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Will Antonio Conte succeed at Chelsea?
It was a winning start against a mediocre to poor West Ham side, and while Conte looks passionate and astute as a coach, the performance did not look convincing at all.
Oscar and Pedro need showing the door, Fabregas retained for his sublime assists, and another world class midfielder is needed. Someone in the mould of Joao Mario, a tough attack minded player.
The club also need a full back and a centre back very quickly. The signings should have been completed earlier, and I can only see the club maybe scraping into the top four, unless the squad is significantly strengthened.
It seems that the board are going to play a big part in whether Conte succeeds or not, and the Manchester clubs are way ahead when it comes to signing transfer targets.
Oscar and Pedro need showing the door, Fabregas retained for his sublime assists, and another world class midfielder is needed. Someone in the mould of Joao Mario, a tough attack minded player.
The club also need a full back and a centre back very quickly. The signings should have been completed earlier, and I can only see the club maybe scraping into the top four, unless the squad is significantly strengthened.
It seems that the board are going to play a big part in whether Conte succeeds or not, and the Manchester clubs are way ahead when it comes to signing transfer targets.
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Getting back into the Champions League?
Winning a cup??
Once that is settled, then we can better gauge if he will or might be a success or not.
Who needs enemies
It will take some time just as it will at City.
Conte needs two transfer windows minimum to build his own team.
The club have wanted to be at the pinnacle in recent years, and a problem more recently is not being willing to strengthen the squad when needed. Also hanging onto players that aren't quite good enough. Maybe the board are just aiming for the top four. Conte is a winner, and he will want to win the league and even the CL. Therein lies a possible problem..
http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/08/important-additions.html
Pretty much this.
Chelsea's problems over the years, despite the huge investment, have been largely of their own making. The only manager they have ever been willing to commit time to is Mourinho - and even then that comes with caveats. Anybody and everybody else is treated as highly disposable.
If Chelsea are outside the top four at Christmas, the sad and unfortunate reality is that Conte will be facing the sack, rather than given the time he needs.
I think we may actually give him a bit longer than others have got but in all honesty you are right, he won't get time to build something if it doesn't go well.
Not sure tbh.
By the way your inbox is full.
1st part: A couple more signings which I'm sure he'll make and Chelsea will win something this season. He's top drawer and they don't have CL distractions.
2nd part: Not any more - but be quick. I think a holiday is imminent ;-)
I'm fairly confident that Chelsea will do better than last season, but it's hard to imagine we could do any worse ! I think Conte will get another season providing we stay in contention, but top 6 will be a minimum requirement. It may depend on any signings we make in the next couple of weeks. If Emenalo & Co can't land the players Conte is looking for, could he really be blamed if we miss out in a top 4 finish ?
If no quality defenders come in during the next couple of weeks then we can forget the top 4 i think. It will be top 6 at best.
This is a match when I don't think the manager would have picked Terry and Cahill. It would have been one of them plus the new CB. Conte knows there is not nearly enough pace at the back with Terry and Cahill together and virtually no room to play a higher line which limits the team tactically.
Watching Man Utd v Southampton last night, Mata was outstanding in disturbing the ball very quickly and accurately. In a different class to Oscar and Willian there. I'm well aware that both of those players are working very hard for the team. Willian always runs well, and so does Oscar when the spotlight's on him. The team need quicker and more accurate distribution though if they are going to create clear chances, and for all the possession against West Ham, there were few clear chances created.
If you watch Willian closely, he takes far too long to distribute the ball from the right usually, and by the time he does, the opposition are ready and set. Cuadrado needs to be challenging for his position, and given the right backing could do very well.
Scraping wins can be dangerous, because those slight wins can quickly turn into draws and then defeats. The team is looking good, but not good enough yet to challenge for the PL.
what an assasination of our best player last season. ridiculous
Willian did improve a bit last season and was at least more positive with a bit more end product to his game, but still not enough for my liking. Still too much running and not enough goals or creativity. Same with Oscar!
Early days, but it looks like we are yet again going to rely far too heavily on Hazard and Costa for creativity and goals.
Conte having a whinge about the crazy prices for medium level talent going for £55 million. He is dead right about that! But, the hard reality is Chelsea have to stump up or get left behind.
Its the old arsenal problem.
is it really worth spending 200 million just to finish second?
Its probably not but on the other hand if you dont there is no way the title will be won. Arsenal have made their choice based on non football reasons and its ended up costing them titles on the pitch. They have thrown the towel in as far as ambition is concerned.
conte not doing bad