Drastic times call for drastic measures, an adage that sums up how Antonio Conte turned things around at Chelsea with his new tactical approach. The Italian’s reign at Chelsea didn’t kick start according to plan with series of poor performances which includes a 3-0 defeat at the hands of The Gunners at The Emirates Stadium.
The visitors were completely tormented by Arsenal’s fluid attacking display in the first half. Gary Cahill’s eye-popping error served as a gift for mercurial winger Alexis Sanchez who slotted home the first goal. Two minutes later, Walcott doubled the lead and five minutes before the break, Ozil netted the match’s final goal. Conte’s men were only hoping that the first half whistle was the final whistle as efforts to change the course of the game in the opening 45 minutes was next to nothing.
With nothing to lose in the second half, Conte knew a change was much needed to offer a flicker of a fightback from The Blues. The Chelsea boss brought off Cesc Fabregas and replaced him with new signing Marcos Alonso with 25 minutes remaining. Chelsea transformed into a back-three, while Alonso and Ivanovic made full swing of their wingback roles. This subtle switch got the visitors showing some purpose of grabbing a consolation goal yet Arsenal managed to secure a clean sheet with ease. The visitors returned empty handed yet the manager knew this new blueprint would be a silver bullet.
Speaking in an interview with the club’s official website, Conte said:
“The first time I changed to this system was against Arsenal for the last 25 minutes, and then we continued with this idea of football.”
“For sure in this month we have developed, we have worked a lot on this system, and for sure I have to say thanks to my players because they had the right concentration, the right attitude, the right will to stay more than before in the training sessions and now it is easier than one month ago.
“But we know we can improve a lot on different aspects – the pressure on the ball, quickly being more compact – for sure we have to improve.”
Since then Conte’s team have been hitting the strap with five victories on the bounce, most impressive ones include Jose Mourinho’s 4-0 punishment with his new club and 5-0 demolition over Everton at Stamford Bridge. Besides scoring goals for fun, the goalpost has been slammed shut in the last five matches too. Chelsea completely turned around fortunes and doesn’t look like the team they were in the opening matches.
The London side look more organised at the back with additional an centre back and the wingbacks make up numbers both in defence and offence, so options to break down opponents are far from short. With Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro being offered more freedom to exploit every shred of space in the final third, the goal scoring spree is expected to continue.
However, there are plenty of questions that how long Conte will sustain the 3-4-3 formation, a formation pretty much underrated in the Premier League. Turning the clock back, he has implemented this strategy during his spells at Juventus and Italy, and end results have only been fruitful.
Next up is newcomers Middlesbrough, who have secured two clean sheets in their last three matches and a commendable 1-1 draw against Manchester City in the previous league encounter. Yet The Blues are expected to breeze past the visitors at the Riverside Stadium with no change in strategy.