Changing Times at Chelsea Mean Antonio Conte Is the Club's Biggest AssetBy Garry Hayes, Featured Columnist Nov 23, 2016
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2676625-changing-times-at-chelsea-mean-antonio-conte-is-the-clubs-biggest-assetThis season was billed as the year of the super coach in the Premier League, but no other manager has lived up to that billing quite like Antonio Conte has at Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have impressed in their own ways with Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively. We've been endeared to Guardiola's philosophy and the noise generated by Klopp's brand of heavy-metal football, but compared with Conte's achievements, both have a long way to go if they are to match him.
Even if Chelsea's title challenge doesn't finish up with the Premier League trophy come May, the early reign of Conte can be judged the biggest success.
The barometer to measure that is simple: No other coach has made such a sudden impact. Conte's brief has been different to the other managers he is competing against this term. He was charged with replenishing Chelsea's squad, rebuilding the shattered confidence of players who had been so publicly humiliated in 2015/16; he was starting from scratch where others at least had something tangible to work with.
He's already delivered. The transformation of Chelsea from mid-table disappointments to Premier League leaders in 12 matches has been remarkable. The Italian has transformed the fortunes of a struggling club in the few months he has been at Stamford Bridge.
What we are seeing now is Conte's Chelsea in action; it's his character and ethos that defines the Blues' identity. He's stamped his authority on the club in a way no other manager has done elsewhere. Indeed, we need only reflect on those back-to-back losses against Liverpool and Arsenal in September for proof of that fact.
They were sobering times for Chelsea. Until Conte's side had entertained Liverpool at home, we thought the rebuild was going well. There had been hiccups along the way, but the Blues were back to winning games and competing in a way a team of their talent should be. Falling behind against opponents, they showed the mettle of old to not only overcome the setbacks but win football matches.
They were taught a lesson by Liverpool, and a week later the same happened against Arsenal when they crashed to a 3-0 loss.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for supporters given both clubs have been the fiercest of Chelsea's rivals in recent times. Chelsea had knocked both off their perch when Roman Abramovich bulldozed his way into English football, and now, here they were, throwing it back at the west Londoners. Or so we thought.
Those defeats have come to define Chelsea's season for different reasons. Rather than bring about a depression, Conte's side have instead flourished. They haven't conceded a league goal since losing to Arsenal, winning six out of six matches and scoring 17 goals in the process. Those defeats brought about the epiphany the club needed, and Conte has manipulated it to his benefit ever since.
It was telling that after the Arsenal loss, Branislav Ivanovic conceded he and his Chelsea team-mates hadn't invested themselves in the manager's philosophy enough.
"We didn't believe in what we were doing at the beginning and we were punished," the defender told the Chelsea website.
As damning as that statement seemed on the players, it was as much an insight to the difficulties any new manager faces at an elite club. Conte has had to balance the politics with his coaching, which means he's needed time to implement his ideas to really have an influence and get the players believing in his methods.
The manner of the Liverpool and Arsenal defeats meant player power was diluted. It was Conte's moment to lead them in a different direction. Their policy was failing, and it was time for something different.
As Ivanovic's admission suggests, clubs like Chelsea don't take to sweeping changes kindly. It's difficult to turn away from the systems and ethos that delivered the sort of success we've seen in the past decade. It's that players were indoctrinated in, and it takes a lot to move away from it. For that reason above all others, Andre Villas-Boas failed during his time as manager in west London.
With or without him, Chelsea have been Jose Mourinho's club since 2004. The whole place has carried the smell of his brand of cologne, and John Terry has been a large component of that. As much as Terry has been a symbol of Chelsea, he's been a Mourinho disciple. That's helped ensure the Portuguese's aura has lingered at times.
Terry has been the player Chelsea have built themselves on, but because of Conte, the focus is beginning to shift. Terry's in the twilight of his career; Chelsea aren't about him anymore, and it's Conte who is becoming the defining figure.
We see that in the way he has transformed how his team plays. The first six games of the season had been OK, but they were about Chelsea's past; the six that have followed them have been exceptional.
It's because of Conte; it's not because of his players. Sure, they've been executing his game plan, but the point is that it is all his. These are the same players who lacked any sense of direction last season. With Mourinho or Guus Hiddink in the dugout, players who had cost Chelsea hundreds of millions in transfer fees looked distinctly average. They were in a bind and barely got themselves out of it.
The collective talent of the dressing room stands for nothing without a manager capable of moulding it together. To achieve that takes no shortage of character and intellect, which Conte has demonstrated since reimagining the way Chelsea play football.
The 3-4-3 represents so much more than a formation. It's a statement for change; it's an explication for a new direction that Chelsea had been afraid to take. Too often the club has reverted to type at the slightest hint of failure, and now Conte's demonstrating the folly in that.
"I want to prove to the owner that he picked well when he chose Antonio Conte for the next three years. For me, that counts more than titles." the Chelsea boss told Gazetta dello Sport this week (h/t Liam Twomey of ESPN).
"I'm happy, especially for the players, because being top is not only a reward for our work, but it also indicates that we are heading in the right direction. But we must not forget that a-month-and-a-half ago, after losing to Liverpool and Arsenal, the climate was gloomy."
It was. And then Conte lifted Chelsea out of the doldrums.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes 
