Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CROWN IN THE DUMPS
Premier League trophy in cabinet, £200M worth of fresh talent & players ready to run through brick walls for him... so why does Conte look so unhappy with life at the Bridge?
HIS bosses spent £197million during the summer transfer window.
Chelsea remain in control of their Champions League group, and still have the quality within their ranks to hang in there in the Premier League until January.
So just what is the trouble with Antonio Conte?
The combustible Italian looked close to losing it on Wednesday night, after being told that wind-up merchant Jose Mourinho had been at it again.
Conte had bitten on Mourinho’s claim that other bosses “cry” about their injuries, while the Manchester United boss just gets on with it.
Or maybe it was the presence of Carlo Ancelotti (right) – the man Roman Abramovich regrets firing too soon – in the stands to see the champions’ latest implosion.
The Blues remain confident that Conte will see out his contract. But Conte’s demeanour did little to reassure fans concerned he could be off next summer.
The Chelsea boss appears to be leaving himself a hostage to fortune with his glass-half-full mentality – especially with his players ready to run for their lives. Eden Hazard, whose Champions League brace bailed Conte out against Roma, claimed his fellow Blues stars have no problems playing every three days.
In fact, the Belgian, now fully fit after a slow start to the season, revealed he and his team-mates are actually desperate to rack up more miles on the clock.
Hazard said:
“We have a lot of players and all of them can play. I know it is important for some of the players to have a rest and to be on the bench.
“But for me, I just want to play. I missed three months of football and I just want to be on the pitch.
The boss makes his own decisions and we are happy with that.
“When the players are on the bench they are not happy and, when they are on the pitch, they are happy.” So why the return t o blaming the board for his lack of depth? Could it be that Conte really does regret allowing Tammy Abraham to score goals for Swansea when he should still be at Chelsea?
Maybe Conte rues allowing Ruben Loftuscheek to join Crystal Palace on loan, instead of giving him the game time his talent needs. The Chelsea boss might even wonder now why he didn’t place more faith in Nathan Ake, instead of recalling him from loan last season and leaving him largely on the bench.
Phil Neville, one of the many players at United to prove you can actually win something with kids, went in hard yesterday with a brutal take on Conte’s attitude towards Chelsea’s youngsters.
“They have to go out on loan because Conte’s coming out saying they’ve only got 11 players,’ he said. “If you were the Under-23s manager, or part of the squad that played in the Champions League Youth League, you’d be thinking, ‘I’ve got no future at this football club’.
“If he’s saying they’ve only got 11 players, players should be saying, ‘Give me a chance’. “That’s what Ruben Loftus-cheek, Nathaniel Chalobah, Lewis Baker, and all these who are playing for England’s youth teams and winning tournaments for Chelsea, are saying – ‘Give us a chance’… but they won’t.
“It’s a disgrace, they should close their academy, Chelsea.”
Watford will fancy their chances tomorrow, but they would be mistaken believing the players are as despondent as Conte. Hazard said: “We have lost two games in the Premier League and need to bounce back.
“It is different this season because we are playing in the Champions League. Last year it was easier for us to play every week and we were more fresh.
“Now it is a little bit different, but we are professional and need to adapt to the situation.
“The difference from last year is that Manchester City and Manchester United are stronger. “We know the Premier League is long and we will take the time to be back.”