Lifeless display shows Conte is on the way out
MAYBE Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, reclining in an environment less inhospitable than this, was reflecting on how things might have been had he not parted company with Rafa Benitez in the summer of 2013. The two got on well. The Russian invited the Spaniard around to dinner after Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Arsenal in January of that year, having replaced Roberto di Matteo with him, and Benitez ended up playing indoor football with the billionaire’s children. But Chelsea’s fans considered him beneath their club, made their feelings known, and when he had won the Europa League for them he was gone. Benitez certainly never presided over such an anaemic and indifferent Chelsea display as the one Antonio Conte’s side delivered yesterday. The body language — hands stuffed in pockets, staring into the Tyneside turf; barely a pitch-side gesture — revealed most about an Italian who in spirit has already departed the club. When it was all over, there was a game of riddles about whether he wants to remain, including a remarkable reply when asked about the club not making the top four. ‘I think that I’m the last person to speak about this. You can ask the club,’ he said. No, Conte does not want to be at Chelsea but he will not quit because he wants a £9million pay-off with one year left on his contract. When you are that dislocated from the outfit you lead, the team does not have a prayer. Conte’s thinking is so scrambled that he started Wednesday’s game against Huddersfield Town without Eden Hazard, Olivier Giroud and four other key players, and watched them surrender the belated chase for the last top-four spot. Hazard’s level of disbelief about that decision cannot be overstated. So though there was some level of interest in Conte’s decision to give Ross Barkley only a second Premier League start, it was always immaterial. Barkley’s was not the worst performance but there was little positive to take from a 24-year-old who was supposedly one of the English game’s great young hopes. The best of him was a cross lifted from the right which Giroud sharply manoeuvred goalwards with a deft flick of the backheel. But when Barkley was presented with a chance of his own, he struck it at Martin Dubravka. The game-within-a-game was the battle of the two English midfielders, with the far more unfashionable Jonjo Shelvey running the show — demonstrating in the process how a player can flourish when properly coached and motivated. It was in front of Chelsea’s own box that nearly all of the endeavour took place — Benitez’s runners easing across Conte’s midfield line in a way which mocked the decision to sell Nemanja Matic to Manchester United last summer. N’Golo Kante fought a losing battle. Tiemoue Bakayoko revealed no evidence that he has a sprint in him. Hazard departed with nine minutes to play and as he did so there was not the remotest flicker of eye contact between him and Conte. Retaining his services amid Real Madrid’s advances is an even more monumental challenge for Chelsea than finding a new manager. Benitez’s name echoed around all corners of this stadium. ‘Stand up if you love Rafa,’ they sang. ‘We want you to stay.’ Chelsea feel the same about Hazard, the talisman of their club, who smouldered in the dug-out, though at the very least he will require £300,000 a week and a manager other than Conte. It will be 15 years this summer since Abramovich bought Chelsea. The challenge and the regrets must be piling up.