Blues stars have put boot into Conte... and Cup win can’t hide that

Our Anfield legend always hits the mark

THERE are many things that concern me about Antonio Conte’s inevitable departure – but the biggest is how he lost the players.

And winning the FA Cup Final was never going to change anything.

Let’s face it, he’s been on his way out of Chelsea for months – and though it seems obvious there was a rift with the board, I think it’s the players who have done for him.

There was no doubt they stopped playing for Jose Mourinho and, for me, I can see all the signs that the same happened under Conte.

Of course they’ve been playing better recently when there are prizes at stake, but from the turn of the year their results have largely been nothing short of disgraceful.

They won two games in 10. This is the reigning Premier League champions we are talking about. Ten matches from January 3-February 12 where they only beat Brighton away and Newcastle at home, and were walloped by the likes of Bournemouth and Watford.

That is unacceptable at every level, but particularly when you think they eventually ended up taking the fight for the top four to the final day.

How can they have stopped playing for so long at such a crucial time, only to pick it up again when it suited them? That just stinks.

I think Conte must take the blame for that to some extent. He hasn’t been himself for months – I wouldn’t say he’s been sulking – but definitely withdrawn to the extent that it has seemed like he was hardly bothered.

Again, not good enough, and neither was his moaning about not getting new players, which he seemed to do all season.

He had a point of course, and the finger has to be aimed at the Chelsea board, but what will his players make of that?

They won the league and he was effectively saying they weren’t good enough. It doesn’t take too much for suspicion of a manager to turn into mistrust, and from there you get the situation Mourinho and Conte eventually faced.

One big miss has been Diego Costa. He was probably the reason they won the league, along with Eden Hazard, because I lost count of the number of times they defended deep and hung onto matches, and then those two nicked it for them with a moment of genius, or in Costa’s case a header or sheer brute strength.

And no matter what people say, Alvaro Morata (below left) was no replacement. I think he’s a decent enough player, but top class like Costa? No chance.

If he was top class he’d have played at Real Madrid, where he certainly had enough opportunities to prove himself.

In fact, he’s never truly been a regular wherever he’s been, not even at Stamford Bridge. And the decision to dump Costa and bring him in? Quite clearly Conte’s. I also think the Italian manager was a victim to a certain extent of genius-envy. Roman Abramovich, to me, looks to have been strongly influenced by the work done by Pep Guardiola at City and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp. They have both proved this season that you can deliver success playing attractive, crowdpleasing football.

Looking at Abramovich, I’m certain he’s always wanted a manager who can deliver what those two have done. Mourinho went both times because of that, quite possibly Rafa Benitez, Roberto Di Matteo and even Carlo Ancelotti too.

Conte has always been a pragmatist, a manager brilliant at organising, but one who does it from back to front. It can be boring, which is not such a pressing problem when you’re winning, but if you’re not then you’re dead.

Chelsea are at a crossroads now. Abramovich has to stop and think about what he truly wants, and if that is a manager like Klopp or Guardiola, then he has to put the conditions in place to attract someone like that.