Humble Beginnings: New Blog and Conte's Chelsea (so far)

As many of my family and friends will say, soccer is a huge part of who I am... yes I'm that guy in his 20s that rocks his favorite team's jersey even when it isn't gameday. I'm also the kind of person that hates writing, so yes it is odd that I have decided to start writing my thoughts on Chelsea to the public. With that being said, let's see how this project goes because live tweeting just isn't cutting it.

Now to the point of this blog, Chelsea FC. How exciting has this past month under Conte been? The manager has changed fans' perspective of the club, its players, and the team's expectations in just a matter of weeks as the team's boss. I was initially worried about his prolonged stay with the Italian national team during the Euros, but to see the mediocre squad of the Azurri compete and succeed against Europe's big teams was refreshing. It showed how big Conte's impact can be on the players. They truly fought for each other like family, something the 10th place Chelsea team desperately lacked last season. Conte has never been an EPL manager, but he has dealt with similar situations. He's guided 2nd division teams in Italy to the top-tier within a season and also kept Juventus on top of Serie A for three years in a row if I'm not mistaken. The premier league may be a whole new monster on paper, but Conte has the qualifications to succeed.

Upon his arrival to the bridge, Conte was quick to sign N'Golo Kante, an absolute machine in the center of the pitch, and Michy Batshuayi, a prospect that reminds scouts of another young raw talent from Marseille that became the King in Didier Drogba. Of course his work is not completely done yet, as Conte confirms the team is still looking for more signings... I swear if we don't sign a quality CB this season after letting Stones go to City.  But I digress, the transfer window is open for about a week, and usually the last days are always the busiest. We'll most likely be looking for center back - Chiellini and Koulibaly are both in our radar, a left back - the German Jonas Hector is now a target, and one more option up top - Madnzukic seems to be that guy after Lukaku extended his time with Everton

Chelsea is two games into their (mostly domestic) season, and have come out on top both times with late game heroics from the forever-angry Diego Costa. Conte played with a variety of formations during the preseason, keeping us fans guessing on what sort of line-up we would see on opening day against West Ham. The 4-3-3 on paper provides the most cover for our not so mobile back four, and Conte seems to think this will be the formation Chelsea will go with moving forward. The formation does not come as a surprise as Conte said he would choose his tactics based on the personnel, and a back 3 was never going to be the way to go. Surprisingly he has opted for Oscar in the midfield trio instead of Cesc Fabregas, which has caused much turmoil as now "silly season" thirsty newspapers are claiming that our magician is on his way out due to not starting for two games. The bigger surprise to me is that our two victories have actually been a direct effect of switching to a 4-4-2 during both games.

While the 4-3-3 has turned Chelsea into a more possession minded team - yes that's right, Chelsea FC has lead in the possession stats against both opponents this season I'm just as shocked as everyone else. And while it has been nice to see our players controlling the ball for most of the game it has come to the detriment of creativity in the final third. While this may be more related to Cesc sitting on the bench, the point is that the team looks like they forgot how to score. Both games so far have shown glimpses of creativity going forward, but thats only when Hazard has the ball at his feet. Yes, he's a world-class talent but John Terry said it himself, we cannot depend of Eden to do all the goal-scoring on his own. Here's where the 4-4-2 is different. When we switch to two men up front Chelsea puts fear in the opponents' backline. Chelsea moves forward quickly and with purpose in this system, this became real obvious in the win against Watford when the team needed two goals in 20 minutes and sealed the victory by the 86th minute. Michy and Diego up top together has benefitted both big men. In less than a half's worth of playing time "Bats" has made an instant impact by providing a game winning assist in his first game and a tying goal in the second. Diego Costa was at his absolute best at Atleti when he had a partner in crime - yes the pun is completely intended because by no means is Costa a good guy. Both of his goals this season have come when the center backs can't focus their complete attention on the Spaniard. He's already a handful when he's the lone striker, I'm now completely behind Conte in believing Costa can reach 30 goals with Michy by his side.

But the men who will be responsible for making the 4-4-2 work are Matic and Kante, because in my opinion our 4-4-2 needs Fabregas. When he's on his game Fabregas is second to none when it comes to passing and putting the offense in a good scoring situation, he is second to none in the key pass and assist category since arriving to the bridge two seasons ago. He needs to be on the field for Chelsea to pick apart the sides that park the bus and even teams who have quality CBs. So if Fabregas is the offensive spark why are Matic and Kante more important? Simple, Cesc is a pedestrian when it comes to defense. Matic or Kante need to be the workhorses beside him for this whole formation to succeed (at least until we sign a world class CB... we could really use someone like i don't knoww Koulibaly?). Matic has shown he can succeed in this role, we just need to forget about the horrors of last season. And Kante has done this before with Leicester, so I do not see him weakening his impressive work rate. It will be Conte's job to decide when the team could be ready to make this transition into the 4-4-2 with Cesc on the field. So far he's made some tough decisions, i.e benching Hazard during tie game vs West Ham for Moses, but they have resulted in two victories out of two.



The Conte Era at Chelsea has begun in perfect conditions, although the late game comebacks can be fun I hope we close games out before the 87th minute more often. Its extremely fun to see Conte celebrate like we do at our local pubs and all, but I'm sure he would rather sit down and just enjoy the last ten minutes of a game with a lead instead of chasing after one. Again its early into his time as manager and things only look to be getting better.

Bristol Rovers are next mid week.. KTBFFH