Conte’s anger at ‘stupid problem’
backed his £58million man Morata throughout his difficult debut season in the Premier League. But he is beginning to lose patience.
“For strikers, this situation can happen,” he said. “For Alvaro, this is the first season that he has been having a full season. Maybe this is the first time to face this type of problems.
“But he has to overcome this problem because this is a stupid problem. You have to work for the team and not lose confidence. The coach trusts him, the teammates trust him, the club trust him, the fans trust him. I don’t see a problem.
“Before, if you stay on the bench, you don’t have this type of pressure. So now he has to learn to face this type of situation, move forward and go on.”
Conte felt Morata was a victim of a poor refereeing decision to get booked for simulation but reiterated that was no excuse for losing his cool. “He has to check himself in future,” he said.
Conte’s criticism was not reserved for Morata – he also said Pedro had made a “mistake” in deliberately diving to try to win a penalty earlier in the match.
Brighton winger Anthony Knockaert is also finding life tougher this season. The Frenchman was named Championship player of the year last season after spearheading Brighton’s drive to promotion. But he has so far found the net just twice this term and has struggled to have the same impact.
Brighton boss Chris Hughton said: “If you have a player who’s not working as hard as what he did last year, you can put it down to that. So that’s one we’ve ruled out because he is.
“He’s working as hard and his levels and what we get from our fitness fellas is the same as last season. What he is up against is good players.”