Antonio Conte: Profile of an unassuming Coach
Antonio Conte was born July 31, 1969 an Italian professional football manager and former player.
He is currently the manager of English Premier League club Chelsea.
Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club U.S. Lecce and later became one of the most decorated and influential players in the history of Juventus. He stood out throughout his career due to his tenacity, work-rate, and leadership, captaining the team, and winning the UEFA Champions League, as well as 5 Serie A titles, among other honours.
He also played for the Italian national team and was a participant at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship, where, on both occasions, the Italians finished runners-up.
His managerial career started in 2006, leading Bari to the 2008–09 Serie B title, and Siena to promotion from the same division two years later. He then took over at Juventus in 2011, where he implemented a 3–5–2 formation and won three consecutive Serie A titles, before taking charge of the Italian national team in 2014 until the UEFA Euro 2016 campaign.
Club career
Conte began his career with the youth team of his hometown club U.S. Lecce and made his Serie A debut with the first team on 6 April 1986, aged 16, in a 1–1 draw against Pisa. Under the manager Carlo Mazzone, he became a fundamental player for the squad. In 1987 he fractured his tibia, running the risk of a career-ending injury. During the 1988–89 season, he was back in the pitch, however, and scored his first Serie A goal on 11 November 1989, in 3–2 loss to Napoli. He amassed a total of 99 appearances and one goal for Lecce.
He was signed by Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni in 1991, debuting on 17 November 1991, against cross-city rivals Torino. Due to his consistent performances, work-rate, leadership, and tenacious playing style, he became an important figure with the club's fans, and was later named the team's captain under Marcello Lippi in 1996, following the departure of the club's previous skipper Gianluca Vialli and before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to the role.
During the 1998–99 season, Del Piero suffered a severe knee injury, Conte returned to the captaincy, a position which he maintained until the 2001–02 season. 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, as well as four Supercoppa Italiana titles, the 1996 UEFA Super Cup, the 1996 Intercontinental Cup (which he missed, however, due to injury), and the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup, winning all possible top tier club titles, aside from the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Along with his team, he also finished as runner-up in the UEFA Champions League on three other occasions, as what some dubbed the "curse of finals" saw Juventus lose the Champions League finals of 1997, 1998 and 2003; in the latter final against Milan, he came on as a substitute in the second half and produced Juventus's best chance of the match, hitting the crossbar with a header, although Juventus eventually lost the match on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra-time. Conte also finished runner-up in the 1995 UEFA Cup Final with the club. He remained with the Turin club until his retirement in 2004.
During his 13 seasons with Juventus, he made a total of 295 appearances and 29 goals in Serie A, and 418 appearances and 43 goals in all competitions.
International career
Conte also played for the Italian national team, making his debut on 27 May 1994, in a 2–0 friendly win over Finland, at the age of 24, under Arrigo Sacchi. He was a member of the Italian squads for both the 1994 FIFA World Cup under Sacchi, and the 2000 UEFA European Championship under Dino Zoff, achieving runners-up medals in both tournaments. He missed out on the UEFA Euro 1996 squad, however, after sustaining an injury in the 1996 UEFA Champions League Final.
Conte scored a bicycle kick in Italy's opening match of Euro 2000, which ended in a 2–1 win against Turkey, although he later suffered an injury in a 2–0 win against Romania in the quarter-finals of the competition, following a challenge from Gheorghe Hagi, which ruled him out for the remainder of the competition. In total, he made 20 international appearances for Italy between 1994 and 2000, scoring twice.
Style of play
Considered to be one of the most important Italian midfielders of his generation, Conte was regarded as a quick, combative, energetic, and tactically versatile footballer throughout his career who could play anywhere in midfield but was usually deployed as a central, box-to-box, or defensive midfielder, and occasionally on the right flank.
A hard-working, consistent, and intelligent player, with an innate ability to read the game, Conte was mainly known for his leadership, accurate tackling, stamina, and vision; despite his lack of notable talent or technical skills, these attributes, coupled with his solid first touch, work-rate, tenacity, and a tendency to make offensive runs into the area, enabled him to aid his team both defensively and offensively, and endowed him with the ability to distribute the ball and start attacking moves after retrieving possession, and transition from defence to attack.
Due to his ability to get forward, he also had a penchant for scoring spectacular and decisive goals, often from volleys and strikes from outside the area. He was also considered to be strong, good in the air, and accurate with his head, despite not being particularly tall. Despite his ability as a footballer, his career was often affected by injuries.
Coaching career
Arezzo
After retiring from playing, Conte worked as an assistant manager for Siena alongside Luigi De Canio in the 2005–06 season. In July 2006 he was appointed coach of Serie B side Arezzo however, after a series of disappointing results, he was sacked on 31 October 2006.
