Antonio Conte Show Chelsea Fans What To Expect With Tactical Win Over Belgium

BY EWAH CHIKA

With a team sheet that had the likes of Emmanuelle Giaccherini who plays for lowly Bologna after flopping at Sunderland and 31-years-old, Marco Parolo who is above 31 and playing for mid-table Lazio, Eder Martins who scored just one goal since January for Inter Milan and Graziano Pelle (31-years-old ) who lost his place in Southampton's starting line-up to Irish Shane Long , Antonio Conte boasted one of the worst Italian players in modern years in terms of star names. 

This was in stark contrast to the Marcelo Lippi's 2006 FIFA World Cup team that had Francesco Totti, Andre Pirlo, Genaro Gattuso, Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro and Luca Toni. Although it's not Conte's fault that there is a dearth of talent in the Seria A and National team, the newly appointed Chelsea coach showed he was a tactical genius as he marshalled his team against the Red Devil's of Belgium who are dark horses and boast the best names in football in the tournament.  

Conte's team played with determination and a tactical discipline which is yet to be seen in the tournament. The back line of Matteo Darmian, Leonardo Bonucci(who provided the assist with a clever pass Andre Pirlo would surely envy) , Giorgio Chiellini and Barzagli were more than impressive. Conte set up his team to soak pressure and hit Belgium on the counter like his Juventus team normally does. To buttress further the stat of the game showed that while Belgium enjoyed a 57% ball possession attempting 17 shots on target only 2 were successful which was poor when compared to Italy's 43 % ball possession, 12 attempted shots on target with 7 successful. 

Italy clearly played with long balls from the back which was played directly from the back. This made it easy for the likes of Giaccherini and Pelle to torment Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at every given opportunity . Conte showed that he didn't need stars to win games and that his team could compensate for their dearth in talent with tactical mastery . 

Belgium though missed glorious chances with the likes of Romelu Lukaku , Divork Origi guilty but it would be unfair to say the Italians didn't deserve the win. 

If Monday night was the audition , Antonio Conte clearly showed the world and Chelsea fans that he was the man to take the club to the promised land.