Antonio Conte’s art of war

Sun Tzu says “warfare is based on deception”. The ancient Chinese military general, in his treatise ‘The Art of War’ suggested to hold out baits in order to “entice the enemy and feign disorder”.

Like in war, the deception is applicable in sports and there is no better example than football.

It's a coincidence perhaps that one of the earliest forms of football known as Cuju, that is believed to have developed in China as early as in the third century BC was used as a military exercise.

A slice of the militaristic thought in football, without the warmongering was served with a dip of Italian sauce last week in the English Premier League.

“I prefer to win a war. Not just a battle,” said Chelsea’s Italian boss Antonio Conte after putting to sword his predecessor Jose Mourinho, who is now at the helm of affairs in Manchester United.

As the Portuguese appeared to murmur the shame of his biggest defeat in the League, into the ear of his successor at fulltime, it was evident that Conte had finally revealed his arsenal.

The former Juventus man’s idea of a combat, one would suspect, is drawn straight out of Master Sun’s thesis. He had been anything, but vicious during his first two months in England. However, he has since ambushed two of the wisest chieftains in business.

A 1-2 home defeat to Liverpool followed by a harrowing 3-0 submission at Arsenal had the Italian well and truly cornered. It was then, after convincing his enemies and to an extent his owns fans, of his perceptible weakness, Conte made a U-turn.

Instinctively, he abandoned the 4-1-4-1 formation for a more exciting 3-4-3. The move has since paid rich dividends and barring the 1-2 defeat to West Ham midweek in the League Cup that saw as many as seven changes, with starts given to a couple of academy graduates, Chelsea have romped home in style.

An erratic David Luiz has emerged Conte’s archetypical ball-playing centre-back, Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, instated as wingbacks have a newfound flair to their game and then there is the ubiquitous N’Golo Kante and his rejuvenated central midfield partner Nemanja Matic who seem to work more efficiently in front of the back three.

If Conte knew the qualities of his side, and it is safe to assume he did, one might wonder why he chose not to, or rather opted for a different path from the start of his Chelsea reign After all, he had used a similar system for most of his career and until as late as July when his relentless Italian side made significant strides in the European Championship.

It could be argued he has laid quite a siege after managing to entice his rivals with deception. There is no easy explanation to Conte’s change of plans other than to believe the words of former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson who once said the Italians “are the inventors of the smokescreen.”