Antonio Conte believes that the way Chelsea lost 3-0 to Arsenal in September really turned the tables upside down in the Blues’ title chase.
The West London side had faced a defeat to Liverpool previously before also getting hammered by the Gunners in a very upsetting visit to the Emirates Stadium.
That’s when the Italian tactician knew what he had to do to change things around in the team, intriguing a whole new formation and playing style to the team that had gone on with the same old 4-2-3-1 system throughout the last five years.
It was time for the now beloved 3-4-3 formation, that helped Chelsea to a huge 13-game winning streak, making the Blues from top-four contenders to title favourites.
The 46-year-old explained this on yesterday’s press conference which was held after the Blues had cruised into a title-winning 1-0 victory over West Brom at the Hawthorns.
“I found the strength to change, and take the responsibility to change system and find a new approach for these players. That was the key moment for us.
Honestly… to find the right solution was not easy, so above all for this I want to thank my players because they trusted in a new work, a new philosophy of football, in the video analysis to see their mistakes and positive and negative situations.
I think this result is for this attitude, this behaviour of my players. Every single manager can have a good idea of football, but if you don’t have the players behind you, it’s impossible to reach targets like this.”
Conte was also asked about the key situations in last night’s game, where Blues outcast Michy Batshuayi came on from the bench to score the winning goal eight minutes before full-time whistle.
The former Azzurri boss joked about it a bit claiming his substitution to have made the difference in the game, but then turned on to praise the Belgian for his great patience and performances this season.
“My substitutions were very good! I must be pleased, above all, for him. We all know the season, the difficulty he found in this first season for him. It’s not easy to play in this league. I think this league is very strong. This league is fantastic to play in and be a manager in. For him, I’m pleased because he scored two goals this season. These goals were very important for him and for us.
Michy repaid me a lot for this choice. Willian was also very good. It means I trust in my squad. We have had three competitions this season – league, FA Cup and League Cup – and for this reason I think some players didn’t find a lot of space [to play]. But they worked very hard and, today, Michy is a great example. I’m very happy for him. To score an important goal in the Premier League is very important for him.”
– Antonio Conte, Independent
