CONTE: IT’S AN EMERGENCY
Conte urges patience as Blues’ title hopes fade
ANTONIO CONTE declared an “emergency” just eight games into Chelsea’s defence of the Premier League title.
After seeing Roy Hodgson (left) and his Crystal Palace side inflict the Blues’ second straight defeat, boss Conte (right) said: “This season will be difficult, but we must try to build something important for the future.
“We have to give an opportunity to the new players to have more experience in this league, and to give young players a chance to show they deserve to play for Chelsea.
“We must have patience this season to understand it won’t be easy. We know very well that the situation is not great. We are in an emergency. This is not simple for us.
“Last season we didn’t play in Europe – now we are facing four competitions and are having a few problems doing this.”
BANG goes the title. Nine points adrift, key players injured – and manager Antonio Conte has declared Chelsea’s season is an “emergency”.
As a blue moon rises at Manchester City, Chelsea’s defence of their crown is already disappearing into the blue yonder at Stamford Bridge.
They have not become a bad team overnight, but back-to-back defeats against the slick Premier League leaders and desperate wooden spoonists tells its own grievous story.
All over the pitch, the visitors were second best against a team who couldn’t score for 731 minutes and had banked their last point 152 days earlier.
As Charles Dickens said, there is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life than the simple truth, so here goes: Chelsea won’t win the title again this season.
If Eden Hazard is one of the top three players in the world, as injured team-mate Alvaro Morata claims, anonymous is the new brilliant.
And if Michy Batshuayi is the answer when Morata is injured, what was the question?
Cesar Azpilicueta’s own goal after 11 minutes had put the hosts ahead (right), before Tiemoue Bakayoko (with Marcos Alonso, left) headed Chelsea level seven minutes later. But Wilfried Zaha grabbed the Eagles’ winner just before the break.
Blues captain Gary Cahill said: “You saw the real Chelsea last season and it’s important we emulate that form and consistency again. We know we can do better.
“We need to go on a run like last season because City are blowing teams away. My role as skipper is to go into training now and be positive.
“It’s not to brush over the cracks,
but we must work to produce performances to get that winning feeling back.
“As a player, when you walk off the pitch, you know whether your personal performance has gone well and whether the team has played well. Right now, we all feel the same way.”
At the poker table, where City have a mountain of bargaining chips and Manchester United hold a fistful of aces, Conte sounded like a man down to his bunch of car keys for leverage in the title race.
Asked if City were now unstoppable, he replied: “I think it’s very important for us to look at ourselves. This season will be difficult but we must try to build something important for the future.
“We have to give an opportunity to the new players to have more experience in this league, and to give young players a chance to show they deserve to play for Chelsea. We must have patience this season to understand it won’t be easy.
“We know very well that the situation is not great. We are in an emergency. This is not simple for us.
“It is not one defeat but two in a row and, for sure, this is not a positive moment. We are playing without important players and every game we have a new injury.
“Last season we didn’t play in Europe – now we are facing four competitions and are having a few problems doing this. When you have a few injuries, you are in trouble.” For Palace manager Roy Hodgson (below), it was his best moment since England’s stoppage-time winner against Wales at the Euros 15 months ago. He said: “For satisfaction, that win ranks very highly, not least because of the atmosphere in the stadium. It was really quite fantastic. “The players have worked hard since I came to the club, but haven’t had much chance to prove it because we’ve been getting beaten. “When you lose, you look a bit of a mug if you keep saying, ‘The lads are working well’. This is a nice feeling because we got what we deserved, and had to work hard for it. But we’ve got to do that for the next 30 games too.
“Hopefully, the players now know they can do it because they’ve done it against the champions. But we’ve got to be a passing team because these are footballers, not just cloggers who run around knocking people over.
“You’ve got to dare to pass, you’ve got to look forward, not knock it back to the goalkeeper all the time.” So who dares wins, then, Roy? “That’s a little bit Only Fools and Horses for me,” he chortled – but the underlying message to chairman Steve Parish was clear.
Stick with me, bruv, and this time next year we’ll be millionaires.