Work ahead for Morata at Chelsea to raise his game for season’s start

▶ Conte wary of struggling and repeating problems that hit Mourinho

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said record signing Alvaro Morata still has plenty of work to do ahead of the new campaign after the Spanish striker made a low-key debut start for the English champions against Inter Milan in Singapore yesterday.

Morata joined up with his new team on Monday, playing the last 30 minutes in a defeat to Bayern Munich a day later.

Yesterday, the former Real Madrid forward was unable to make an impact before he was withdrawn after an hour against Inter as the Italian side defeated Chelsea 2-1 to win the International Champions Cup Singapore tournament.

“Morata has just started training with us and has only been able to improve slightly in that time,” Conte said.

“He has a long way to go with his physical condition to get up to speed with the style of football we play.

“He is working very well and today he tried his best but he still has plenty of improving to do.”

Conte’s side looked a little short of match fitness in Singapore and the Italian is determined to ensure his squad will be better prepared for the than former manager Jose Mourinho’s team were after winning the 2014/15 title.

“We know it will be difficult next season and we will try and avoid what happened to Mourinho’s side at the start of 2015,” Conte said.

“Two years ago Chelsea finished 10th and that cannot happen again.”

The Italian will also be hoping he can add depth to his side ahead of the season opener against Burnley on August 12 as he bids to avoid the fate of Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri, who were both fired the season after they won the Premier League.

“The coaches of the previous two champions -- Chelsea and Leicester [City] – both lost their jobs, and we are working very well to find the best solutions and use them,” Conte said. “We have a lot of young players and it is necessary to try and develop them.”

Goals from Stevan Jovetic and Ivan Perisic had put Inter into a two-goal lead in yesterday’s match before a bizarre Geoffrey Kondogbia own goal gave Chelsea hope of a recovery.

While pleased with his side’s result, Inter manager Luciano Spalletti said his players need to focus on keeping intensity levels high.

“I feel they have made a lot of progress since we started working together, but I also have to say that there were still a few careless mistakes today after we had gone 2-0 ahead,” the 58-year-old Italian said.

“However, we have been playing a lot of games so close to each other, around five in a couple of weeks, and the last of them was just two days ago.

“So you can say there are a lot of different reasons for why the team had a lack of attention for all of the game, but overall I have been surprised and we are definitely working in the right direction.”

While not completely convinced by the International Champions Cup, Spalletti added: “There were a lot of games close together, however, so I am not sure if we want to repeat that next year but I would love to come back to Singapore with my family for sure.”