Conte defends cautious game
To open up against City would be stupid: Chelsea boss
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte defended his cautious approach despite his side failing to register a shot on target as they went down 1-0 to Premier League champions-elect Manchester City.
The Italian’s tactics were lambasted by pundits and Chelsea fans alike as he started without a recognized striker by leaving club-record signing Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud on the bench.
City moved 18 points clear at the top of the table, and 25 ahead of Chelsea in fifth, as Bernardo Silva’s goal 35 seconds into the second half broke the visitors’ resistance.
However, Conte claimed it would be “stupid” to open up against the runaway league leaders, citing criticism of Arsenal’s back-to-back 3-0 defeats to City in the League Cup final and Premier League in the past week.
“I’m not so stupid to play against Man City open and lose 3-0 or 4-0,” said Conte.
“If I remember well, Arsenal three days ago played against them and you criticize [Arsene] Wenger because they conceded three goals.
“I think the pundit has to use the head when you speak tactics because you must have the knowledge to speak about tactics.”
Chelsea, though, had no response after going behind as Conte waited until 12 minutes from time to introduce Giroud, while Morata wasn’t brought on until the final minute when he replaced Chelsea’s top scorer Eden Hazard.
The Belgian plowed a lonely furrow as an auxiliary central forward, but had no impact on the game before trudging off with his head bowed to make way for Morata.
“I try to wait because the [Morata] substitution was with Hazard and you hope until the end that a player like Hazard can invent something in the game,” added Conte.
A fourth defeat in five Premier League games leaves Chelsea’s ambitions of Champions League soccer next season in serious peril.
Conte’s men now trail Tottenham Hotspur in fourth by five points.
However, the former Juventus boss insisted it wasn’t his side’s performance at the Etihad that will come back to haunt them if they fail to make the top four.
“We must have a big regret for the defeat against Bournemouth, Watford, [Manchester] United, but I don’t think today because today we played against a team that is showing to be a strong team,” he said.
“Today they showed the difference between them and us in this moment. Twenty-five points is a big gap and I think that we can have a regret for the other games but not for this.”