Antonio Conte made one thing clear to the Chelsea players watching his debut press conference: they are in for a season of relentless hard work.
The 46-year-old came across modestly during his first appearance in front of the English media on Thursday despite the huge respect he commands on the back of his spells with Juventus and the Italy national team.
His main themes of "work" and "fight" were clear as he addressed how he will turn around last season's failure in the room aptly named after combative club legend Ron 'Chopper' Harris.
"In these two days I saw players with the right attitude and a great will to fight for this shirt," Conte said. "To fight to come back very soon and compete to win the title."
Conte did not hesitate to set the Premier League title as his goal and made it clear that he regards himself as a winner, but generally presented a more understated and less explosive personality than his predecessor Jose Mourinho.
"The most important message is that I’m a worker," he added. "I like to work and I only know only to win. We need to go back to winning, to playing the Champions League and winning the title. I know only this word: work, work and work."
The work will be particularly important in pre-season. Chelsea started their title defence clearly out of shape in 2015-16, with Diego Costa admitting he was overweight and Eden Hazard getting injured in the first match against Swansea City.
This summer, slackness will not be tolerated. Conte admitted to planning double training sessions all the way up to their opening game against West Ham to avoid last season's mistakes.
"The Premier League has a high intensity and is more physical compared to other tournaments," he explained. "To win, you must play attractive football but you must have a great physical condition. If you have talent with the players then you run more than the others. For this reason I like to work on all aspects."
The preparation of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas will be a particular focus after a season in which they badly struggled to replicate their title-winning form.
Behind the tough disciplinarian in Conte, however, is a man who will develop close bonds with and stick by his players through good and bad.
"I love to stay with my players and train together," he said. "I want to win with them and lose with them, though not so much [the latter]. I have great passion and I want to pass that onto my players.
"I suffer during the game and I want the fans to see that we work very hard in the week to reach our targets. When that doesn’t happen, I’m not happy."
The Stamford Bridge crowd will witness the same passion the entire continent enjoyed at Euro 2016. Conte shouts at his players, goes crazy when they score and is known to produce a viral moment or two, such as his brilliant celebration on top of the Italy dugout against Spain.
Perhaps more than anything else, the lack of motivation and fight in the Chelsea team as their season went south infuriated supporters. Even Guus Hiddink, a popular figure in west London, struggled to change that as only a temporary appointment.
They will not have to worry about a repeat situation this season. "We know it’s much more difficult than in other divisions," Conte warned. "In England, six or seven teams can win.
"It’s normal when you are a player or manager of a great club like Chelsea, you must play to win the title or reach your targets. Only one team can win the title but we need to be there for the Champions League. Chelsea belongs to the Champions League and we must stay there."
The charismatic coach did treat the media to a couple of more colourful moments, describing himself as "like a tailor" who must "build the best dress for the team" when discussing his tactics and, memorably, hoping to find a "small flame flickering that can grow into a blazing inferno
Conte is a slick communicator, a master tactician and a quick learner, as he has shown with his mastery of his new language, but the real test awaits on August 15 when West Ham make the trip across London.
The Chelsea players have now heard loud, clearly and in person that they will have to work. Only the mentally strong will be able to survive the Conte era at Stamford Bridge.
r />
- Goal