Football
Jack Rathborn, Transfer writer 8y

Chelsea's Antonio Conte: There are dinosaurs and geniuses everywhere

Antonio Conte has denied Sean Dyche's claims that he would have been labelled a dinosaur had he implemented the Italian's methods.

The Burnley boss asserted that Conte was only donned a "genius" for his counter-attacking tactics with Italy at Euro 2016 and intense, physical preparation in the Blues' preseason because he was foreign.

But Conte insists that is not the case and that both tactical geniuses and footballing dinosaurs exist in many countries.

"There are dinosaurs and geniuses in all departments all over the world: in Italy, England, Argentina, Spain, all over the world," countered the Blues chief.

"You have to understand who is the dinosaur and who is the genius. That's what you have to judge."

Conte would not concede that Dyche had a point that the term would only be coined in reference to English managers.

"No, no, no. I don't think this," reiterated the Italian. "I repeat: you can find the best and the worst all over the world.

"It's important for clubs to make the right choice. The manager is important when you have a project to build something.

"You have to recognise who is the better and the worst and not only with words, but with the facts."

Dyche has bucked the trend in recent years to mostly line Burnley up in a 4-4-2 shape, and as a young English manager, he feels this is unfairly held against him.

"There is a thirst for foreign coaches who are always tactical geniuses," said the 45-year-old.

"Conte came in at Chelsea and he got commended for bringing a hard, fast, new leadership to Chelsea, which involved doing 800m runs, 400m runs and 200m runs.

"Come to my training and see Sean Dyche doing that and you'd say, 'dinosaur, a young English dinosaur manager, hasn't got a clue.'

"Conte I thought was interesting because if you saw us doing that you'd say we're running them round in circles."

After rebooting Italian giants Juventus and helping them dominate Serie A before beating expectations with the Azzurri this summer, Conte is adamant others can decide whether he is known as a genius or a dinosaur.

"The other players and people [will judge me]," claimed the Italian. "The players will decide, those I have managed.

"It's important that the players reply to that question, if I'm a dinosaur or a genius. Or in the middle."

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