Logo

Logo

The controversial genius: Tracing Antonio Conte’s legacy at Chelsea

Conte’s time at Chelsea, though short-lived, will leave its mark on the club, and the Premier League, for many years to come.

The controversial genius: Tracing Antonio Conte’s legacy at Chelsea

Antonio Conte has been sacked by Chelsea (Photo: AFP)

After one Premier league title, one FA Cup, and a lot of Drama, Antonio Conte has finally been sacked as Chelsea’s manager after two years.

Conte’s time at Chelsea, though short-lived, will leave its mark on the club, and the Premier League, for many years to come.

After a poor start to his first season, Conte made a stroke of genius and changed the formation to 3-4-3 and the rest, as they say, is history. Chelsea won the league that season and many teams including Arsenal and Manchester United started experimenting with the 3-4-3 formation.

Advertisement

Antonio Conte won the Premier League title in his first season (Photo: AFP)

 

The former Juventus manager won the title in his first season ahead of the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and the experienced Arsene Wenger. This, alongside his new formation, is considered to be his biggest achievement from his time at Chelsea.

The 3-4-3 formation has been a revelation as it provides defensive stability and at the same time, it gives the side a cutting edge while going forward.

Even England and Belgium’s national teams, which reached the World Cup semi-final, followed the much effective 3-4-3 formation.

He made plenty of signings in two years, but most of them have flopped apart from Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante, who are arguably Premier league’s best players in their position.

Alvaro Morata, signed for £60 million from Real Madrid, remains one of the biggest Premier League flops after his first season and sale of Diego Costa to Atletico Madrid following his fight with Conte, still hurts the club.

Alvaro Morata, Chelsea F.C
Alvaro Morata has been a flop so far at Chelsea (Photo: AFP)

 

One of the main reasons for Conte leaving so soon is his continued criticism of Chelsea’s board for not giving him complete independence in making new signings.

In that way, you cannot really hold him responsible for the failed signings, but since he was the manager, he will be criticised for it.

As the season went by, he became more and more vocal with his criticism and the team’s performance kept on deteriorating. They were soon out of the title race and were knocked out by Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16.

ALSO READ: Why some Asian Liverpool fans are upset with Naby Keita’s “imperialistic” tattoo

After Chelsea couldn’t even manage a top 4 spot, Conte was definitely going to be sacked. They finished 5th this season and although he did manage to win the FA Cup by defeating Man United in the final, even that was not enough to save his job as Roman Abramovic had already made up his mind to sack him.

Conte had decent numbers with 69 wins, 20 draws, and 17 losses in 106 matches with a win percentage of 67 but these numbers hardly matter to Abramovic.

N'Golo Kante, Chelsea F.C., Premier League, Chelsea vs Manchester United
N’Golo Kante has been a revelation at Chelsea (Photo: AFP)

 

With Conte sacked, Chelsea is already closing in on Napoli’s Maurizio Sarri as his replacement but the question remains whether Conte is leaving behind a fractured dressing room as top players like Willian and Eden Hazard are looking to leave the club after missing out on Champions League football.

Conte’s legacy at Chelsea, though marred by controversies and drama, will remain with Premier league’s fans and pundits for many years to come, mostly because of his defining tactics that changed English football to go with a back three.

 

Advertisement