Dein erstes Forum » were reminded of that fact

With Antonio Conte the odds-on favourite to become the next Chelsea manager, what do we know about the Italy manager? Sky Sports News HQ understands Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo travelled to Italy on Tuesday and will be present at Juventus Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich, which Conte is also due to attend. Conte on his way? Sky Bets next Chelsea manager odds SSN HQ are currently investigating the claim the Italy coach has agreed a two-year deal to become the permanent successor to Jose Mourinho, but what could we expect from the 46-year-old Italian if he was to take over at Stamford Bridge? Conte had success at Juventus before becoming Italy manager after the World Cup in 2014 Managerial historyContes playing career came to an end in 2004 after making over 300 appearances for Juventus and earning 20 caps for Italy before becoming assistant manager at Siena for the 2005/06 season. Conte odds-on for Chelsea job Italy boss favourite to take over from Guus Hiddink He was soon given his first managerial job at Serie B outfit Arezzo, beginning a turbulent 12 months which saw him sacked after three months, reinstated five months later, and relegated on the final day of the season into Serie C1 in May 2007.After a brief sabbatical, Conte was appointed Bari manager in December 2007, and having been under threat of relegation at the start of his stint, ended up comfortably in mid-table. He led them to promotion to Serie A in 2008/09, but did not take charge of a top flight game and left the club having initially signed a one-year contract extension. Sky Italias Valentina Fass says Chelsea have held talks with Antonio Conte about becoming their new boss, but the deal hasnt been finalised just yet He was then appointed boss of Serie A side Atalanta in September 2009, winning just three of his 14 games in charge and leaving the following January, before dropping a division to guide Siena to the top flight for the 2010/11 season. Conte then began a three-year stint at Juventus, which saw him win Serie A in each season, as well as the Supercoppa in 2012 and 2013. In Europe, Conte led Juve to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2012/13, but did not get past the group stages the following season.His domestic success at Juventus led Conte to the national side after Cesare Prandellis departure following a poor World Cup in Brazil, tasked with stabilising the side ahead of Euro 2016.Italy won Group H ahead of Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Malta, winning seven and drawing three out of 10 games. Italy topped their Euro Qualifiers group, going unbeaten in all 10 games Six of those wins came by a one-goal margin, and the Azzurri now face Belgium, Republic of Ireland and Sweden in Group E at the tournament in France.How likely is it Conte will be appointed?Contes contract with Italy expires after the 2016 European Championships in the summer and he will be free to move to Stamford Bridge, with no compensation needed to be paid to the Italian Football Federation. Sky Italias Valentina Fass told Sky Sports News HQ that Conte had been linked with Chelsea for some time and a deal between the two was close to being agreed before Christmas. We know that Chelsea want to decide who their manager for next year will be by March, she told Sky Sports News HQ. Interim manager Guus Hiddink is in charge until the end of the season at Chelsea Conte seems to be ahead in the talks. Nothing has been decided yet, but maybe a contract has been put down.There are still other contenders. [Diego] Simeone, even though it looks like he wants to stay at Atletico, is one of the names on the list still, and also [Massimiliano] Allegri, Juventus manager, is on the list.Rebuilding the BridgeMake no mistake, this summer will be a rebuilding job at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea having dropped from champions to mid-table. However, Conte has the relevant experience on his CV.He revived struggling teams at Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta and Siena, but his work at Juventus stands out the most. Conte won Serie A three times in a row during his three seasons at Juve Having finished in seventh in 2010/11, Conte took over from Luigi Delneri and led Juve to the league title without a single defeat, the first club to do so in Italian history.Conceding just 20 goals in 38 games, it was their first official league title since 2003 after being stripped of two Serie A crowns for their involvement in the 2006 Calciopoli scandal.Tactics-wise, Conte is not restricted to his 3-5-2 formation, used predominantly at Juventus and with Italy. He has been known to switch to 4-3-3 successfully, a flexibility which has seen him lose just 18 games in his 167 as a manager since starting at Juventus in 2011.Sky in Italy reporter Gianluca Di Marzio believes rather than shoehorning players into his system, Conte would adapt his system according to the players capabilities. Arturo Vidal (L) and Paul Pogba (R) were brought to Juventus under Conte In a column on his website earlier this week, Di Marzio said: As Conte himself has said many times, he believes a good manager adapts to the personnel he has and not the other way around.Conte was equally impressive in the transfer market, and despite some inevitable misses, hits included Andrea Pirlo (free), Paul Pogba (free), Carlos Tevez (£6.75m), Arturo Vidal (£9.4m) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (£7.5m). During his three seasons at Juve, Conte never spent over £15m on a player.What theyve saidI am extremely lucky I met Antonio Conte, I had so many coaches to compare him too, and he is the one who surprised me the most. I was expecting a good coach, but not that good. - Andrea Pirlo, 2014, in I Think, Therefore I Play autobiography. Andrea Pirlo says he is lucky to have played under Conte The secret of our success is the ambition our coach has. Conte has brought a new mentality to the club. He has pushed us to sweat, to find strength and to undergo hard work in order to cancel out the last two disappointing campaigns. - Gianluigi Buffon, 2012[Contes] 3-5-2 is the best in history. Hes the only coach who doesnt play a 5-3-2. But he struggles against opponents with good wingers, who are able to switch play quickly. Big teams dont have any problems doing that. You cant dominate or set a trend with 3-5-2. - Zvonimir Boban, 2014, former Milan midfielder Also See: Conte odds-on for Chelsea job Mikel wants Hiddink to stay Allegri wants to stay at Juve Hiddink: Hazard getting there Cheap NFL Jerseys China Free Shipping . