Antonio Conte ignored John Terry’s Chelsea request as ruthless call resulted in historic run

Antonio Conte is renowned for his intense style but John Terry once asked the Italian to tone it down during his Chelsea stint – only for the manager to ultimately ignore his request

Antonio Conte admits he was asked to tone down the intensity of training when he was Chelsea boss and honours John Terry’s request to reduce the speed – only to go back to his methods when they began losing.

The Italian arrived at the Blues in 2016, less than a year after they’d sacked Jose Mourinho. Conte rocked up with a reputation as a hard task master and he quickly got to work at their Cobham base following a dire season for the west Londoners.

Terry was then the leading voice at the club and, after just a few weeks, went to his new coach and asked him to tone down training and reduce the amount of video they were watching. Conte, keen to keep the group onside, accepted the request as he adapted to a new culture.

However, Chelsea’s impressive start quickly turned and they were beaten at home by Liverpool and then at Arsenal in successive weeks. The heat came on and Conte quickly decided it was back to his way, which set them on a record winning run, as he confessed he would never again veer from his own beliefs.

He told Corriere della Sera: “One time, the Chelsea captain came to me to ask to slow down the pace (of training), to do fewer video sessions. I agreed, mainly out of respect to their culture, their different way of approaching football. When you’re in a different country, you have to be careful to not cause too much upset.

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“Well, we lost two games in a row and I risked being sacked. Since then, I always think that if I have to ‘die’ as a result of the choices that have been made, I have to do it my way, and not in the hands of others. This is the way. ‘Trust the process’ as they say in England.

“And when I think back to how tough training was, I smile. Zidane and Del Piero trained much harder. Today, we do about a third of what we used to do. The work has to be linked to the results on the pitch. I’ve coached teams where after a little while, the players themselves began to identify dangerous situations. For me, that means that we’ve achieved the right result.”

After Conte went back to his own methods, which also meant a change in formation, Chelsea went on to record 14 successive victories. That was then a record-equalling run in the Premier League as their impressive form took them to the summit of the table.

Ultimately it would set them up to claim the title in impressive fashion. After losing to Arsenal on September 24 then didn’t lost again until the first week of January. Conte’s Chelsea would win the Premier League with 30 wins from 38 games – another record at the time.

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