10 things you need to know about new Chelsea coach Antonio Conte

Here are 10 things you need to know about the new first team head coach of Chelsea, 46 year old Antonio Conte who was announced as the club’s new manager on Monday, April 4.

1. He revived the career of Andrea Pirlo: For a while Andrea Pirlo was the best midfielder by many in Europe between 2005 and 2009 but that came to a halt when Massimo Allegri took over at Juventus.
The Italian tactician deemed the midfielder surplus to requirements at Milan and he moved to Juventus in 2011 and he immediately became one of the world’s best.

2. He mentality is defense first: Antonio Conte is known to always improve the defense of any team he coaches. He instantly changed Siena from Serie B powerhouses to stables in Serie A.
In Juventus, he formed arguably the best defensive paring in the world with a three man center defense that consisted of Leandro Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini.

3. He revitalized the three at the back formation: When Conte first arrived Juventus in 2011, he used his tried and trusted 4 – 2 – 4 formation he used at previous clubs. After assessing his squad for a while, he discovered a 3 – 5 – 2 formation was the way forward. With Pirlo in a deeplaying position alongside Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchiso, Juventus boasted arguably the best midfield in Europe.

4. Conte was a former captain of Juventus: Conte was signed by Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni in 1991 and was later made captain of the team before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to the role.

                                                         Conte as Juventus captain in 2004

During the 1998–1999 season, when Del Piero suffered a severe knee injury, Conte returned to the captaincy, a position which he maintained the until the 2001–02 season.

5. He has three top flight league titles to his name: Conte won the Italian Serie A in three consecutive years between 2012 and 2014. He also went the 2012 – 2013 season unbeaten in the league with Juve which a remarkable achievement given the notorious difficulty of the league.

                                Conte won the Italian Serie A in 2012, 2013 and 2014

6. He has a poor record in Europe: As much as Conte is good at managing in the League, the Italian has a very poor record in Europe.
Juventus were knocked out by the eventual winners Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of the Champions League in 2013, losing 4–0 on aggregate.

In the 2013–14 season, the Old Lady were eliminated from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League that season, although they subsequently managed to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League. On 15 July 2014, Conte resigned as manager

7. He was suspended for four months for match fixing: Back in 2012, Conte was banned for 10 months for failing to report an alleged match fixing case when he was in charge of Siena by ex-Siena player Filippo Carobbio. Upon appeal it was reduced to four months.

It was however ruled that he knew matches were supposed to be fixed but rejected the idea. Conte’s offense? he failed to report that he was contacted to fix matches.
8. He loves to talk about tactics with friends: According to rumours, Conte is one of very few managers who love to breathe football. He talks tactics on a daily basis and has been know to always try to tweak formations in games.

                                       Antonio Conte

9. He is a UEFA Champions league and UEFA Cup (now Europa League) winner: Conte won 5 Serie A titles with Juventus, the 1994–95 Coppa Italia, the 1992–93 UEFA Cup, and the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League.
Conte was also one of the best midfielder in the world between 1990 and 2000.

10. He made Paul Pogba, Kwadwo Asamoah household names: How Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson would rue the decision to let Paul Pogba leave the club so early in his career. After arriving Italy in 2012 as a fresh faced 19 year old, Pogba was given time to bed into Juventus three man midfield of Vidal, Pirlo and Marchisio.

Juventus midfielder Pogba celebrates with Conte after scoring in 2013 during a Serie A match

Which such seasoned campaigners ahead of him Pogba bid his time and outshines them.
Ghanian midfielder Asamoah could lay claim to have been the best left-back/left wing back in the world between 2012 and 2014. COnte transformed the Ghanaian to a world star though he has lost his place in the team to Alex Sandro and Patrice Evra after a cruel knee injury in late 2014.