Is Antonio Conte Showing He's the Man to End Chelsea's Youth Hoodoo?

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — Whereas John Lennon sang about peace and its merits, Chelsea fans have a different concern. The rhetoric from the terraces these past few seasons has been about giving kids chances, as opposed to Lennon’s sentiments.

There’s been an overwhelming appetite for the Blues to play as many of their young stars as possible. It’s been fuelled by a total dominance at youth level, where Chelsea have won three FA Youth Cups in a row along with back-to-back UEFA Youth League titles.

To put that success into perspective, not since Manchester United’s Busby Babes generation has a team wielded such dominance. Chelsea have become the pre-eminent club when we think of youth football in the UK; yet still we’re waiting to see that success carry over to where it really matters with the first-team.

Well, a comfortable 3-0 victory over Leicester City on Saturday felt like a breakthrough. Not because Antonio Conte saw his team record back-to-back Premier League clean sheets for the first time since April; it wasn’t because the Blues swept the reigning champions aside with a rediscovered ruthless edge, either.

At Stamford Bridge, we saw the bench populated with four recent youth team products—five if we’re including John Terry in that number. Three of them would make appearances later in the game.

Injuries and family bereavements in the Chelsea squad played a part in that, but just the sight of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ola Aina and Dominic Solanke on the teamsheet would have enthused many. They weren’t starting the match, nor would they appear en masse to inspire a Chelsea victory; but the presence of that quartet told us something about Conte and how he isn’t afraid to complete his squad with the next generation of players who are coming through in west London.

There hasn’t been a Chelsea manager do that since the days of when Bobby Campbell, Ian Porterfield and Glenn Hoddle were in charge in the late-1980s and early-to-mid-1990s. Multiple generations have passed us by in that time.

Back then, transfer budgets dictated Chelsea had to use their young players and give them opportunities. That policy gave the club Graeme Le Saux, Eddie Newton, Graham Stuart, Frank Sinclair, David Lee and others.

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They were of varying abilities, but the fact remained Chelsea had a squad that combined the best of their youth team and those they could afford to buy. It led to an FA Cup final appearance in 1994, while Newton and Sinclair featured in the team that won the trophy in 1997. Le Saux was back at the club after a move to Blackburn Rovers when they won the League Cup and Cup Winner’s Cup the following season.

Bankrolled by Roman Abramovich in the present, the same need to look within hasn’t been there. The owner’s deep pockets have meant that regardless of success in junior football, another player to rival the homegrown attributes of Terry has been harder to come by.

Chelsea are a club in the elite, and, as such, it’s elite players they require. Those sorts of players have been available in the transfer market; untested and untrusted youngsters aren’t able to compete. More to the point, the confidence or faith—call it what you will—hasn’t been there to see if they can.

That policy has frustrated. Chelsea fans have seen hoards of young hopefuls leave the club—some to go on and enjoy the sort of success it was hoped they would in west London. It cost Chelsea north of £20 million to bring back Nemanja Matic after his premature exit to Benfica in 2011.

Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafa Benitez and Mourinho again—the list of managers unwilling to turn to youth as a solution has been a long one.

Now Conte’s showing he is maybe the man to turn the tide.

Sure, the need is there for the Italian to do it on more than one occasion over the coming season if we're to believe the change is happening. We need to see a repeat of the Leicester gains more frequently, although his use of Chalobah is the biggest indicator yet as to where he stands on the issue of Chelsea’s youth.

The 21-year-old entered the fray against Leicester at a vital stage of the game. The visitors weren’t on top, but there was a hint of them getting back into the game. Prior to Chalobah’s entrance on 68 minutes, Claudio Ranieri’s players were beginning to get more from Chelsea. The Foxes were breaking through a midfield that had been stingy up to that point; they were getting more balls into the box; they were getting at Chelsea.

Conte understood where the game was headed, and he turned to Chalobah to swing it back in Chelsea’s favour. When Chelsea made it 3-0 and subsequently game over thanks to Victor Moses—Chalobah earned himself an assist for the goal with an audacious back heel—Loftus-Cheek and Aina followed as substitutes.

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“Today I am pleased as another young player from the academy played his first [Premier League] game,” Conte said in reference to Aina’s appearance. “Chalobah showed that he’s a young player, but a player who is really able.

“Now we must continue to work and follow in this way. For me and the players, this is the right way.”

Comfortable scorelines rarely dictated similar moves from Mourinho. It was only when a season became a trophy parade that we would ever see anything like three academy players appearing together. Few others in his position have done the same, either.

Conte was asked about his refusal to bring Diego Costa off when the game was wrapped up and the Italian spoke of how difficult it can be to close games out in England.

“I know that in English football, you are winning 2-0 and then in 10 minutes or 15 minutes you are losing 3-2. For this reason I always try to maintain the right atmosphere on the pitch for my players,” said the boss.

“This is important as it’s very difficult to manage a result in England. Anything can happen right to the end and for this reason I remained patient and I wanted to present this to my players.”

We should use that perspective to understand his use of Chalobah. If Chelsea needed their leading goalscorer to keep Leicester at bay, by that reckoning they equally needed Pedro, who Chalobah would replace. Let's not forget, Pedro is a World Cup and Champions League winner.

Where Costa was concerned, it was about his quality. And with just Michy Batshuayi and Solanke available as replacement strikers, it was experience, too.

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Conte’s point was a clear one: Despite the risk of injury or suspension, he needs to field his strongest team when he can. Inadvertently, he’s putting Chalobah into that bracket.

Indeed, it was an interesting sight when Chalobah came on for the Blues. He was getting ready to warm up pitchside, jogging past the manager before he got an earful from Conte. What the Italian said was inaudible from the press box, but Chalobah’s immediate response to strip down into his kit told us what we couldn’t hear.

Conte was energetic in his actions; he wasn’t wasting time in getting the midfielder on. There was a specific need to close this game out, which Chelsea would do more emphatically than Conte had perhaps expected with that third goal.

Whatever the tactics dictated, Chalobah was a part of that. In the long term, will it be the same for Chelsea’s other talented upstarts?

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes