Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has described playing for manager Antonio Conte as “entering another world” due to the Chelsea manager’s passion and intensity of play. Conte has come under a lot of fire recently following back-to-back losses against Bournemouth and Watford in the Premier League, which has spread an air of frustration in the Chelsea camp.
While the losses have been a hard pill to follow for the Italian, there are reports that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich could sack Conte before the end of the season should the Blues slip outside of top four.
After the dismal defeat at Watford, where Chelsea conceded 3 goals in just seven minutes to lose 4-1, Conte was quoted in a report by the Evening Standard:
“I cannot predict the future. I cannot predict the future. Especially after two bad defeats like this”.
“We played against Bournemouth and lost 3-0, and now against Watford and lost 4-1. Now it’s very difficult to predict turning the situation into a positive, but I can promise to work to change the situation.
“But, I repeat, today our performance… the level of our performance was very poor.”
However, Chiellini, who played under Conte for five years – three successful seasons at Juventus and two for the Italian national team – still rates him as one of the top managers in Europe due to his intensity, discipline, dedication and tactfulness.
“Italian passion,” Chiellini was quoted by the Daily Mail.
“It is not only in the match with Conte. It is all day, every training session. He is like a police sergeant. We felt something very special in his atmosphere, for three years with him at Juventus and two years in the national team.
“When you finish training, you are dead. Not tired — dead. You can do it only because you believe in what he does. We had 40 days in France and it was like entering another world. You are 100% with him. He creates an atmosphere, everyone gives energy to each other. For sure he is one of the very best.”
It is very true Conte is one of the best managers in the world. The way he tweaked his tactics following the defeat at the hands of Arsenal to win the Premier League last season was something really special. But given Abramovich’s history of sacking managers, there is an air of uncertainty that the Russia billionaire could swing the axe on Conte, even before the season gets over.
I believe in Conte and I’m sure he will go to any extent to at least achieve a top-4 finish.