Column: Antonio Conte has given Chelsea a season worth celebrating
Under normal circumstances, attending the holiday office party isn’t considered a particularly noble act. But when you’re the head coach of the Chelsea Football Club, there are no such things as “normal circumstances.”
So when Antonio Conte became the first manager in six years to show up and share a toast with the team’s receptionists, secretaries and security personnel earlier this month, it was the latest in a series of departures from the diva-esque Jose Mourinho, the man who preceded him.
Last December, office workers did their best to avoid eye contact with Mourinho, less the self-proclaimed “Special One” fly off in a rage. This year Conte spent two hours smiling for selfies in front of the Christmas tree.
The locker room Mourinho left behind was riven by division and cliques, leaving players wary of their teammates. The new coach encouraged them to relax with a beer after games and organized regular dinners for his players and staff, a bonding exercise that has created trust.
But perhaps the biggest change has come on the field. A year ago the team awoke on Christmas morning 15th in the 20-team English Premier League, four points out of the relegation zone after winning just two of its previous eight games and without a permanent manager following the sacking of Mourinho.
This Sunday, Chelsea awoke atop the table, six points clear of the field.
A victory over Bournemouth on Monday would give Chelsea 12 consecutive wins, the longest EPL winning streak in 14 years and one shy of the single-season record. And with 14 wins in his first 17 games, Conte is already off to the most successful start for a rookie manager in EPL history.
“I am not a person who loves statistics,” Conte said. “But I would be dishonest if I said I wasn’t pleased with this run.”
It would also be dishonest to say the streak is anything but a massive surprise to both the club and its coach.
Conte’s hiring eight months ago was a bit of a gamble for mercurial Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has made 13 coaching changes in 13 years. And in tabbing the Italian, Abramovich chose a man who had never coached or played a club game outside his native country, had a formidable temper and was facing charges in a match-fixing scandal back home -- accusations of which he was eventually acquitted.
But Conte, 47, also had a well-deserved reputation for turning around underperforming teams, having guided seventh-place Juventus to three straight Serie A crowns before coaching the Italian national team to the quarterfinals of last summer’s European Championship.
With Chelsea, he was expected to take a squad little changed from the one that finished closer to relegation than a title last year and make it into a contender. Halfway into the season, he’s exceeded those expectations.
Some of the credit for that goes to defender David Luiz, who wasn’t even in England when the season started. But on the final day of August, Chelsea landed the Brazilian on a $42-million transfer from Paris Saint-Germain and less than a month later, after his team gave up five goals in consecutive EPL losses to Liverpool and Arsenal, a frustrated Conte placed the versatile Luiz in the heart of an unusual 3-4-3 formation.
Chelsea hasn’t lost a league match since.
With Luiz flanked by fellow center backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill on the back line and holding midfielder N’Golo Kante clogging up the passing lanes in front of them, Chelsea’s defense has been all but impenetrable, posting nine shutouts and giving up the fewest shots in the league during the team’s 11-game winning streak.
That’s allowed forwards Diego Costa and Eden Hazard to push forward, combining for 14 goals since Oct. 1 and helping Chelsea outscore opponents 25-2 over that span.
“The manager must be a tailor. It’s a question of finding the right fit,” said Conte, who tried three other formations before settling on the 3-4-3, an alignment used, with varying degrees of success by Everton, West Ham and Jurgen Klinsmann’s U.S. national team in recent years. “It wasn’t easy to find my players’ characteristics before I changed formation.”
Nor will it be easy to main that success. Not only will Conte play Monday without Costa and Kante, both of whom are serving suspensions, but Chelsea hasn’t faced any team twice during its winning streak. When those teams get a second look at Conte’s misshapen lineup, they’ll certainly have made adjustments.
Still, Chelsea has some advantages going forward. By virtue of its horrible season a year ago, the Blues are one of just two teams in the top seven of the EPL who haven’t had to play in either the Champions League or Europa League this fall, leaving its roster far fresher heading into the second half of the season.
Plus the teams chasing Chelsea have all shown potentially fatal flaws. Although Liverpool has scored in bunches – its 41 goals lead the EPL – its defense is suspect and can be exploited. At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has struggled to force his style of play on a talented team that, at times, has seemed unwilling – or unable --- to adapt. And Arsenal, a perennial bridesmaid the last 12 seasons under Coach Arsene Wenger, has begun another midseason swoon, losing more games in the last two weeks than it did in the previous four months.
Chelsea, on the other hand, seems to win even when it loses. With the transfer window opening next week, the Blues are preparing to say good-bye to reserve midfielder Oscar, who is jumping to Shanghai SIPG of the Chinese Super League. But the transfer fee is expected to be a Chinese-record $75 million, giving Chelsea more than enough cash to strengthen an already deep roster. Among those said to have interest in joining Conte’s squad is Colombian star James Rodriguez, who has been told he is free to leave Real Madrid in January.
“We can improve,” Conte said. “You can always improve in different aspects.”
Yet the manager, aware only one team in the past seven seasons has failed to win the EPL title after leading the standings on Christmas Day, continues to take the schedule a game at a time.
“I prefer not to look at the table at this moment. Either me or the players,” he said in a heavy Italian accent. “It’s important to do that at the end of the season. For now, it’s more important to take the three points and continue to progress.”
Twitter: @kbaxter11
