Premier League Hangover: Has Antonio Conte Found a Tailor-Made Fit for Chelsea?

For the second time this season Antonio Conte likened a manager's life to that of a tailor. After a couple of shapeless off-the-peg performances had ludicrously led to some bookmakers on Thursday suspending betting on the Italian leaving Chelsea, a victory over Leicester City as measured and exquisite as anything found on Savile Row was the perfect riposte.

It usually takes around five meetings between tailor and client to make a bespoke suit with a perfect fit. It looks as though it may have taken Conte eight games to do likewise with his Chelsea side.

A 3-4-3 formation has proved liberating in releasing the manacles, mind-forged or otherwise. Like placing under the stairs an unwanted vase inherited from a deceased relative, he's waited a respectful period before ditching Chelsea's time-honoured 4-2-3-1.

"In the week we tried a lot to find a solution that gave us more compactness," said Conte, per Sky Sports. "For this team and squad this system is the right fit. The coach must understand and find the right suit. We are like a tailor."

Leicester, in comparison, wear the moniker of champions as child-again Josh does an adult-size suit at the end of Big. It swamps them completely. 

So before eulogizing effusively over Chelsea, first comes the caveat. Leicester were atrocious, again.

An unspoken consensus seems to have been drawn to give Claudio Ranieri and his players a free hit this season. Such was the incogitable nature of their title win, Jamie Vardy and his band of brethren could take to the field in Bermuda shorts clutching pina coladas and still be afforded a guard of honour. If they did, it would explain a lot.

The notion they have "found their level" this season has been readily bandied about, as though losing each of their four away games at a cost of 13 goals conceded is just about right for a side that won the Premier League by 10 points and spent £70 million over the summer. Without putting too fine a point on it, that's utter bollocks palpable nonsense.

A lull was always to be expected in the season after the night before, but Leicester are playing as though they have just come out of a coma rather than a hangover. Surprise league winners Leeds United (1991/92) and Blackburn Rovers (1994/95) before them had similarly wretched away form the season after a title-winning campaign.

Doing unremarkable things remarkably well was what propelled Leicester into the pantheons of sporting greats. The current campaign has seen them bereft of the core principles so perspicaciously drilled into them by Ranieri. There is no organisation, application, commitment, desire or direction. Saturday was the third Premier League game in succession they failed to register a shot on target in the first half.

Defenders look embarrassed to put the ball in the stand; midfielders are taking an unnecessary extra touch; forwards once willing to chase lost causes as a dog does a stick thrown into the sea, now look behind them with an expression that says: "You kicked it, you 'effin chase it."

It is as though they are trying to play in a manner they perceive to be befitting of champions. It's like trying to paint a self-portrait without a mirror or photograph. What you think you look like is rarely what the rest of the world sees.

At the moment watching them reminds of "Beautiful Head," a song by American band The National: "You're aware of yourself lately, redefining yourself, designing yourself."

Leicester need to go back to being unapologetically Leicester.

Ranieri's decision to start with Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani and Danny Simpson on the substitutes' bench with Tuesday's game against FC Copenhagen in mind, effectively informed the watching world he is prioritising the UEFA Champions League over the Premier League this season. He's not the only one, going off his players' performances.

Leicester were never likely to repeat a once-in-a-lifetime feat, so the argument is what does it matter if they finish sixth or 16th in the league if it helps facilitate a run to the knockout stages, maybe even the latter rounds, of Europe's premier club competition?

Certainly the early indication is the rest of Europe is not as finely acquainted with Leicester's unique qualities as a Premier League less likely to be caught cold again this time around. Ranieri's pursuit of glory on the continent at the expense of keeping up appearances domestically could be construed as romantic, but to this critic's eye his side look bloated and complacent.

They should be judged as champions and not some kind of end-of-the-pier novelty act. Better to be cutting than condescending.

In the second half on Saturday, an unusually animated Ranieri engaged in an expressive bout of finger wagging before following it up with an evocative thumbs down. It had a nice touchline theatre to it normally more in the oeuvre of his compatriot, Conte.

Not to be outdone, Conte proceeded to kill instantly with the outside of his foot a wayward Cesar Azpilicueta pass that kissed the clouds on its way down. All without taking his hands out of his pockets.

It was that kind of an afternoon, everything fell into place.

After winning their first three matches of the season Chelsea followed an immaculate start by taking just a point from the next three, drawing to Swansea City before losing to Liverpool and Arsenal. A most un-Italian-like seven goals were conceded in this period, with the 3-0 loss at Arsenal illuminating for many just how far Conte's side still have to go before they can be considered anything like title contenders.

Conte switched to a back three for the second half at the Emirates Stadium, and it stemmed an Arsenal side that scored three in the first period and wouldn't have been flattered by six. It was a system retained for the 2-0 win at Hull City and again on Saturday. It is one yet to be breached.

A move to playing three at the back has been deemed an innovation born more out of necessity than design. Yet it seems a little disingenuous to suggest Conte has somehow stumbled across this solution as though it had been left in a cupboard by one of his predecessors.

Given he won three Serie A titles at Juventus upon implementing a 3-4-3 formation during his time in Turin, and then overachieved using the same system with the Italy national side at Euro 2016, it's probably safe to say there was always a possibility Chelsea would end up playing the same way.

