The Chelsea Club Thread No Spoilers

Cosimo · 9 Jul 2016 at 08:10

Firstly, please read the below rules, they are very important:

1. These threads are for: tactical/player discussion inbetween weekend matchday threads, injury news, contract renewals, manager press conferences, and general minor news about your club that may not warrant its own thread. Anything that's not regarded as a minor news story must go in it's own thread.

2. No Spoilers! Please keep any discussion about weekend and midweek fixtures to the relevant matchday threads, at least until MOTD has been shown.

3. All transfer talk should be discussed in the dedicated transfers threads. Small rumours, signing of youth players etc outside the transfer window when the transfer threads aren't open are fine.

4. As per forum rules, keep it civil, supporters of any team are welcome to post in all club threads. If you have a problem with a post, RTM it. Trolling or accusations of trolling will not be tolerated.

While all the rules must be listened to, take particular care of the rule regarding spoilers. Any mention of the result or performance, even hinting at it, prior to MOTD will result in a suspension.

Cosimo · 9 Jul 2016 at 08:33

Let's start this off...

Alberto Conte finally starts next week. Feels like it's going to be a new start for the club with the building of a new team, looking forward to better tactics, making fuller use of our "young ones" and some interesting transfers!

Thoughts?

Cosimo · 11 Jul 2016 at 06:39

Boot camp starts today (Times):

Chelsea’s players will return to training today braced for the hardest pre-season of their careers as Antonio Conte starts work at the club.

The Italian has already made the players aware of his intention to work them far harder than they were accustomed under José Mourinho and Guus Hiddink, with much greater emphasis on building physical fitness before the new season.

Conte’s methods contrast starkly with the more holistic approach favoured by Mourinho, whose sessions were intense but conducted almost exclusively with the ball, even during pre-season. Hiddink adopted a more laid-back approach when he took over midway through last season, delegating much of the coaching responsibilities to Steve Holland, his assistant, so the change to Conte’s boot-camp mentality will be even starker.

Conte is a very hands-on coach, who will personally see to it that his players are giving their all in training. Fitness and work rate is at the heart of his methodology and as a result will feature heavily in pre-season, during which Chelsea’s players will be asked to do far more running than they are accustomed to.

It is understood that Conte’s pre-season programme features lots of interval training over 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres, distances the players will be made to cover repeatedly, broken up by a short recovery, to improve their stamina and speed endurance. Only after these running drills have been completed will Conte get the ball out because he believes that the players need to hone their skills when fatigued.

Conte, the former Juventus coach who took Italy to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, also places a great emphasis on strategy and will run extra tactical sessions for the players in the afternoon. The 46-year-old plans to continue doing two training sessions every day when the season starts next month and has told players they can expect limited days off.

Conte has been allowed to bring a large back-room staff. Angelo Alessio and Massimo Carrera, his long-term assistants, have followed him from Italy, Gianluca Spinelli has replaced Christophe Lollichon as goalkeeping coach and Mauro Sandreani, the scout, and Paolo Bertelli, the fitness coach, are also expected to join the club.

I got tired reading that.

Cosimo · 11 Jul 2016 at 08:51

jonneymendoza said:
Wait are we allowed to now have club specific thread?

Yes, see here:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18739566

Cosimo · 11 Jul 2016 at 09:01

Chelsea should be presenting Antonio Conte to the media at Cobham today so we can expect a press conference.

Cosimo · 11 Jul 2016 at 16:02

Now being report that he won't be starting until Wednesday.

Cosimo · 12 Jul 2016 at 17:50

Thursday it is:

From Chelsea FC: media conference 2pm, Thursday 14th July 2016. To unveil: Antonio Conte. Stamford Bridge (accredited media only).

Cosimo · 13 Jul 2016 at 15:59

Conte at training:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChelseaFC_Lat/status/753203807937495040/video/1

Cosimo · 14 Jul 2016 at 15:47

Transcript of Conte presser:

http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/14/anton...e-as-chelsea-manager-full-transcript-6006747/

Cosimo · 14 Jul 2016 at 15:50

The full version English and Italian :

Cosimo · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:50

Finally some good news on Kurt Zouma as he appears in training for the first time since his cruciate ligament injury in February:

‘Today he started the aerobic work for the first time,’ Conte revealed.

‘When we have a very strong situation, no [he is not involved]. We wait because we must respect the right time for him.

‘Now we are preparing for him to go and train when there aren’t very strong situations. He has also started to play our idea of football when we have the ball, and also without the ball.

