🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created | OneFootball

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Padraig Whelan·6 October 2019

🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

This time 10 years ago, Inter were on an unstoppable march towards an astonishing treble under José Mourinho.

The 2009/10 campaign, perhaps the greatest in the club’s history, culminated in a domestic double and Champions League triumph against Bayern Munich in Madrid.


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Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

What made things even sweeter for the Nerazzurri was the plight of old rivals Juventus.

That season the Old Lady looked weary, finishing seventh in Serie A, 27 points off Inter in top spot.

After another seventh place finish the following year, the tables turned completely in 2012 as the Nerazzurri slipped to the same lowly 58-point tally as Juventus took home the title.

There was one big reason for that quick and, frankly, unexpected turnaround. It was the Antonio Conte effect that injected new life into an ailing fallen giant, reshaping and revitalising the squad.

In his first season back at the club where he was a legend as a player, Conte surprised many by leading a modest Juve outfit to glory.

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

Unheralded journeymen Marcelo Estigarribia, Emanuele Giaccherini and Simone Pepe became important players in the title tilt.

Top scorer Alessandro Matri even managed to look like a prime Luca Toni at times, such is Conte’s ability as a tactician. Those at the Allianz Stadium need absolutely no reminder of the 50-year-old’s wizard-like talents for taking an unremarkable side and getting a tune out of them.

So it is with some trepidation that they may be preparing for Sunday’s Derby d’Italia trip to San Siro.

Juve know first-hand what their former coach is capable of and have seen him repeat the feat with Italy and Chelsea since his ugly exit from Turin. Now it’s Inter’s turn.

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

The early signs from Conte’s time in Milan suggest he is at it all over again, turning around a prestigious club’s flagging fortunes almost overnight.

It is only October, of course, but Conte’s men have won each of their six games to start the Serie A season – something they hadn’t managed since 1966/67’s Grande Inter swansong.

Stefano Sensi wasn’t Inter’s marquee midfield arrival but looks a superstar under Conte, while Marcelo Brozović and Danilo D’Ambrosio have elevated their games to new heights already.

Juventus should be worried about this game and what is to come after it because their former king is coming for their crown. Since Conte led Juve to that surprise title win in 2012, nobody has been able to knock them off their perch. Truthfully, few have even come close.

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

There was a brief threat from Roma in 2016/17, although Juve led the table from week five until the finish, and Napoli chased the Bianconeri all the way a year later.

But aside from some wobbles here and there, there has never been a real sense of danger or belief that someone was ready to end Juve’s monopoly on the domestic game.

Until now. There is very much a feeling that Milan’s Piazza del Duomo could host a long overdue party in May, given how the stars have aligned.

Juventus have taken a big risk with their appointment of Maurizio Sarri. The Tuscan tactician excelled with Napoli but his intricate philosophy is, understandably, still a work in progress in Turin.

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

Usually inflexible and dogged, Sarri even seems unsure of what his best system his and how he can fit his main men into the side. It’s early days and he hasn’t been helped by injuries, particularly in defence, but Inter have turned the pressure up immediately.

Giorgio Chiellini will miss much of the season with an ACL injury, Matthijs de Ligt is still very much adapting to his new home and right-back poses problems following the baffling João Cancelo sale.

This is as vulnerable as the club have looked, on paper at least, since the pre-Conte era in Piedmont.

Meanwhile, Inter already look like a well-oiled machine in Conte’s tried, tested, and trusted 3-5-2 system.

Article image:🇮🇹 Antonio Conte ready to defeat the Serie A beast he created

Diego Godin, Stefan de Vrij and Milan Škriniar are as formidable a defensive trio as anyone has fielded in recent memory and Samir Handanović is a model of consistency behind them.

The midfield’s praises have already been sung, while at various points in the first two months, Lautaro Martínez, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sánchez have all looked threatening in the final third.

They may have only won one of their last 13 league meetings with Juve (a 2016 victory under the ill-fated Frank de Boer of all people) but that was all B.C. Before Conte.

Under the 50-year-old, they have been perfect, winning all three Serie A home games this season without conceding a single goal.

This could be a new era in Italian football, with the first signal of intent being laid down at San Siro this Sunday. The man who started Juve’s decade of dominance is now back and ready to end it.