Antonio Conte performed yet another tactician masterclass display as Chelsea fought themselves to a vital 2-1 victory over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Eden Hazard gave Chelsea the early lead after 10 minutes of play, and despite Thibaut Courtois’ error which led to a Sergio Aguero equalizer, the Blues regained the lead through the same Belgian, this time from the rebound of a well-saved penalty.
As the first half came to a close in a tight 2-1 lead for the Blues, Conte had noticed something that the rest of the audience might not have.
City were enjoying the most of possession on the first period, as City’s David Silva and Fernandinho sliced up the Chelsea defence time after time, forcing Courtois and the back-three to their best.
Conte acknowledged the issue and bravely took off Kurt Zouma from the back-three, moving Cesar Azpilicueta back where he belongs, and subbing on Nemanja Matic to the center of the field with Pedro now taking the right wing-back’s role.
Chelsea had now more bodies in the center of the field, and Silva was quickly shut down entirely.
It needs guts to make such changes in the middle of the game, but that’s what makes Conte one better of the likes of Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.
Here’s how we explained the half-time reshuffle himself:
“I think Kurt played a really good game but the substitution was tactical.
In the first half we were suffering a lot in midfield and they were finding spaces between the lines, so I wanted to reinforce the midfield with Matic, bring Azpi into his position and play Pedro as wing-back.
It was more offensive because your wing-back is more of a winger than a defender.
In the second half we had more balance and didn’t give them chances to score. We controlled the game well.”
– Antonio Conte, Daily Star
Chelsea will return to action this weekend, as they face Bournemouth – who are on a four-game unbeaten run – away on Saturday evening.