On 13 March 2007 he was reinstated as Arezzo head coach as his predecessor failed to gain any significant improvement with the club mired in a relegation struggle. He subsequently led the team to five consecutive wins, securing 19 points from seven matches, which allowed the Tuscan side to close the points gap between them and safety. In spite of this turnaround in form Arezzo were relegated to Serie C1 on the final day of the league season, finishing one point behind Spezia.
Bari
On 27 December 2007 Conte was appointed by Bari to replace Giuseppe Materazzi for the second half of their Serie B 2007–08 campaign.[15] He oversaw a considerable upturn in form, leading the team out of the relegation battle and placing them comfortably mid-table. The following season, 2008–09, Bari were crowned Serie B champions, being promoted to Serie A for the 2009–10 season, Conte's first major honour as a manager.
In June 2009, after weeks of rumours linking Conte to the vacant managerial role at Juventus, he agreed in principle for a contract extension to keep him at Bari for the new season. However, on 23 June, Bari announced they had rescinded the contract with Antonio Conte by mutual consent.
After Claudio Ranieri was sacked by Juventus, Conte was again named as a potential replacement. Shortly prior to Ranieri's sacking Conte had made public his ambition to be Juventus coach at some stage and was confident he was ready for the demands of the role. Again the "bianconeri" declined to hire their former midfielder and appointed Ciro Ferrara instead.
Atalanta
On 21 September 2009 Conte replaced Angelo Gregucci as manager of Atalanta. Despite a good start at the helm of the orobici, the team found themselves struggling by November leading to protests from local supporters and friction between Conte and the club's ultra supporters.
On 6 January 2010, Conte was repeatedly confronted by Atalanta fans during a home game against Napoli which ended in a 0–2 defeat for the nerazzurri - the game ended with Conte receiving police protection to avoid an altercation with the Atalanta ultras. The next day, Conte tended his resignation to the club, leaving them in 19th place.
Siena
On 9 May 2010 he was announced as new head coach of Siena, with the aim of leading the Tuscan side back to the top flight after relegation to the 2010–11 Serie B. Conte successfully secured promotion for Siena who would be competing in the 2011–12 Serie A season.
Juventus
On 22 May 2011 Juventus sporting director, Giuseppe Marotta, announced that Juventus had appointed Conte as their new head coach replacing Luigi Delneri. Conte arrived amid high expectations that he, a former fan favourite as a midfielder for the club, would lead them back to the summit of the Italian and European game.
His first ten months as manager saw the club reach a number of landmarks such as, following a 5–0 win over rivals Fiorentina, equalling Fabio Capello's run of 28 unbeaten games between November 2005 and May 2006. On 20 March 2012, he became the first coach to lead Juventus to a Coppa Italia final since Marcello Lippi in the 2004 Coppa Italia Final. On 25 March, following a 2–0 victory at the Juventus Stadium, he became the first coach to complete the league double in the Derby d'Italia against rivals Internazionale since Fabio Capello in 2005–06.
In November 2012, Conte was awarded the Trofeo Maestrelli - an award honouring the three best Italian coaches working in the professional league, the country's youth coaching system and outside Italy respectively. Despite drawing a large number of games during the season on 6 May 2012 Conte led the Bianconeri to their 28th league title with one game remaining by beating Cagliari 2–0.
After beating Atalanta 3–1, Juventus finished the league unbeaten, the first team to do so since Serie A expanded to 20 teams and 38 rounds. Conte's innovative 3–5–2 formation, which featured wing-backs and two box-to-box midfielders in a three-man midfield, gave more creative freedom to the newly acquired deep-lying playmaker Andrea Pirlo, who was key to the team's success that season.
The team's strong and highly organised three-man back-line, which was predominantly composed of Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Andrea Barzagli, was regarded to have played a large part in the title triumph, and only conceded 20 goals, finishing the League with the best defence in Italy. Juventus lost the 2012 Coppa Italia final to Napoli 2–0, however - their only defeat in domestic competitions that season.
Conte's Juventus won the 2012–13 Serie A title as they accumulated 87 points, three more than the previous season, nine more than second placed Napoli and 15 more than third placed Milan. Despite their dominance, Juventus' top goalscorers in the league were midfielder Vidal and forward Mirko Vucinic, both with just ten goals, making them joint 23rd in the goal-scoring chart.
In his first UEFA Champions League campaign, Juventus were knocked out by the eventual winners Bayern Munich in the quarter finals, losing 4–0 on aggregate. After winning a second consecutive Italian Supercup in 2013, Juventus won their third consecutive Serie A title under Conte during the 2013–14 season, winning the league with a Serie A record of 102 points; this was also the club's 30th league title.
Juventus continued to disappoint in Europe, however, and 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.[33] During his three seasons as Juventus manager, he won the Panchina d'Oro for each one, for best Serie A coach of the season.