On the day, Chelsea's injury list housed absentees Oscar (family illness), Cesc Fabregas, Branislav Ivanovic and Mikel Jon Obi. A crueler writer might observe it had the look of a different kind of list entirely. Willian was away on compassionate leave following the death of his mother.

As a pair Gary Cahill and David Luiz have been responsible for more slapstick moments than the time Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton shared screen time in Limelight. The addition of Azpilicueta adds a straight-man act to the routine. It has been sorely missed. 

Cahill certainly looked more relaxed in the knowledge it wasn't solely his job to second-guess what Luiz would do next. In turn the Brazilian gave an imperious performance. Having Vardy in your pocket must feel like housing a ferret in your trousers. If the Leicester man—who had the fewest first-half touches of any player—was nipping at his bits, though, Luiz never let on. He proved equally adept defensively as he did dipping a free-kick on to the post and forcing Kasper Schmeichel into a save with another.

A fit-again John Terry could have his Chelsea career extended by another year or two if Conte perseveres with a back three.

All over the field it was a system that released players. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses put in exemplary shifts as wing-backs, hugging the touchline on either flank to ensure Chelsea held a shape that allowed the likes of Eden Hazard and Pedro the freedom to move infield.

Both Alonso and Moses played on the front foot from the off, high and wide, to push Marc Albrighton and Jeffrey Schlupp back towards their own goal. It set the tone for the whole game, with Leicester penned in and at a loss as to how to get out.

An extra body at the back negated the necessity for N'Golo Kante to stand on the toes of his centre-halves. Playing at least 10 yards further forward, the Frenchman seemed to revel in the extra attacking responsibility.

In his best performance in a Chelsea shirt, Kante demonstrated a depth to his passing that suggested the most unassuming of characters may have yet another string to his bow.

Whenever he took possession half-hearted boos emanated from the away end. By full-time he had largely silenced them—presumably by intercepting any insults before they left the mouths of those who used to worship him. 

A Chelsea side in full working order was perfectly summed up in the second half when Kante surged past his replacement Daniel Amartey—Timothy Dalton to Kante's Roger Moore­—before playing a sweeping cross-field pass to Moses so measured it's a wonder Chelsea's wide man didn't trip up on a pair of scales to reach it. Schmeichel saved smartly with his feet, but Conte will have been delighted with both Kante's attacking verve and Moses' ability to provide a goal threat from what is essentially a defensive role.

Schmeichel could do nothing when Moses capped a virtuoso display with a goal-of-the-month contender, to rubber-stamp Chelsea's superiority at 3-0. After playing into the feet of substitute Nathaniel Chalobah­—one of three Chelsea Academy graduates on the field at full-time­—Moses continued his run and was sumptuously played in by a pirouette back-heel, before finishing with the calmness of a man who knows he is playing well.

With Alonso providing penetration from the left, Hazard was given the freedom of the capital. He delighted with a performance full of chutzpah, a goal, and no little graft, too, as he looks to convince Conte that to stick him on the wing is to have booked Kate Moss for a photoshoot and have her wear a cassock. Saturday's form was the form of 2014/15, when he was named PFA Player of the Year and Chelsea won the title.

His goal, Chelsea's second after Costa had opened the scoring when Wes Morgan left him free at a corner (see tweet below), was a case in point. 

Hazard having a licence to drift centrally and beyond Costa is the obvious point to make, but it's also worth noting how wide and high Alonso was on the left. His presence stretched Leicester's back four, even if Robert Huth and Luis Hernandez inexplicably getting in each other's way in trying to intercept Nemanja Matic's slide-rule pass was inexcusable.

To paraphrase Gianluca Vialli in the Sky Sports studio, while it was possible to score against Leicester last season you'd have to climb over a couple of dead bodies to do so. This term it's possible just by not waking them up.

Conte has always said he likes his centre-forward to be a proper nine and play in areas that hurt the opposition. Costa's seventh goal of the season is testimony to the fact he has his appetite back in this respect, but it was equally interesting how often the Spain international was willing to drop deep—frequently demonstrating a nimbleness with his feet that can sometimes be absent when he's not so lean physically.

As fleet of foot as he was immovable when in possession with his back to goal, his link-up play was exemplary as Hazard and Pedro weaved pretty patterns both around and in front of him.

Costa's histrionics at not being substituted were probably the same histrionics he would have demonstrated had his number been called. It takes a brave or foolish man to undermine Conte so publicly. The fact Costa is both may see him earn little more than an indulgent ticking-off from a taskmaster who said at full-time he wants to keep his striker on the field at all times because of his personality.

Sometimes you just have to accept you can't have your cake and eat it.

Maybe that's how Ranieri feels about balancing Leicester's season in terms of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Conte has no such quandary, and as such, it's perhaps worth recalling his quote about tailoring being like football from his first press conference as Chelsea manager, per the Telegraph:

"

When I was in Italy I liked to say the manager was like a tailor who must build a dress - the best dress for the team.

You must respect the talent of the team, of the players, you learn and then you can change. Three at the back, four at the back, right now it is not important.

I hope there is a small flame here that can grow into a blazing inferno.

"

Terry in a dress doesn't bear thinking about, but it would perhaps be a little remiss not to give Chelsea at least a second thought when considering the title contenders.

Not a bad turnaround considering Conte was getting the sack on Thursday.