DBasia.news – Two seasons working under Antonio Conte, Willian knew well his character, coaching method, and style of the 49-year-old Italian coach. Though succeeded in achieving the Premier League and FA Cup, Conte isn’t popular for Chelsea players.
Last season, Diego Costa, one of the best strikers in Chelsea for the last three seasons was sold for a ridiculous reason, Conte disliked him. Also his poor relationship with David Luiz. Not only that, Conte’s football philosophy also disliked by some players because it was too careful and defensive.
The failure to qualify the Champions League last season resulted in the fire of Conte ahead of the 2018/2019 season. Maurizio Sarri replaced him. Willian hoped Sarri would be better than Conte. The Brasilian wing striker admitted that until now he didn’t understand how the former Juventus and Italy national team thinks.
“I hope he (Sarri) is not like Conte. No, I’m kidding! For me, Conte was a manager very difficult to work with. His philosophy, his way of dealing with things is very complicated. There were a few games … Sometimes we just don’t understand. You’re playing very well, then you get substituted. I do not understand. There were two times when I got substituted and I went straight to the locker room,” Willian told ESPN.
“It was hard to work with him. But in life, we learn from these kinds of things. We learn so much from difficulties. There were two years when I stayed on the bench in so many games, coming in later in the game. But this is in the past. The important thing now is to talk about Sarri. From what I heard, I am sure he is a great manager, who does a great job with the team. I have high expectations for working with him.”
Willian, 29, also explained further about Conte’s problems with Costa and Luiz. He assumed Conte disliked him.
“I don’t know, sometimes the manager doesn’t like you. I don’t know if any of you have been in this situation before. You just feel that the manager doesn’t like you, but he has to use you sometimes. But you feel that he doesn’t like you at all. You didn’t do anything bad, but he doesn’t like you,” Willian said.
“With Diego … I remember I was … It was after the regular season, I was in Australia with the Brazilian national team and Diego texted me. He said: ‘I’m leaving. Conte said he doesn’t need me anymore.’
“I said: ‘What do you mean?’ And he said: ‘He texted me saying that he doesn’t need me on the team anymore and I am not supposed to go back.’ But you can’t lose a player like Diego [Costa]. It was a difficult situation,” Willian concluded.