Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

[Lilbaz]

I know we like to overanalyse everything to death in this place, but could the answer be that we’ve just not hit top form yet rather than the performances being by design? Conte himself has said the slow starts aren’t planned.

Said in another thread. We seem to be back to our form when we'd win one lose one. Only now we're drawing instead of losing. We just need to click to get into the form of the end of the season. A bit of confidence especially for son to kick us up a gear.

We have a decent squad with cover all over. Would like to see doherty back and romero.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I have not watched much of Conte’s previous teams, do they all start the season like they don’t want to be there?

Yep they all start slow

 

[Jurgen the German]

We often started slow under Poch and sometimes didn’t hit real top form until Christmas.

 

[Mosquito_Coasting]

Yep they all start slow

I also think players like Son and Kane who are getting older and been around the block have better form at the end of season when the stakes are higher. Rather than the beginning anyway.

 

[parklane1]

I know we like to overanalyse everything to death in this place, but could the answer be that we’ve just not hit top form yet rather than the performances being by design? Conte himself has said the slow starts aren’t planned.

Would be my thoughts as well, its far to early to to start worrying about our performances so far. We have come a long way under Conte and have added qite a lot of new players and its will take time to see us the finished job. imo

 

[Kandi1977]

I know we like to overanalyse everything to death in this place, but could the answer be that we’ve just not hit top form yet rather than the performances being by design? Conte himself has said the slow starts aren’t planned.

I do think so. Since we've had only 1 game a week until now, they've probably trained quite extensively and hard up until now. In all sports you don't hit top form until you "relax" training a bit after a period of hard and intensive training. Takes a couple of weeks after that to peak. Then there is maintaining that form for an extended period, and that is a totally different matter.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I do think so. Since we've had only 1 game a week until now, they've probably trained quite extensively and hard up until now. In all sports you don't hit top form until you "relax" training a bit after a period of hard and intensive training. Takes a couple of weeks after that to peak. Then there is maintaining that form for an extended period, and that is a totally different matter.

Yep
It’s contes MO everywhere he has been

 

[glasgowspur]

I know we like to overanalyse everything to death in this place, but could the answer be that we’ve just not hit top form yet rather than the performances being by design? Conte himself has said the slow starts aren’t planned.

Teams seldom hit top form this early, and the ones that do rarely keep it up (its ok its after the watershed), I'd rather be where we are than arsenal.
We will grow and hit our stride, i just hope we can take confidence from these games, i don't a trophy and second isn't out of the question. Its going to be a strange season.

 

[Lilbaz]

I do think so. Since we've had only 1 game a week until now, they've probably trained quite extensively and hard up until now. In all sports you don't hit top form until you "relax" training a bit after a period of hard and intensive training. Takes a couple of weeks after that to peak. Then there is maintaining that form for an extended period, and that is a totally different matter.

Is that the thinking of 90%? Think it came from us sports. You don't actually want to give 100% it over exerts and leaves you prone to fudge ups or something.

Probably pseudo bs. But remeber hearing it somewhere.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Since January we have a signed a whole new team.
Forster, Spence, Romero, lenglet, perrisic, udogie,
Bissouma, Bentacur
Kulu, Lankshear, Richarlson…
That’s a hell of a response to give Conte players he wants

 

[metalgear]

I also think players like Son and Kane who are getting older and been around the block have better form at the end of season when the stakes are higher. Rather than the beginning anyway.

I think ageing players are something to look out for this season. Son, Kane, Dier and Davies, maybe Loris.. Key team members.... it realistic to expect them to maintain their performances?

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

 

[metalgear]

What's the tally now. Don't we still have too many players? I don't know how Conte is going to integrate the ones he sidelined back in. We look like we already have a problem with integration with the current team.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

 

[tommysvr]

I think ageing players are something to look out for this season. Son, Kane, Dier and Davies, maybe Loris.. Key team members.... it realistic to expect them to maintain their performances?

What you call ageing I call their peak years. Son 30, Kane 29, Dier 28, Davies 29, Hugo 35 (maybe just over the age of peak gk). Of course the World Cup could have a disastrous impact on any team and any player, but we should be expecting these players to lead the charge.

 

[metalgear]

What you call ageing I call their peak years. Son 30, Kane 29, Dier 28, Davies 29, Hugo 35 (maybe just over the age of peak gk). Of course the World Cup could have a disastrous impact on any team and any player, but we should be expecting these players to lead the charge.

I see peak performance at 27/28, with pace declining earlier for most athletes. With better sports science and more structured training for younger, a lot more footballers are also hitting peak physical performance younger, perhaps 23/24 and sustaining it longer too.

Few sportsmen can sustain physical performance after 28, but may use experience to their advantage.

I think it used to be 28 to 30 but the demands of top level football, injuries accumulates faster in modern football.