Italy national team
On 14 August 2014, following Cesare Prandelli's resignation, the Italian Football Federation announced to have agreed a two-year deal with Conte as new head coach of the national team until Euro 2016. With the national side, Conte continued to field formations which he had employed during his successful spell with Juventus, varying between the 3–5–2, 4–3–3, 4–2–4 and 3–3–4, the choice that ultimately replaced Prandelli's 4–3–1–2 midfield diamond formation.
His first match as Italy manager was a 2–0 win over Netherlands, during which Ciro Immobile and Daniele De Rossi scored the goals for Gli Azzurri. Conte won his first competitive match on 9 September 2014, defeating Norway 2–0 in their opening 2016 European Qualifying match, in Oslo, with goals by Simone Zaza and Leonardo Bonucci. This was the first time Italy had managed to defeat the Norwegians in Norway since 1937. After ten games as Italy manager, Conte suffered his first defeat on 16 June 2015, in a 1–0 international friendly loss against Portugal.[42] He sealed Euro 2016 qualification for Italy on 10 October 2015, as Italy defeated Azerbaijan 3–1 in Baku. The result meant that Italy had managed to go 50 games unbeaten in European qualifiers.
On 15 March 2016 it was confirmed by the Italian Football Federation that Conte would step down as manager after Euro 2016.
Although many fans and members of the media were initially critical of Conte's tactics and the level of the Italian squad chosen for the competition, Italy opened the tournament with a promising 2–0 victory over the number 1 ranked European team Belgium on 13 June; following the win, Conte drew praise from the media for the team's unity, defensive strength, and for his tactical approach to the match, which impeded Belgium from creating many goalscoring opportunities.
Conte led Italy out of the group to the Round of 16 with one game to spare on 17 June after a 1–0 victory against Sweden; Italy had not won the second group game in a major international tournament since Euro 2000, in which Conte had coincidentally appeared as a player.
He also led Italy to the top of the group, the first time in a major tournament since the 2006 World Cup. After the 2–0 round of 16 win over Spain, Conte's Italy then faced off against rivals Germany in the quarter final which ended 1–1 after extra time and 6–5 in favour of Germany after the resulting penalty shoot-out, ending his time as Italy manager.
Speaking after the game Conte said that "the decision to leave the national team after two years was taken early” and that the reason for leaving was because he "wanted to return to the cut and thrust of club football."
In an interview, Bonucci mentioned that the team gave Conte the nickname "The Godfather" due to the way he talked and the way he made them want to listen.
Chelsea
On 4 April 2016, it was confirmed that Conte had signed a three-year contract and would officially become the new first team head coach of English Premier League side Chelsea from the 2016–17 season.
The clubs first signings with Conte as Chelsea head coach, was striker Michy Batshuayi on 3 July and was followed by N'Golo Kanté two weeks later. The club also completed the deal that brought David Luiz back to Chelsea from PSG on the last day of the transfer market.
Conte started off his season with a 2–1 win over West Ham United. His side managed two more wins against Watford and Burnley, before drawing 2–2 away against Swansea City on 11 September 2016.
On 16 September, Conte suffered his first loss, a 2–1 home defeat to Liverpool, which was followed by a 3–0 defeat to Arsenal on 24 September 2016. He then went on to win three straight games without conceding a goal, defeating Hull City, Leicester City, and Manchester United 2–0, 3–0 and 4–0 respectively, football analysts and journalists opined that his “tactical shift” from a 4–2–3–1 formation to a 3–4–3, with his trade-mark three-man back-line and wingbacks, was responsible for the club's transformation.
Despite a 2–1 loss against West Ham on 26 October 2016, which saw Chelsea eliminated in the fourth round of the EFL Cup, Chelsea defeated Southampton 2–0 at the St Mary's Stadium on 30 October, which meant that the club had won all four of their Premier League matches in the month of October, scoring eleven goals without conceding; the last time Chelsea had a four-game winning streak was in April 2015, while the team had not managed to keep at least four consecutive clean sheets since August 2010.
Chelsea continued their run of form into November with a 5–0 home win against Everton, on 5 November;[70] Conte was praised for the club's performance, with BBC pundit John Motson calling it the best 90-minute performance he had ever seen in the Premier League, while Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville tipped Liverpool and Chelsea as favourites to win the league title.
On 18 November 2016, Conte was given the Premier League Manager of the Month award for October. A 1–0 away win against Middlesbrough on 20 November saw Chelsea obtain their sixth consecutive win and clean-sheet in the league, moving the club to the top of the Premier League table.
Following a 2–1 comeback at home against Tottenham on 26 November, and a 3–1 away victory over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on 3 December, Conte was named the Barclays Manager of the Month for the second successive time, for the month of November.
