Football managers who had their genesis on the other side of the touchlines tend to mold teams into the image of who they were as footballers. In this respect, Antonio Conte is no different. The terrier midfielder for Juventus and the Italian national team seeks to build teams defined by warriors. It is his belief that the whole must be greater than the sum of its parts. The collective, above all else, is his message.
Conte memorably said ‘work’ 32 times in his first press conference as Chelsea manager. After Inter Milan’s defeat in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal to Napoli on February 12, he again slipped it in, “We are at the beginning of a journey; if anyone thinks we are at the level of those who have commanded for many years I say that we are far away and we must work and use these defeats to improve.”
There’s something beautiful in how Conte embraces the work concept–in how he sometimes mumbles and grumbles, borderline dismissively, about the realities of the job he’s been tasked with. He comes across to some as a complainer, one who detracts from his failings as a manager with an undiluted truth. But he embraces the underdog tag. In fact, he yearns for it, as is evidenced by his recruitment. It may stem from his dual role as a player and de facto coach in a star-studded Juventus, which could boast Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and Lilian Thuram. Then, he was the one of the few to provide the reminder that this team was in fact populated by humans. Now, he’s the manager who, where other managers see discards, he sees diamonds in the rough and he sees trophies.
As a player, he wasn’t as naturally talented as his counterparts, but was able to improve the weaker facets of his game through hard work to add to his dedication, stamina, and discipline. The man, by his own admission, was one of “medium” talent but “great passion”. It is the “heart and a will to win and work to overcome [his] limitations” which held him in good stead as a player that defines his management. To overcome something, you must first acknowledge it.