Antonio Conte

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Very Interesting! The tweet above says we are very close to hiring Gianni Vio to join as Conte's backroom staff.

Below is an article about him from James Horncastle written last year.

Italy’s secret weapon: Gianni Vio, the banker turned set-piece specialist with 4,830 routines​

James Horncastle
Jun 26, 2021
56

Italy players scattered like a kit of pigeons outside the Doge’s Palace in Venice’s St Mark’s Square.
As Lorenzo Pellegrini stood over the ball, carefully calibrating his aim in preparation for a free kick, eight of his team-mates divided themselves into two lines of four and positioned themselves in front of the Poland wall.
The crowd in Gdansk turned and looked at each other quizzically.
Poland goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was confused too, spitting in his gloves and wondering what on earth was going on.
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All of a sudden, just as Pellegrini started his run-up, one of the blue walls broke up like a dandelion hit by a gust of wind. Four Italians were on the move.
One sprinted back towards Pellegrini and called for a pass, the others turned on their heels and dashed into the Poland penalty area, pollinating the defence with panic.
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In the end, Pellegrini ignored them all and his curling shot struck a Polish head rather than the back of the net.
A goalless Nations League game last October seemed destined to turn into one of those memory orbs from the Pixar film Inside Out that fade and ultimately get dumped. Except, of course, for those who recognised a signature in Italy’s unorthodox set-piece scheme. Manager Roberto Mancini had just tipped his hand. Only one man could be responsible for such a creative and outlandish routine — an agent of carefully choreographed chaos by the name of Gianni Vio.
In The Athletic’s big read on the cultural revolution behind Italy’s revival, we took you to Bassano del Grappa, where a data-integrated approach and the new progressive core values behind the national team were distilled like the pomace that goes into making the finest Marolo. Now the time has come to fly like one of those winged lions in St Mark’s, over the lagoon, to neighbouring Mestre, whose football team merged with Venezia back in the 1980s, which explains why the best jersey in football last season had a slice of orange running through it like an Aperol spritz.
Nowadays, great innovation in Italian football tends to come from frustrated bankers.
It was like that with Maurizio Sarri at the Banca Toscana and so it was with Vio at the Mestre branch of Unicredit. The pair bumped into each other while doing a course at Italy’s Ivy League coaching school in Coverciano on the outskirts of Florence, a mythical place that also doubles as the national team’s headquarters. Sarri would later become famous, particularly at Empoli, for his little black book of 33 set-piece routines but Vio, who also began coaching at the bottom of the Italian football pyramid, made it his speciality. He apparently has no fewer than 4,830…
The thesis Vio wrote when completing his coaching badges was entitled: “Set pieces: the 15-goal striker.” It drew on his work at amateur level in Serie D and a set of gemelli, identical twins who used to play under him at Il Quinto di Treviso, a team from a part of Italy more famous for growing radishes than the risk and reward of a smartly-taken corner or free kick.
In the lexicon of Italian football, gemelli del gol are usually a couple of prolific strikers whose partnership is so close they might as well be related. A good example from back in the day is Ciccio Graziani and Paolo Pulici at Torino or the guys Vio works with now with the national team, Mancini and Gianluca Vialli at Sampdoria.
With Il Quinto, however, Vio took things literally. He had two brothers no one could tell apart and put them in front of the goalkeeper at attacking set pieces. Defenders were momentarily at a loss as to which of them was their man and the twins’ job of ignoring the ball and staring at the goalkeeper weirded them out. Variations of it were bafflingly effective and the anecdote highlights the extent to which Vio designs specific set plays around personnel and psychology.
When a Venetian newspaper recently asked him to disclose his secrets, he kept his cards close to his chest:
“All I’ll say is you need to analyse the players that you have and find solutions tailor-made to their skill set. There are players whose reading of the game is special. At the highest level, Sergio Ramos comes to mind. Wherever you put the ball, you can bet he’ll find a way to get on the end of it. Timing is the most important thing when it comes to finishing off a set piece.”
But the psy-ops element to them, as exemplified by the disorientation a set of identical twins caused a back line, cannot be underestimated either and in 2004 Vio partnered with psychologist Alessandro Tettamanzi to co-author a book they titled That Extra 30 Per Cent.
Why 30 per cent? Well, “that’s how much set pieces can improve a team’s goal tally”, Vio explained. “It’s like having another striker.”
One day, a copy of the book ended up on Walter Zenga’s desk. Spider-Man, as the former Inter Milan goalkeeper is nicknamed, was coaching Red Star Belgrade at the time. He devoured the book in one sitting. As a goalkeeper, he had always been fascinated by the challenges posed by set pieces, particularly how his opposing teams tried to make his life as difficult as possible.
“A team takes 200 set pieces every season,” Zenga thought. “Why would you waste 200 chances to score?”
He found Vio’s contact details in the back of the book and sent him an email.
They began swapping ideas and Zenga was so struck by the value this Unicredit clerk was adding to his team that when he moved on to Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates, he flew Vio out so he could give his players a 20-day clinic on set pieces.
When Sicilian club Catania offered Zenga the chance to work in Serie A he was asked by the chief executive, Pietro Lo Monaco, if he wanted to bring in his own staff. “I told him, ‘I only want one guy. He’s called Gianni Vio and he’s a set-piece specialist’.” Lo Monaco was left reaching for the old cliche about goalkeepers being mad and the way Zenga tells it: “Only a nutter like me would ask for someone who worked in a bank and coached in non-League to be with me when I got my first job in Serie A. Gianni used to fly down on Thursdays and leave on a Sunday. It was madness.”
But there was a method to it.
“A 20-goals a season player can get injured,” Zenga said, “he can get suspended. But there are set pieces in every game. Always. And he knows how to exploit them best. He’s very skilled at it. He manages to get players scoring who otherwise wouldn’t score.”
Catania survived with 17 of their 44 goals (38.6 per cent) coming from set pieces and Vio might as well have been their top scorer.
His empty-the-box, flood-the-box corner routines were responsible for two goals in a 3-0 upset of Napoli in April 2008 but one goal in particular attracted national attention. It was Giuseppe Mascara’s match-winning free kick against Torino the following November, when four of his team-mates withdrew from the wall and formed another deeper one in front of goalkeeper Matteo Sereni. As if that wasn’t perplexing enough for the former Ipswich shot-stopper, totally unbeknownst to Vio, Gianvito Plasmati improvised, adding another element of distraction by pulling down his own shorts. Everyone’s favourite eyeliner then lashed the free kick inside the post.
Zenga’s secret was out. He could hide Vio no longer.
Set pieces were Catania’s trademark and one of Zenga’s successors there, Vincenzo Montella, checked Vio in at Fiorentina when he got the job at the Artemio Franchi. “I’ve had lots of great specialists down the years,” Vio recently said. But he enjoyed the purplest of patches by the Arno. “Borja Valero, Gonzalo Rodriguez and Manuel Pasqual immediately got what we were trying to do.” Rodriguez in particular found his calling. The Argentinian centre-back scored six times and played a big role in Fiorentina finishing fourth in 2012-13, with 40.3 per cent of their goals (29 of 72) coming from Vio’s inventions.
Since then, Vio has collaborated with AC Milan and consulted at DC United in MLS, as well as Brentford and Leeds United in England. At 66, he likes to say his job is being a grandfather. But then, last year, Vio got a phone call.
“I was contacted directly by Mancini,” he said. “We met up in Bologna, had a chat and shook hands. I started working (with the national team) last September.”
It is as much a source of pride for Vio as it is for Zenga. “The goal Pessina scored (against Wales, in last weekend’s final Euro 2020 group match),” Zenga explained, “is a move we used to do all the time.”
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In this breakdown, the attention is drawn to Alessandro Bastoni and Leonardo Bonucci, who took up offside positions behind the Welsh wall.
That’s one of the things Vio wanted goalkeeper Danny Ward to be misdirected by.
But as Marco Verratti ran up to the ball, the two centre-halves stepped back onside and the threat came from outside the box instead. “He’d always send a man running past the first man on the edge of the wall,” says Zenga. And that’s exactly what happened here, with Matteo Pessina catching out Joe Morrell to score the only goal of the game.