Style of management
“The word 'coach' has to encompass everything. You can't only be good at tactics, just as you can't only be good at motivation, just as you can't only be good from a psychological point of view, just as you can't only be good in how you manage the club and the media. You have got to be good at everything. You have got to try and excel at everything. To do this you have got to study and since I became a coach, for me, it has been continuous study.”
Conte on his coaching philosophy
“I did not have Zinedine Zidane or Roberto Baggio's talent as a player, and I have played with both, that even when they were circled they could try to break through or create interesting situations with the ball. When I was a player, my efforts and work-rate, my willingness to sacrifice fitness and humility made up for my lack of pure talent but sometimes, if I didn't find a teammate next to me, I might lose the ball. As a manager, my first thought from day one was that I wanted to find solutions for my players when the ball reached them, as I could not. If my players don't understand something, I force the player to ask me why we are doing such movement or working on certain tactics in training both offensively or defensively. I always want my players to be fully understanding of the problem. I want them to understand why we are doing certain things and why those things are useful.”
Conte on his use of tactical systems
As a manager, Conte is known for using the 3–5–2 formation (or in certain cases, its more defensive variant, 5–3–2), fielding two wingbacks in lieu of wingers, with two out-and-out strikers backed by an attacking box-to-box midfielder in a three-man midfield, in front of a three-man defensive line. During his time as head coach of Juventus, he won three consecutive Serie A titles using the 3–5–2 formation, which also soon began to be employed by several other Serie A clubs.
In his time at Bari he was noted for his unorthodox 4–2–4 formation, a modification of the classic 4–4–2, in which the outside midfielders act as attacking wingers. Commentators have also observed that, although Conte's teams are capable of playing a short passing possession game, in which the ball is played out from the back on the ground, they are mainly known for their direct style of attacking play, as well as their ability to utilise long balls and score from counter-attacks with few touches. Defensive solidity has been highlighted as a hallmark as well as the use of high and aggressive pressing in order to put pressure on opponents and win back the ball quickly. Conte's teams have also been described as possessing notable virtues such as pace, athleticism, work-rate, and tactical intelligence.
Conte's work in restoring Juventus to the top of Italian football won critical acclaim and earned him comparisons with José Mourinho, Marcello Lippi, and Arrigo Sacchi, primarily due to his obsession with tactics, his winning mentality and ability to foster great team spirit among his players. He also demonstrated a notable tactical versatility and meticulousness as a coach, adopting several different formations in an attempt to find the most suitable system to match his players' skills. The formations he adopted included 4–2–4, 4–1–4–1, 3–3–4, and 4–3–3, before he finally settled on his now trademark 3–5–2 or 5–3–2 formation while also using a 3–5–1–1 formation on occasion, as a variation upon this system.
The resulting system was key to the club's success as the three-man midfield line-up, flanked by wingbacks, allowed veteran star Pirlo to function creatively as a deep-lying playmaker, with the more dynamic Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio either supporting him defensively or contributing offensively by making attacking runs into the area.
The team's organised back-line formed by Chiellini, Bonucci, and Barzagli proved to be a strong defensive line-up, as Juventus finished the 2011–12 Serie A season with the best defence in the league, the three-man defence also allowed the central defender, Bonucci, to operate in a free role, and advance into midfield as a ball-playing centre-back, providing an additional creative outlet whenever Pirlo was heavily marked.
Pirlo also remarked approvingly of Conte's man-management and motivational skills. In his autobiography he recalled how Conte's introductory speech to the Juventus squad made a significant impact: "He needed only one speech, with many simple words, to conquer both me and Juventus. He had fire running through his veins and he moved like a viper. 'This squad, dear boys, is coming off two consecutive seventh-place finishes. It's crazy. It's shocking. I am not here for this, so it's time to stop being so crap.'... When Conte speaks, his words assault you. They crash through the doors of your mind. I've lost count of the number of times I've said: 'Hell, Conte said something really spot-on again today.”
In addition to his comparisons to José Mourinho, some commentators have also remarked on his managerial similarities to Alex Ferguson, using an anecdote from his final season as Juventus manager to illustrate his formidable temper. Prior to the team talk ahead of the final game of the 2013–14 season, Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon arrived with the club's chief executive who Buffon claimed wanted to speak to the players over how much they were due in win bonuses having won the title. "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. Juventus won the game 3–0 and set a new record for the most points and wins in a single Serie A season
Personal life
Conte and his wife Elisabetta have a daughter Vittoria. The couple had been together for fifteen years before marrying in June 2013.
Conte has expressed his gratitude to his family for their support during the Scommessopoli match-fixing scandal investigations, “I have a great woman by my side, one who always tries to understand me. As for my daughter, she is the other woman in my life. She is beginning to understand that her dad gets nervous when he does not win [a match]”.
In addition to his native Italian, Conte can also speak English. Conte is a practicing Roman Catholic
Culled from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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