But certainly pace declines much earlier not just in football, other sports too. With Hojberg and the players above we may have the slowest spine in the league. No point getting faster wingers if no one can get to their crosses.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

 

[tommysvr]

I see peak performance at 27/28, with pace declining earlier for most athletes. With better sports science and more structured training for younger, a lot more footballers are also hitting peak physical performance younger, perhaps 23/24 and sustaining it longer too.

Few sportsmen can sustain physical performance after 28, but may use experience to their advantage.

I think it used to be 28 to 30 but the demands of top level football, injuries accumulates faster in modern football.

But certainly pace declines much earlier not just in football, other sports too. With Hojberg and the players above we may have the slowest spine in the league. No point getting faster wingers if no one can get to their crosses.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

I think everything you say is valid, and as you rightly point out footballers can sustain it longer. Many are playing well into their 30s these days, and I fully expect Kane to last another 7 or 8 seasons. That would put him in right in the middle of his career now.

 

[Bullet]

I see peak performance at 27/28, with pace declining earlier for most athletes. With better sports science and more structured training for younger, a lot more footballers are also hitting peak physical performance younger, perhaps 23/24 and sustaining it longer too.

Few sportsmen can sustain physical performance after 28, but may use experience to their advantage.

I think it used to be 28 to 30 but the demands of top level football, injuries accumulates faster in modern football.

But certainly pace declines much earlier not just in football, other sports too. With Hojberg and the players above we may have the slowest spine in the league. No point getting faster wingers if no one can get to their crosses.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

What? Loads of the top players are in their 30s now. I won't bother listing them. Just look at the squads of Real / Barca / Pool / Cheatski. Messi, Ronaldo, Casemeiro, Ronaldo. Come on man.

 

[Lemonade Money]

I've just realised Conte is the perfect manager for boozing. He likes a boring first half, with the game won after 60 minutes. This means you can take your seat after KO, and head into halftime early, without the fear of missing any action.

 

[AdamB]

What's the tally now. Don't we still have too many players? I don't know how Conte is going to integrate the ones he sidelined back in. We look like we already have a problem with integration with the current team.

Sent from my SM-T865 using Fapatalk

Not really sure who he's sidelined. Tanganga and Gil were possibly going to move but didnt so those might be disappointed but equally they couldnt have reasonably expected to have played in our first 4 games as they're only squad players. Skipp, Moura, Doherty have been injured either pre-season or still are injured so missed the start of the season. The ones who were sidelined are players who didnt go on the Korea trip and trained away from the first team - Winks, GLC, Ndombele - but they've been loaned out

I dont understand the integration point either. Conte has said that he wants to bring players into the team gradually so that they are used to our tactics when they do come in

The alternative to what you say is not sign players and go into the season with a small squad.

 

[metalgear]

I have not watched much of Conte’s previous teams, do they all start the season like they don’t want to be there?

https://www.11v11.com/teams/chelsea/tab/matches/season/2017/



Well he certainly had better players

So he's had to make adjustments

As for Conte ball, I think Chelsea 16/17 is the best reference we have. This article lays it out clear and shows whey Bastoni was featured much during the transfer season:


https://themastermindsite.com/2019/...2016-17-premier-league-title-playing-3-4-2-1/

Here are some of the essential characteristics that the players need to have in the various positions in order to effectively play 3-4-2-1.

• The goalkeeper should be good with their feet and capable of playing out from the back as well as going direct to the centre forward or front three at the right moments.
• The middle centre back should be capable of being the main distributor of the ball. They should have a very solid on-the-ball presence, passing range and positional awareness both in and out of possession.
• The middle centre back should also be more of the ‘libero’ – free of marking tasks.
• If playing against a front two, one of the back three always needs to offer support as the other two keep an eye on the movement of the centre forwards. Usually, the sweeper would be the one providing the cover and balance as the outside defenders mark.
• If one of the outside defenders is a good ball player (e.g. Azpilicueta), one of the defensive midfielders can fill in the gap as they progress forward. This was essential in allowing the Spanish fullback to achieve 4 assists, most of which came from crosses into the box from well inside the opponent’s half.
• Defenders and central/holding midfielders must have technical ability and be able to control the game from deep.
• Wing-backs must be good runners and have the ability to get up and down the line with ease. Wingers should also have these characteristics but may be required to have more of an on-the-ball presence than the wing-backs.
• Centre Forward needs to be able to hold the line all on their own and create passing triangles through their link-up play with the two inverted wingers. They should be good with their back to goal and be capable of holding up the play as the wing-backs make overlapping runs and wingers drift inside.

 

[Mosquito_Coasting]

Good half. Central midfield has been very good. Richarlison doesn’t have the pass that Kulu has, not his game I guess. A couple of times he might have played others in and tried and failed. Sessegnon and Langley good too and Kane looks sharp and hungry.