Gianluca Vialli believes his former Juventus teammate Antonio Conte will take Chelsea to “the top of the table”.
The ex-striker is himself a former Blues manager, and spoke to the club’s official website about his compatriot.
“It is the most difficult job for the manager to convince players of that talent, that creativity, to actually work hard for the team when it’s not in possession of the ball,” Vialli said.
Gianluca Vialli believes his former Juventus teammate Antonio Conte will take Chelsea to “the top of the table”.
The ex-striker is himself a former Blues manager, and spoke to the club’s official website about his compatriot.
“It is the most difficult job for the manager to convince players of that talent, that creativity, to actually work hard for the team when it’s not in possession of the ball,” Vialli said.
“You build a team and you become successful when you are defensively solid. He switched to three at the back and they look much more solid, not conceding goals. The rest comes.
“I’m amazed by the ability of Antonio; in two or three weeks, he’s already been able to make them play the way he wants.
“I loved the attitude from the start and I think tactically the change in system could be the answer. They were very, very effective.
“They are still a work in progress, you can see they are not perfect, but I think that is the way to go. Antonio will get them to where they belong, which is the top of the table.”
Vialli also praised two of Chelsea’s stars in N’Golo Kante and Diego Costa.
“Diego Costa is still a very aggressive player in the way he plays, but now he’s more focused on what he’s got to do in order to score goals and win games.
“I think Antonio likes him very much. I think Diego feels the manager has confidence in his ability, and that makes a huge difference. When you feel that the manager loves you and the way you play, your performances improve dramatically.
“N'Golo Kante was splendid [against Leicester] and he did the job perfectly. He gives the team the right balance.
“He covers a lot of ground, he does the simple things very well, but he also showed some skill going forward and almost scored a goal.
“Playing with three defenders, he has still got to cover in front of the defence, but a bit less than when you play just two. Now he can concentrate more on playing some forward balls.”