01 Feb 2018 11:04:51
It's funny seeing people debate over who's fault our current downfall is down to, Conte or the board? . It's pretty simple, It's both. Conte worked wonders last year with what he had at his disposal, nobody expected us to win the league and if we'd finished in the top 4 everyone would've considered that as a successful season, yes?
The change in formation and tactics took everybody in the league by surprise and everyone didn't know how to play against us. Add that with our players being in form throughout the whole season, little injuries and no European football to worry about, everything went perfectly. Into the summer and we expected a busy transfer window, with Costa wanting to leave as well as Matic.
I don't know if Conte and the board had previous issues between them before the summer, but the Costa fiasco was one that really created bad blood between them. People can debate whether it was right or wrong (personally i don't think it was right but i understood why) but it clearly put the board in a difficult situation. Then the rumours started spreading with Conte wanting more power within the club and being told no.
Again i have no information as to whether this happened or not but similar issues occured at his time at Juve which lead to him resigning. Of course because of what happened there, stories started spreading about him being ready to resign and go back to Italy. That was put to bed and he signed a new contract. But it wasn't an extension, just a new contract to give him more money.
That for me was an indication that Conte wasn't going to be here for the long run, especially if things took a turn. Along came our transfers. With Costa not coming back into the team despite not being able to leave for Athletico until January, we needed a new striker. Everything was pointing towards Lukaku coming back to the bridge, one that drew different opinions among us supporters. For me he would've been a little risk transfer, BPL proven and young.
But it didn't happen and he went to United despite an apparent last ditch effort from Chelsea. Apparently this was a signing the board wanted rather than Conte. In the end we got Morata, one that Conte wanted. This was a transfer i was excited about but was a risky one. A player who's never been a starting striker and would be new to the BPL. I said he'd need time, and it shows, i still think he'll come good as he has everything in his game bar composure.
It may take a while but it'll be something we as fans will need to accept. As for the rest of our transfer business, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Rudiger and Zappacosta were brought in. Each for the region of £25-£35m. These players enabled others like Chalobah, Ake, RLC ect to either leave on a permanent or a loan. We spent the entire summer replacing players and made no improvements to our starting 11.
People debated Bakayoko being an upgrade on Matic for a while but that's been put to bed. Nobody expected the poor start he's had but tbf to the guy he isn't the only one. So a summer of replacements but no improvements. Not to mention our bussiness was being done very late, one that was constantly brought up by Conte in every press conference, taking small digs at the board.
Once the season started we still didn't have Drinkwater or Zappacosta and Bakoyoko and Morata were injured. We got unlucky against Arsenal and against Burnley we completely capitulated after the sending off but nearly came back in the 2nd half. Once our team got together we started to win games and things looked good. When City came along and bossed us at the bridge it was clear to everyone our squad wasn't anywhere near good enough to compete anymore.
Teams learned how to play against us and players began to underperform. We began shipping in goals for fun and it lead to an outburst between Luiz and Conte after the Roma away game about our style of play. Now Conte is one who doesn't liked to be questioned by his players and his treatment towards him ever since has shown it.
Luiz isn't the best defender but he's a character, one who everyone in the team likes. So this treatment could clearly create a negative atmosphere among the squad, something which seems to have happened. Since then we've gone through games edging wins, dull draws and some very embarrassing losses. Teams now know how to play against us and we haven't had enough quality in the team to overcome it.
Conte has been a manager who has struggled to change styles and it's showing. We've kept playing the same formations (3-4-3 and 3-5-2) every game despite it not working. His decision making from starting line ups to substitutions have been questionable all season long and it's at a point now were people are becoming tired with it.
He's come out when being asked about this and has used lack of quality depth within the team and fixtures as his excuse, one that is understandable but frustrating, why frustrating? . Well everybody has called for youth to be given a chance, Musounda, RLC, Hudson-odoi, Kenedy. But because they don't suit his style and he finds it hard to trust youth, he doesn't use them. So because he doesn't use them and uses the same players over and over players become tired and fatigued. Players have been getting injured because of this and it's taken a big hit on our results.
That then puts pressure on our board to do business in January and we add depth. We bring in Barkley, Emerson and Giroud. All cheap but good squad players, BUT yet again, similar to the summer, no improvements. More players leave on loan due to not being in Conte's plans and have to be replaced. Other teams around us spent the summer AND now January to improve their teams.
We however have not. One could argue Christensen replacing Luiz is an improvement but it came because of the outburst. But surprise, Conte trusted a youth player and he delivered, so why not give others more chances instead of shipping them out and calling for reinforcements? Now here we are.
Conte and the board are putting up with one another until the summer at the very least unless results get even worse! . The atmosphere within the team is poor as players aren't performing, players are unhappy, and it seems as if the players already know Conte is off in the summer.
This would explain our little ambition in the window. Why spend big bucks on players our next manager may not want? Our squad is starting to come back now and Conte has his depth he's been shouting for. Once the team is back fully fit maybe we can get it together and find some form.
