HOW CONTE LOST THE PLOT
Foul moods at training ground Stars fed up with boring drills Tirade at players after Bournemouth defeat Raging at staff Costa text destroyed squad’s trust
Antonio Conte arrived in London with plans to turn Chelsea’s ‘flickering flame’ into a ‘blazing inferno’. Alas, the fire is almost out.
Conte was not the same touchline spirit at Watford on Monday as he was last season. When eden Hazard equalised late on he barely flinched. instead he fixed his players with a glare of contempt, and then questioned their character when he came to speak after the crushing 4-1 defeat.
if he is tired of their antics, and his energy has been sapped, the feeling seems to be mutual.
Conte’s foul moods have become legendary at the Chelsea training ground. His restless nature and search for perfection, hailed last season as the secrets of his success, are making people miserable. Players complain of endless criticism and monotonous tactical sessions and bolt for home as soon as training ends rather than spend time on extra work.
After the 3-0 home defeat against Bournemouth, Conte broke his own code to berate individual players in the dressing room in front of their team-mates.
And he has not limited his anger to his players, raising his voice at non-playing staff.
other members of his inner circle have felt the need to apologise at times for the manager’s temper. Conte is a bad loser — and out of practice. Since 2010 when he quit Atalanta, everything he touched has gone to plan. this campaign, however, is unravelling fast.
He agreed to give his players three days off after losing at Watford. time perhaps for everyone to clear their minds before three key home games: West Brom, Hull in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Champions League.
time also for Roman Abramovich and his board of advisors to consider their options. Former Barcelona coach Luis enrique is out of work and a clear alternative, although most of his backroom coaching team are at Celta Vigo.
Former Borussia Dortmund manager thomas tuchel is also without a club although, like enrique, he is not keen to parachute anywhere mid- season. italians Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri have admirers at the Bridge but are firmly in work at Juventus and napoli.
Chelsea’s preferred outcome would be for Conte to stay for the rest of the season as long as he can keep them on course to qualify for the Champions League.
Carlo Ancelotti performed a similar task with dignity, finishing second in the league in 2011 when his exit was an open secret. Conte, however, is more fractious than Ancelotti, not one to bite his tongue to placate others.
He could not resist rattling Diego Costa with a text message to inform him he could find a new club. the Costa flashpoint appears to have been the trigger for a complete breakdown of trust.
there were missed targets in the transfer market, interest from inter Milan and a long period of radio silence from Conte. Rumours swirled in italy that he was ready to quit. When he returned to London for pre-season he signed a contract which gave him a pay rise but did not extend his commitment beyond 2019.
the club adhered to his request to add more italians to his backroom team, which has strengthened his position. to sack Conte would mean to lose his entire coaching staff. He complained openly about recruitment strategy in the summer, pushing for more, just as he did again in January.
indifferent form in pre- season spilled into a home defeat against Burnley on the opening day.
Results stuttered again as the Champions League took hold and a 3-0 defeat at Roma was followed by reports of a row with David Luiz, which were denied, though Luiz soon lost his place to Andreas Christensen.
injuries have eaten away since last summer. new signings tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater were injured on arrival and eden Hazard came into the season recovering from a broken ankle.
Conte has always trained his players hard and made a minimal adjustment to account for the Champions League, which surprised players. Drinkwater injured a calf muscle at the start of the season when the fitness team tried to push him up to speed.
Conte is reluctant to select players to start until he feels they have reached the required fitness levels and have a full understanding of his tactical demands. So he was frustrated by three signings in January who were all short of match sharpness. olivier Giroud, out of favour at Arsenal, and emerson Palmieri, not in the team at Roma after a knee injury, were on the bench against Watford.
Conte asked if it might be possible for Giroud to play for the Under 21s in the Checkatrade trophy tie at Lincoln last night, in the hope of getting some competitive game-time into his legs.
Right-sided Davide Zappacosta was preferred to emerson as a replacement for Marcos Alonso, who was rested. Ross Barkley, who missed the last five months of his everton career with a hamstring injury, damaged a hamstring when ordered to take part in a session on the day after the Bournemouth defeat. Barkley played the first 54 minutes of the game but was ordered to train along with other players who made only fleeting appearances.
Muscle injuries have plagued Conte’s squad — there have been eight separate hamstring strains — and record signing Alvaro Morata is still out with a bad back.
Conte has railed against the schedule as he juggled the injuries and a squad which is thin in some areas, despite Chelsea’s wealth of talent out on loan. Creeping indiscipline has not helped him. Bakayoko’s red card at Watford was Chelsea’s seventh of the season.
Conte clinched the title at West Brom in May when celebrations escalated and Costa threatened to unleash a fire extinguisher at the manager as he addressed the media. At the time, it felt like a most surreal episode. Maybe it was the moment when Conte’s flame started to dwindle.