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Italy coach Antonio Conte is a natural leader who gets his players to believe in his strategy and are willing to "follow him anywhere," according to former Chelsea manager and new Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti worked with Conte during an ill-fated stint as Juventus manager between 1999 and 2001, and believes his former captain has carried his strength of personality into his coaching career, demanding trust and total commitment from his players. Conte guided an Italy side -- of whom expectations had been relatively low -- to an impressive 2-0 win over Belgium to kick off their Euro 2016 campaign in Lyon on Monday, and Ancelotti expects the 46-year-old to place the same emphasis on tactical discipline and team spirit when he takes over as Chelsea first team head coach next month. "When I arrived at Juventus as the manager in 1999, Antonio Conte was the captain of the club -- an Italy international and a player who had a lot of influence in the dressing room -- and when I needed a leader in the team he was the obvious choice," Ancelotti wrote in a column for the Daily Telegraph. "I watched that Italy team against Belgium and I thought of the old Conte I knew. A tough man, but a smart one too. "There are certain things that he will not compromise on, and it will be the same when he comes to Chelsea. "He wants all his players to follow him, and he wants a good team spirit. He is not afraid to tell the media what he thinks of their opinions either. In Conte's philosophy, you are either with the team or you're against them. There is no middle ground." Goals in each half from Emanuele Giaccherini and Graziano Pelle did the damage for Italy, while a star-studded Belgian attack found itself largely stifled by the Juventus defence of Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, and Ancelotti credits the win to Conte's preparation and smart management. "In the build-up to the game against Italy, I can imagine that Conte was telling his players that there was no reason they should not beat Belgium," Ancelotti added. "He would have told them to trust in the strategy that he had prepared. That is what a good manager does -- you study and think and discuss and you come up with a model of playing. "Conte will have spent a long time before Monday thinking about Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne; about Axel Witsel and Marouane Fellaini. Then he will have remembered Romelu Lukaku, and Radja Nainngolan. And then when he finished worrying about them there are all those other good ones they have on the bench. But he came up with a plan and the plan worked, and now his players will follow him anywhere. "When you are standing on the touchline it is a wonderful feeling to see this unfold. You can see your players warming to the task. The better it goes, the closer they stick to the instructions and then, when it is all over, everyone calls the manager a genius. "It's not genius. It's hard work, preparation, psychology, persuasion, cajoling, insisting, a quick prayer and then confidence in your judgement and your players." Italy continue their campaign in a meeting against Sweden on Friday at 3pm local time, in Toulouse.
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