We have a good enough team to finish in the top 4 and maybe push for the FA cup. We have a lot of deadwood within our team and i feel we need to have a massive summer window to get rid off them and rebuild. This is why making the top 4 is even more important to be able to attract big enough players at the club.
To conclude my point, the board simply didn't do enough to get Conte's targets in the summer but wasn't helped with the amount of players that wanted out or wasn't wanted because of Conte. Because Conte didn't want to trust players like Ake, RLC, sterling and so on, it resulted in money being wasted on players like Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Emerson and so on.
This money could've easily been spent on players to improve this team but wasn't. Conte has been his own enemy in not having trust in youth players, being tactically inept to change styles when things aren't working and being too stubborn with his dealings on Costa and Luiz.
All that's left to say is that for now as fans we need to try and make it through this season getting behind the boys to get over this bump. The fan base is starting to become toxic and it simply won't help. Sorry for the long read but it was difficult to make my thoughts on this shorter. XD.
01 Feb 2018 12:21:54
Excellent comment and conveys your opinion well and as you know, ask ten people for an opinion and you would probably get ten different ones. I don't think toxic is the right word, frustration is better and I think there are two forms of frustration here. Firstly, we are all frustrated the way the team/ individual players are performing and there is no doubt you are correct, we are spending but just consolidating, not improving the squad and certainly the tension between Conte and the Board is impacting the players. I do think however that Conte has been found out to be tactically poor. The second frustration is 'here we are again' after a stellar year somehow we have managed to wreck any progress so that by 2018/ 2019 we will be building again. We need some continuity and that is the Board supporting a manager whoever it might be longer than twelve to twenty four months which means picking wisely, no more Grant or Scolaris of this world and of course that might prove difficult given the names we have been through since Mourinho's first stint; the players have to feel that if they join under a manager they admire they are not going to find themselves struggling under another within months. I would say that Luiz should be in the team in midfield displacing Baya-'waste of money'-koko and Morata, Giroud and Hazard upfront for the rest of the season if possible because outside the first four and our problems multiply.
01 Feb 2018 12:25:13
Good read mate.
Courtois
Azpi
Cahill
Hazard
Diego Costa
Willian
Fabregas
These 7 have played a lot in both our title winning campaigns. Do you think it was a mirracle that they won the league twice. I don't think so.
Both managers? Jose at the time said he won the league because the players were playing above their limits. Conte says last year was a mirracle given that the players played 120% and again more than their limits.
I thinks its unfair to to not give credit to the players. They won the league because they all are very good footballers and their past trophy houls would prove that (minus cahill) .
The team is good, maybe not as good as man city but surely this board/ conte fiasco has taken its toll.
Unless top 4 is acheived then we also have to come to terms with hazard no longer here too.
01 Feb 2018 16:32:41
C1955, yeah frustration is a better word. It was more towards on social media with the constant heated exchanges between fans. In fairness at the ground itself the atmosphere hasn't been too bad and majority of the fans are clearly behind Conte.
We've been in this situation before. Both under Ancelotti and Mourinho. Both have successful seasons and the board do very little to improve the team in the summer which inevitably costs us. It's a Merry go round and the only person that gets in trouble is the manager. But with Conte struggling to change this is why personally we he needs to move on. I'm a massive admirer of his but what he's doing simply isn't working anymore and there's been a bad relationship between him and the board for some time now. Get through this season and rebuild under a new manager but one that hopefully the board will back with tranfers a lot better than they have with Conte. Personally I'd love to see Luiz in the midfield besides Kante as he can offer more going forward and is better with the ball. We saw that against spurs at the start of the season but haven't used it since. I just feel with what happened between him and Conte he isn't going to be used as much anymore.
01 Feb 2018 16:54:31
CFCshark, we have a good core within this team.
Courtois
Azpi
Christensen
Kante
Hazard
Morata (when he's on it) .
The problem is everybody else around them pushed well above their weight last season and took everybody by surprise. Alonso, Moses, Pedro, Cahill, all these players had great seasons under the new formation and tactics and took everybody by surprise. Now with teams knowing how to play against us their lack of quality has been showing and they've been a big factor in our downfall. No doubt this team should still be good enough to atleast finish top 4 but now if we want to continue to compete, these players need moving on in the summer. I would even throw in Fabregas as he hasn't been the same all season and it getting on. The only positive about this is that hopefully next season with players coming back to the team it can allow the deadwood to move on easier. Hudson-odio for Pedro. Zouma for Cahill. RLC for Drinkwater or Fabregas. Tammy as well. Then we can focus on spending money on important areas to improve like our wing backs and wingers. We just need a new manager who would trust our youth and not call for needles squad depth.
02 Feb 2018 08:26:02
What I don’t understand is last season when we were losing a game, Conte would switch to 4 at the back in order to chase the game. This season as far as I’m aware he hasn’t done so. Instead he’s done pretty much like for like substitutions with perhaps the most attacking sub being Pedro as WB.