been obvious comparisons to former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Conte, like Mourinho, is obsessed with tactics and they have a very similar management style. They are both highly animated individuals and not forgetting they are both controversial personalities.

What challenges lay ahead for Conte?

How Conte approaches English football will be an interesting one. At present he does not speak English which should be of concern to Chelsea fans. It is understood that he is currently undergoing English lessons but former England boss Fabio Capello has already warned him “he will need to speak English fluently to be a success at Chelsea”.

The second issue could be the system. Conte in his management career has tinkered with various formations ranging from his preferred 3-5-2 at Juventus to his unorthodox 4-2-4. Don’t be surprised to see him deviate from formations in the first few months but he will settle on a 3-5-2, he always has.

As Premier League teams have predominately chosen a back four, it would be intriguing to see how the Chelsea players adapt to that. In his favoured 3-5-2 he would surround his three man midfield with wing backs who will be expected to get up and down the pitch all game. This also allowed Andrea Pirlo license to create from a deep lying midfield position, something that may not work easily with the high intensity of the Premier League. He would use two box-to-box midfielders to intensify the midfield and add more support to his front two. At Juventus, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio were used to supplement the attack and give defensive support to Pirlo.

This worked incredibly well in Serie A but Conte failed to impress in the Champions League and that is something Roman Abramovich may be concerned by.

This appointment will mostly be a case of trial and error, Conte knows very little about the English game but with the Italian being methodical in his attention to detail he could well be a success at Stamford Bridge.

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