CHAMPIONS MONACO FIND WINNING START
Paris, Aug. 5: Brazilian Neymar may dominate the headlines and bring renewed hope to Paris SaintGermain but Monaco showed they won’t be giving up their Ligue 1 crown easily with a 3-2 win over Toulouse on Friday.
Toulouse threatened to spoil the party by twice taking a shock lead, the first on six minutes.
In what looked like a set corner routine that didn’t quite go to plan, Andy Delort had to back track out of the area to chest the ball into the danger zone, where the unmarked Zinedine Machach had time to swivel and rifle a volley across Danijel Subasic.
The inevitable came on 28 minutes, though, and in simple fashion, as centreback, Jemerson headed home a near post corner from Joao Moutinho, as Toulouse’s defence stood ball-watching.
But there was another sting in the tail as reported Chelsea target Djibril Sidibe gave the ball away cheaply to Jimmy Durmaz, who slipped the ball inside to Delort to turn and fire home a daisy-cutter inside on new signings.
Add in fractious negotiations over his new contract and a bitter feud with Chelsea striker Diego Costa and it’s easy to understand why the former Juventus boss rates the challenge ahead as the most daunting of his glittering career.
“For me it will be the most difficult season of my career. I’m sure about this,” Conte said.
“I have this perception. I hope I am mistaken. In England the pressure is high. This league is the strongest in the world.
Despite spending over £100 million on Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger, Conte believes his squad is painfully short of strength in depth.
While he stopped short of openly criticising Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, he made it abundantly clear he expects more signings before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
Conte admits he is not a patient man, but the intense Italian insists he is willing to focus on improving his current players while he awaits reinforcements.