‘We know he is recovering but I know he needs more time to recover. It’s important we don’t push him. I had the same injury and I know from experience when the player is ready to go.’

Cosimo · 23 Jul 2016 at 07:11

Wondering who Conte's staff are, well here they are:

Our new first team head coach has three assistant coaches: Angelo Alessio; Gianluca Conte and Steve Holland.

Alessio first linked up with Conte in a coaching capacity at Siena. They continued to work together at Juventus and with the Italy national side. As players they were team-mates in the Juventus midfield where they won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia.

Gianluca Conte is the younger brother of Antonio. They were both players at their home town club of Lecce and Gianluca has worked as an analyst with his brother at Bari, Juventus and with Italy. Steve Holland will continue in the role having worked with the first team since 2011.

The fitness coaches are Paolo Bertelli, Julio Tous and Chris Jones. Bertelli and Tous join Chelsea having held those positions in the Italy national set-up. Tous, a Spaniard, will also act as a performance analyst. Chris Jones has been with our first team squad since 2009. Costantino Coratti, who was also part of Conte’s staff during his two years as Italy manager, is our new assistant fitness coach.

Gianluca Spinelli joins as a goalkeeper coach. Prior to moving to Chelsea, he divided his time between coaching the goalkeepers in the Italy squad and at Genoa where he worked for 12 years. He will be assisted by Henrique Hilario.

Tiberio Ancora will act as a consultant personal trainer/nutritionist.

Our former keeper Carlo Cudicini now has a dual role. As well as a club ambassador, he will also be assistant to the first team head coach.

Not many old faces left.

Cosimo · 27 Jul 2016 at 11:07

A couple of Conte interviews:

The ESPN one with Gab Marcotti:

http://www.espnfc.com.au/chelsea/st...rebuild-chelsea-from-a-very-strange-situation

Cosimo · 28 Jul 2016 at 15:55

Today's post match presser:

Cosimo · 28 Jul 2016 at 16:27

Mikel donates $30k to Nigeria’s Olympic Team:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...nigerian-olympic-team-ahead-of-2016-rio-games

:cool:

Cosimo · 3 Aug 2016 at 17:14

Meet Kante:

Cosimo · 9 Aug 2016 at 07:52

Did anyone go to one of our pre-season games?

Cosimo · 10 Aug 2016 at 11:28

Very good piece about Antonio Conte:

http://twentyminutereads.com/2016/08/09/the-hammer/

Looking forward to him sorting us out!

Cosimo · 11 Aug 2016 at 06:40

Conte bans tomato ketchup (Times):

Antonio Conte has banned his players from consuming pizza, fizzy drinks, tomato ketchup and brown sauce as part of an overhaul of Chelsea’s nutritional and fitness regime. Conte’s players will return to the club’s training ground after three weeks on tour today to discover that all fizzy drinks and sauces have been removed from the staff canteen, while the post-match pizzas that were permitted by previous management regimes have also been discontinued by the new manager.

Conte views nutrition as a key of his training regime and has opted to remove products that he considers to have no dietary benefit to his players. Salt and pepper will remain on the tables at Chelsea’s Cobham headquarters for those players wishing to add extra seasoning to their food, although vinegar has been replaced by balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

The bulk of the food prepared for Chelsea’s players remains largely the same, although Conte has made one significant change in insisting on a lighter pre-match meal than his pre- decessors, while a greater emphasis is now placed on providing high quality protein and fats in preference to refined carbohydrates. A brunch-type offering featuring cereals, eggs and pasta has been replaced by a more limited and restricted serving of chicken and salad as Conte believes his players had been going out on to the field feeling unnecessarily bloated.

Conte’s nutritional changes are part of a plan to improve his squad’s fitness and despite the increased workload there have been no complaints from the players, with several reporting for pre-season training significantly lighter. Double and triple training sessions were commonplace throughout pre-season and Chelsea trained twice at Stamford Bridge yesterday as they prepare for their opening Premier League fixture against West Ham United on Monday.

Cosimo · 11 Aug 2016 at 15:13

Exorcise said:
Do you guys feel your squad is missing anything? Defenders?

Certainly need to strengthen defensively so we could do with a new centre back. Hopefully Koulibaly will be sorted by the end of the week. We also need Kurt Zouma to return from his long injury. The rest of the squad is fine for the time being and we'll see how it develops with Conte over the next few months.

The Chelsea Club Thread **No Spoilers**

The Chelsea Club Thread No Spoilers