Catch Them If You Can! How Antonio Conte Turned Chelsea's Fortunes Around

On Saturday 13th August 2016 after all the hype, the world’s most popular league kicked off for another season. Over the summer England’s top tier sides accumulated a total of (EU) $1,386,595 in outgoing transfer fees, bringing in some of the biggest names in football. The Premier League also saw significant changes at the helm of the clubs, with 7 clubs bringing in new managers during the off-season. Most notably Manchester United bringing in former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, while Manchester City brought in Guardiola, formerly of Barcelona and FC Bayern, while Chelsea signed the charismatic Antonio Conte whom had previously managed Juventus and the Italian National Team. With the copious amounts of money being thrown around and some of the world class recruitment that had been on display around the league, it was shaping up to be one of the most tightly contested seasons in recent memory. Unfortunately Antonio Conte didn’t get the memo, with 9 games remaining Chelsea are sitting comfortably clear with 7 points separating them and second place Tottenham. So with this much money being utilized by numerous Premier League giants how did Chelsea manage to drive this far ahead of the pack?

Upon signing for Chelsea Conte made his intentions clear when conducting his first interview for his new club by saying “My ambition is to have more success to follow the victories I had in Italy”. In Conte’s most recent spell managing in Italy, his Juventus side won 3 consecutive Serie A titles, the third of which they won the title with a record 102 points. A tough act to follow, but the Italian had his sights set on matching that nonetheless. From that point onwards Conte got to work, piecing together the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that was Chelsea Football Club, a side which had won the league 2 seasons ago before an abysmal season in 2015/2016 where the team finished 10th. Conte observing the players he had inherited from his predecessor knew his squad was made up nearly entirely of Premier League winners, so how to get them to tick? Conte began by introducing 4 high profile signings over the summer in Belgian forward Michy Batshuayi, Premier League winner with Leicester the previous season N’golo Kante, Spanish full back Marcos Alonso as well as former Chelsea centre back, the Brazilian David Luiz. With the introduction of these players under Conte’s strict guidance, Chelsea was once again looking like a formidable force, ready to challenge for England’s most lucrative title.

In Conte’s previous stints in management, he has displayed a strong desire to win, a ruthless attitude towards taking out titles as well as an affectionate personality, which he keeps amongst his players in order to maintain high squad morale and help nurture the less established stars in the dressing room. Along with these definitive characteristics Conte also carried across his highly criticized 3-5-2 formation. A formation, which the British tabloids were quick to question due to the Premier League’s tremendously high intensity and competitive nature. The 3-5-2 formation allowed for Conte’s side to play with 3 disciplined centre backs, the positions of which have been nearly entirely occupied by Cesar Azpilacueta, Gary Cahill and David Luiz. In front of them lie 2 holding midfielders, whom more often than not are Serbian Nemanja Matic and summer signing N’Golo Kante. The role of which is to alleviate pressure coming through the middle of the park in order to diminish potential goal scoring chances against their last line of defense. Due to the 3-5-2 not playing with traditional full backs, Conte’s style plays with 2 wingbacks out wide. On the left plays Marcos Alonso and out on the right Victor Moses and Pedro have often been required to share the workload. These two players have a license to go, they play out wide with freedom both pacing up to provide width when going forward as well as tracking back to assist the centre backs when the opponents begin to overload the midfield and attack. Playing in the number 10 role sits a lone creative midfielder, which has been occupied by Spaniard Cesc Fabregas. Who gets to roam with freedom whilst looking to play off the other midfielders. He also looks to both create chances and offer support through the middle for the two forwards. Up front sits Belgian sensation Eden Hazard and goal scoring machine Diego Costa. Hazard on the left will often look to either come in deep and receive the ball at his feet to run at defenders, or check his run and get played in behind. He can also drift out wide and cut in on his preferred right foot as a natural winger. Costa on the other hand has a strong physical presence about him and will often look to bounce off the midfielders of get played into physical contests. Costa thrives off aerial contests and being allowed space to shoot in the area. Costa and Hazard providing Chelsea with impeccable diversity going forward which thrives accordingly off the abundance of chances which Fabregas is capable of creating in the creative midfield role.

The one defining characteristic of Chelsea’s season so far has been their consistency. Unlike their counterparts they have been able to keep their performances of the highest quality week after week. After an impressive start they faulted on match days 5 & 6 at the hands of Liverpool and Arsenal. After their initial stall Conte’s side went on to win 13 games in succession, including a 4-0 humiliation of Manchester United as well as a 5-0 annihilation of Everton. As a result Chelsea found themselves sitting 9 points clear after 19 games. Since then Chelsea have won 6 times from 10 games and are 7 points clear with 9 games to go. Should Chelsea continue accumulating points at the rate they have been throughout the 2016/2017 season then they will find themselves finishing on 90 points. A tally that only 5 out of the 21 title winning teams have managed since the Premier League season became 38 games in length back in 1995.

With Chelsea appearing the clear runaway champions even with 9 games left, where next for a side that is comfortably conquering England? With Champions League football a certainty for next season, Antonio Conte’s side has displayed the necessary characteristics required to become one of Europe’s most feared teams on a continental scale. In recent years, Premier League sides have failed to assert themselves as some of Europe’s most feared teams. There was a period between 2007 and 2009, where for 3 successive seasons, the Champions League had 3 out of a possible 4 semi-finalists England based. Since then the English sides have been cast out of that top tier with disappointing Champions League showings in recent years. With Conte’s Chelsea side turning heads world-wide, grabbing attention for their complete and utter domestic dominance, although the rest of the nation appears to still be lagging behind, it seems highly possible that this Chelsea side can prove itself to be one of Europe’s finest next season. Whether they will go all the way is a mystery, but statistically, there is no reason they can’t compete with the biggest names on the planet.