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Authentic Cheap Jerseys NFL . -- A deflected pass that landed in DeSean Jacksons hands. http://www.chinanflcheapjerseys.com/.J. -- Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch deservedly draw the attention for what theyve done in getting the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Cheap NCAA Jerseys China . With the Rangers already leading 2-0, Carey Price was taken down early in the second period of New Yorks 7-2 pounding of the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Saturday afternoon. Authentic College Jerseys 2018 . Louis still looking for a way out of Tampa Bay, the 38-year-old NHL veteran isnt showing his cards.ST. LOUIS -- Bill Self gathered his team around the bench late in Fridays game against Eastern Kentucky, one that had grown a bit too close for comfort for the second-seeded Jayhawks. His team had gone back to chucking up jumpers, the scrappy Ohio Valley Conference champions had regained the lead, and thoughts of Mercers upset of Duke earlier in the day were on everyones mind. "I thought we responded as a group," Self said. The Jayhawks resumed pounding away inside out of the timeout, slowly took control down the stretch and pulled away for an 80-69 victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Andrew Wiggins of Vaughan, Ont., had 19 points for the Jayhawks (25-9), who will play No. 10 seed Stanford on Sunday in the South Regional. Jamari Traylor added 17 points and 14 rebounds, Perry Ellis had 14 points and 13 boards and Tarik Black finished with 12 points as Kansas dominated in the paint. "Our main focus on the game was to get in there and pound them," Traylor said. Even without 7-footer Joel Embiid, who is out for the weekend with a back injury. Glenn Cosey hit five 3-pointers and had 17 points for the 15th-seeded Colonels (24-10), who have lost all eight of their NCAA tournament games. Tarius Johnson and Eric Stutz finished with 15 points apiece, but second-leading scorer Corey Walden was held to four points before fouling out. "Corey is a very important part of our team," Colonels coach Jeff Neubauer said. "With that being said, thats not an excuse. Kansas really played great." In the second half, perhaps. Certainly not in the first. Like a swarm of gnats, the smaller guards of Eastern Kentucky made life miserable for the turnover-prone Jayhawks in the first 20 minutes. Kansas had more turnovers (10) by the midway point than field goal attempts (9), and at one juncture turned it over on six of eight possessions. Most of those miscues turned into easy points at the other end. The Colonels, buoyed by their trademark 3-point shooting, raced out to a 23-14 lead, silencing a heavily pro-Jayhawks crowd and even making some fans out of New Mexico and Stanford folks. "Our defence is focused on turning people over and being aggressive," Stutz said. "In that first half, thats what got us our leead.dddddddddddd" It wasnt until the first of two rim-rattling dunks by Wiggins off alley-oop passes that Kansas showed some life. The second came during an 8-0 flurry that gave the Big 12 champions a 28-27 lead with just over a minute to play, their first since the opening minute of the game. The Jayhawks have grown accustomed to tussles with lower seeds, of course. Just last year, they trailed No. 16 seed Western Kentucky at halftime before pulling away down the stretch. It looked like Kansas would pull away again Friday, scoring on its first seven trips down court and building a 45-38 lead. The turnovers suddenly came to a stop -- after 13 in the first half, the Jayhawks had just one in the second -- and Eastern Kentucky was suddenly on the ropes. But rather than continue to pound away inside, where the Jayhawks were having so much success, they reverted to missing jump shots. The Colonels took advantage with a 10-0 run, and Self called a red-faced timeout rather than risk pulling out his hair. "We knew that anything could happen," the Jayhawks Conner Frankamp said. "We were down, we tried to stay poised and not get too rattled, and just tried to make the easy play, because we felt like we could score pretty good down low." Once they were reminded of that fact. Kansas went back inside out of the timeout, dumping the ball to a big man or driving to the basket. The Jayhawks regained the lead at 59-56 on Wayne Seldens free throw and Traylors putback dunk, and then kept turning back every 3-pointer that Eastern Kentucky managed to rattle home. "Just our mentality (changed)," Wiggins said. "We were tougher on the ball. We knew against the defence of this team, we had to make good decisions, great plays and throw it inside." When the final seconds ticked away, and the Jayhawks were assured of advancing, Self slowly walked to the scorers table to shake hands with his Eastern Kentucky counterpart. He exhaled deeply as he stuck out his hand, and the first words he said were, "Great game." "They played great. They played loose and gave us everything we wanted," he said later. "It was a hard-fought game, one we had to work our tail off 40 minutes to come out with a win." ' ' '