Chelsea can’t cope with bigger, badder, more brutal City
IF lightning is to strike twice then we are in for some title race.
Twelve months ago Antonio Conte was left wondering what on earth to do with a Chelsea side smashed to smithereens at Arsenal on September 24.
We know what he did. The Premier League trophy is sitting in a cabinet at Stamford bridge as evidence.
If he finds a way to beat this Manchester City side to the title, however, it will rank as a bigger achievement than last season’s debut success. In fact, it will rank as a superior achievement to any of Conte’s three Serie A titles at Juventus.
City are the Terminator for the 21st century – the bigger, badder, more brutal upgrade that just will not stop.
Up against this fearsome display of firepower, Chelsea looked like Arnie from the original. Scary once but now seemingly low tech by comparison. Even without Sergio Aguero and Benjamin Mendy, City were able – easily – to find a way past the Chelsea bus.
Man of the match Kevin De Bruyne struck the fatal blow to give Pep Guardiola his first win in eight games against the Londoners. Despite the Sunday headlines, it wasn’t all about him either.
Chelsea could not cope with the speed of Raheem Sterling, the skill of Leroy Sane, the power of Kyle Walker, the guile of David Silva. The threats came from everywhere.
Tellingly, despite the success of his title-winning tactics last season, Conte went defensive, trying to contain rather than compete with Guardiola’s all-stars. Just like last September, after Arsenal, Conte (below) needs a new plan. Offered the crumb of comfort that he held off allcomers with Juve in Italy, it cut no ice.
“That was a completely different situation,” he said. “We were expecting a really strong challenge from AC Milan, but instead they sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain.
“So they became weaker. It wasn’t simple the second time, but it was easier. Here, from last season to this season, you have big teams – and now they are bigger.”
That’s another part of the problem for Conte. It isn’t just Chelsea. Jose Mourinho normally wins the league in his second season. He recorded yet another 4-0 win at the weekend. Then you have Spurs. Another clean sheet. Another emphatic statement that Mauricio Pochettino’s side are here to stay. No statement, however, has been bigger so far than this. City have beaten Liverpool 5-0, Feyenoord 0-4 Watford 0-6 and Palace 5-0. This result topped the lot. To go to the home of champions and answer all of the questions about your supposed leaky defence, the impact of losing two key players and whether Guardiola’s idealism could really triumph under the microscope? Brilliant.
No wonder Conte was left fearing he is going to need a bigger response than last year.
“Last season we did a really great job,” said the Chelsea boss. “We won the league against a really strong team, because Man City last season also was a fantastic team.
“Now, after a great transfer market, they have improved a lot.” Guardiola, perhaps, did not quite understand the questioning when asked for his thoughts on big teams changing their tactics to cope with his serial thrillers.
“Let me give us credit for what we have done,” he said. “I don’t see the team looking tired, I think we did many, many good things.”
They did indeed. Which is why credit for his City side will not be short supply.
Let’s not make the same mistake as we did with Chelsea a year ago, however. Arnie, remember, came out on top in the Terminator movies.
This title fight is shaping up to become everything it has promised and more.