Just days after turning down the Napoli job, Antonio Conte talks about what makes the perfect coach, what made him change his Chelsea tactics and what he ‘absolutely hates’ people saying about him.
The tactician is currently out of work after terminating his Tottenham contract by mutual consent in March and was the favourite to take over at Napoli if Rudi Garcia was dismissed, but instead released a statement on Instagram assuring he wanted to spend time with his family.
This evening Conte attended the festival organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport and on stage spoke about his views on the sport.
“Football, like all sport, is continually evolving. When I started playing, coaches like Eugenio Fascetti, Carlo Mazzone and Giovanni Trapattoni were like second fathers. The changes came with Arrigo Sacchi and Marcello Lippi, who would focus more on the details and give you more information.
“Nowadays, the coach has a more important role to play and has more of an influence on what the team does. What I absolutely hate is hearing people say the job of a coach is to do as little damage as possible. If that is your idea, then don’t do this for a living.”
That is a quote that amongst others has been used by Juventus boss Max Allegri, the suggestion that a coach should give his players minimal tactical instructions. This is not quite the way Conte sees the sport.
“The perfect coach has to be like a tailor, make the best possible suit with the material at his disposal. Put the player in the best condition to express their talent, without getting fossilised into an idea.”
Of course, Conte himself has been accused of being ‘fossilised’ into the 3-5-2 formation, even though it wasn’t always like that.
“I won at Bari using the 4-2-4 system, then I started that with Juventus too, but then seeing the characteristics of Andrea Pirlo and also Giorgio Chiellini who didn’t feel up to covering the whole left flank, I switched to 4-3-3 and then the three-man defence.”
Conte insists that he was still committed to his first tactical approach even when leaving Italy for Chelsea.
“I wanted to play 4-2-4 there as well, but we were losing 3-0 to Arsenal at half-time, I changed the system and we ended up winning the Premier League that season. All systems can work, but a coach like a teacher must get into the hearts and minds of his students.”
He turned down Napoli, but it seems the Scudetto winners would be an ideal opportunity for Conte.
“One day I would like to train a team that had recently won, because for example I took Chelsea coming off seventh place, Juve were seventh too.”