Antonio Conte: Chelsea’s new volcanic manager

"Eat grass." Out of context, Antonio Conte's message to his Juventus players may have sounded more like a threat than an instruction but he repeated it over and over until they had powered their way back to the pinnacle of Italian football. It was his idiosyncratic way of telling them to work harder, to run further than everybody else.

Perhaps Conte will coin a new catchphrase at Chelsea. He has studied English for more than a year, even while confessing the language does not come naturally. Whatever words he chooses, the sentiment will stay the same. Conte has built his career on relentless graft and will expect nothing less from his squad at Stamford Bridge.

The formula has served him well. In his playing days at Juventus he became club captain and won five Serie A titles, as well as the Champions League, Coppa Italia and Uefa Cup, despite “never considering myself to be a great talent”.

As a manager he took the same club to three consecutive Scudetti: each more impressive than the last. Juventus went undefeated in their first Serie A campaign under Conte before improving their points tally in each of the next two seasons. His team finished the last of those, 2013-14, by becoming the first club to shatter the 100-point mark in the Italian top flight.

There is a story from that final campaign - told by the Italian journalist Alessandro Alciato in his book, Metodo Conte - that reveals much about the manager’s mentality.

With one game to go, Juventus were on 99 points. The title had been wrapped up weeks earlier but Conte had prepared rigorously for the final match against Cagliari - intent on achieving a full century. Juve’s players were just settling in for a video review session, when the goalkeeper Gigi Buffon arrived with the club’s chief executive, Beppe Marotta.

“Excuse me for one moment, boss,” Buffon said. “The director just wants to clear up the question of bonuses owed to the team after the title win.”

The suggestion sent Conte into a fury. He chased every player out of the room as he tore into Buffon. “I don’t want to hear another word,” Conte is said to have screamed. “From you, of all people, I would never have expected such a thing. Bonuses? You’re a disappointment, a defeat from the moment you open your mouth. Just like all the rest of these half-wits.”

In another context, such a rant could have backfired. Not every footballer would accept being dressed down so harshly. Buffon and his team-mates, though, recognised the intent of Conte’s words was more important than their content. Shaken out of any complacency, Juventus beat Cagliari 3-0.

It is tempting to draw comparisons between Conte and his Chelsea predecessor Jose Mourinho. Both are combative, stubborn and talented - not to mention adept at selling the narrative that the whole world is out to get their team. But the 46-year-old Conte may resemble another former Premier League manager even more closely. When Carlos Tevez was asked during his first season at Juventus what differences existed between Conte and Alex Ferguson, his reply was: "Not many."

There is an obvious joke to be made here about hair-dryer treatments. Conte's brown locks have enjoyed a remarkable renaissance since the end of his playing career but his team-talks are no laughing matter. Andrea Pirlo, in his autobiography, lamented having chosen the locker in front of the door in Juventus's changing room - since that was where the manager routinely hurled bottles of fizzy water during his half-time rages.

Conte’s speeches were no less forceful than his actions. “When he talks, his words assault you,” Pirlo said. “They crash through your mind, often quite violently, and settle deep within.”

In particular, Pirlo recalled the first time he heard one of Conte’s pep-talks. It was the summer of 2011, and both manager and midfielder had just joined Juventus. “Lads,” Conte said, “we’ve finished seventh each of the last two seasons. Crazy stuff; absolutely appalling. I’ve not come here for that. It’s time we stopped being crap.”

In some ways Chelsea are in a stronger position than Juventus were then. In Turin, Conte was tasked with reviving a top club that had not won a major trophy since before the Calciopoli scandal. At Chelsea, he will find a group of players who claimed a Premier League title just last spring despite their struggles this season.

A little motivation may go a long way but his tactical approach will be every bit as fascinating to watch. Conte came to favour 3-5-2 at Juventus and has sometimes used the formation with the Italian national team but that does not necessarily mean he will do the same at Stamford Bridge.

Earlier in his career, at Bari and Siena, Conte enjoyed great success with an attacking 4-2-4. He abandoned plans to recreate that formation at Juventus in order to accommodate Pirlo.

He is pragmatic enough to set up his deck according to the cards at his disposal. The guiding principles, though, will stay the same. An Arrigo Sacchi disciple, Conte likes his teams compact - so midfielders can easily break forward to join the attack and forwards can drop back to fill the gaps they have left.

It is easy to see how certain Chelsea players might fit. Willian is precisely the sort of footballer Conte adores: hard-running and capable of making that late surge into the box to exploit an opening. Eden Hazard, too, is very capable of the latter action, though the manager might lament his inconsistent tracking back more than his recent lack of goalscoring.

Other players are harder to feel sure about. Conte retained a diverse set of defenders at Juventus, each with a specific skillset, and as such could yet have a role for John Terry - in theory, at least. The manager stressed his belief in meritocracy during an interview with Tuttosport at the end of last year, saying: “There is no young and old, only victory or failure”.

Any player who hopes to be a part of Conte’s Chelsea plans will need to convince him they are as committed as he is to pursuing the former.

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