After half-time, Mancini’s side came close to doubling their lead with another clever free kick.
Italy obscured Ward’s line of vision with not one wall but two, one either side of the Welsh rearguard.
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The deeper wall then rejoined the main one and got to work creating the angle for Federico Bernardeschi’s shot.
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One Italy player bent his run to draw his man away from where the versatile Juventus player wanted to shoot. The other blocked a Wales defender so Bernardeschi suddenly had clear air between him and the goal. A big Pink Floyd fan, it was as if The Wall never existed. On this occasion, Bernardeschi was unlucky and hit the post, just as Giorgio Chiellini was when his goal from a corner against Switzerland in the second group game got chalked off for handball.
“Gianni’s got so many moves,” former midfielder Davide Baiocco says, while reminiscing on their time together at Catania. “He likes the element of surprise and has lots of players co-ordinate their movement at the same time. On set plays, I’d put myself in an offside position, then make a counter-movement to come back onside and attack the same space again so I wouldn’t be marked in the seconds before our free-kick taker was preparing to hit the ball. It causes defenders all kinds of problems, because they don’t know who to mark.”
You can see it here, in a Nations League game last September, where Italy placed two lines of four behind the Bosnia & Herzegovina wall.
Knowing where they plan to go next is impossible for the Bosnians.
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As the set piece developed, a couple of Italians stepped back onside, where they were free either to block, make a dash for a prospective rebound or run in behind to connect with a dinked ball over the top.
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“Gianni studies his opponents hard,” Baiocco continues. “He knows whether a team is better at defending the near post than the far post and who moves first.”
Details like this matter and, in the end, could be the difference in Italy winning the Euros next month for the first time since 1968.
“Mancini knows this is a short, seven-game tournament and set pieces can help decide it,” Zenga said.
Sat at his desk in Belgrade all those years ago, he could never have predicted the doors a simple email might open.
Zenga effectively found Italy another striker, not another Ciro Immobile or Andrea Belotti. Not even a footballer. But someone who was busy crunching numbers at the Unicredit bank in a suburb of Venice.
Almost two decades later, Vio is another reason to bank on the Azzurri this summer.
 
As a 10 year old, I clearly remember this WC and being slightly confused by his reaction to scoring... He seemed to be saying "NOOOOO!" when I thought/assumed he'd be happy, and should be saying "YES!"

This was my first introduction to Continental goal celebrations!!

Then again, I was probably quite a stupid 10 year old!
 
As a 10 year old, I clearly remember this WC and being slightly confused by his reaction to scoring... He seemed to be saying "NOOOOO!" when I thought/assumed he'd be happy, and should be saying "YES!"

This was my first introduction to Continental goal celebrations!!

Then again, I was probably quite a stupid 10 year old!
Me + my old man running round the front room celebrating with him 🇮🇹
 
Yeah but we lost our aggression since Dembele left.

When we were at peak Poch in 2016/17 that was elite aggressive Poch ball.
But we WERE one of the most aggressive teams in Europe.

Ever since that cunt Mourinho rocked up and his adoring fans hung on every word of that god alwauful puff price Amazon doc they think we were a team of ballet dancers. Winds me right up.
 
But we WERE one of the most aggressive teams in Europe.

Ever since that cunt Mourinho rocked up and his adoring fans hung on every word of that god alwauful puff price Amazon doc they think we were a team of ballet dancers. Winds me right up.

Yeah exactly we were but then we dropped off, now we're getting it back.
 
Never make jokes about Conte....


REVEALED: Thomas Tuchel 'told flop Romelu Lukaku ''there's your daddy'' when he saw Tottenham boss Antonio Conte on TV' - in a 'joke' that angered the No 9 as their Chelsea relationship collapsed​

  • Thomas Tuchel 'broke his bond' with Romelu Lukaku after a joke that went wrong
  • He reportedly joked that ex-Inter boss Antonio Conte was Lukaku's 'daddy'
  • The Belgian international completed his loan move back to Inter on Wednesday
  • Lukaku scored 64 goals in 95 appearances for Conte whilst playing in Serie A
By BEN WILLCOCKS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:11 BST, 30 June 2022 | UPDATED: 09:12 BST, 30 June 2022

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel reportedly 'broke his relationship' with Romelu Lukaku when he made a joke about Antonio Conte that 'didn't go down well'.

The unsettled Belgian striker completed his loan move back to Inter on Wednesday, less than 12 months after arriving at Stamford Bridge for a club record fee of £97.5million.

Lukaku, who scored just eight times in 26 Premier League appearances last campaign, made no secret of his desire to return to the Italian giants during a contentious interview with Sky Italia last December.

By contrast, the 29-year-old netted 64 goals in 95 games at Inter under Conte, helping secure the Serie A title in 2020-21.

Tuchel's bond with Lukaku reportedly fractured after he made a joke that 'didn't go down well'.

Whilst watching a game involving Spurs, the Blues boss offended Lukaku by joking that Conte was his 'daddy', according to GOAL reporter Nizaar Kinsella.

The journalist, who was speaking on The Italian Football Podcast, claimed that the incident exacerbated the relationship between the pair.

He explained: 'To see him talk so highly of Inter was an insult to Chelsea fans. It broke the relationship with them.

'And there was another incident behind the scenes that wasn't televised or anything like that.

'Someone told me that Lukaku and Tuchel were watching a Tottenham game and Tuchel said, ''There's your daddy'', about Antonio Conte.

'It was just a joke, but apparently, it didn't go down very well with Lukaku.'

Upon touching down in Milan on Tuesday to complete his medical at the club, Lukaku greeted Inter fans with a smile and handshakes, delighted to put the troubling Chelsea spell in his wake.

Meanwhile, the west London club are on the brink of finalising a deal worth £55m plus add-ons for Leeds winger Raphinha.
 
us getting conte feels like when chelsea got bought by the bent russian, signings galore to get the team/squad to a standard where it can really compete for the biggest trophies. only difference is, ours is actually organic and real.

lots of people would say you cant sign more than 4 players in a summer because you cant bed them all in, but with the 5 sub rule and how weak our squad was, we needed 5-7.

cant wait for the season to begin with conte in charge of this group of players, get davies and dier upgraded and we are in a title challenge i dont care what anyone says. people trying to say the best we can hope for is 3rd are clueless. liverpool are weaker without mane and even if they wasnt weve improved drastically this window. just got to hope the introduction of a proper #9 fucks up what city had going so well. they didnt need a #9, was smashing teams for fun and scoring plenty, only reason they didnt win the champs league is because pep was trying too hard to be something extra special.
 
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