Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ANTONIO CONTE is facing an early-season crisis at Chelsea after a breathtaking meltdown at Stamford Bridge.
FROM the snug blue tracksuit to the occasional vacant gaze to the motionless moments, he was often unrecognisable.
Unrecognisable from the dapper, fiery-eyed, non-stop whir of technical area action.
Hands in pockets, shoulders angling towards astroturf, disgust and dismay facial bedfellows, this was a different Antonio Conte to the one who blazed a trail of effervescence and success through the Premier League last season.
From the moment Conte signed a new deal that was new purely in terms of readies, it has been an open secret that all has not been sweetness and light between the Italian and the Stamford Bridge power-brokers.
Here was the dramatic evidence.
Of course, the early dismissal of captain Gary Cahill had a considerable influence on proceedings, but Chelsea’s reaction was telling of a preparation far from smooth.
It was not a 10-man reaction of champions and, for the rank disorganisation and indiscipline, Conte has to take his lion’s share of the blame.
Reduced in personnel, a team that, in its title-winning pomp, could not have been better drilled fell into utter disarray. Stephen Ward’s strike was pure, but the defending for Sam Vokes’ sandwiching goals was amateurish.
Then 14 minutes into the second half, a funny thing happened.
Conte brought on a world-class player. A £60million player.
That Alvaro Morata did not start was mystifying. Why he didn’t come on at half-time was an insult added to mystery.
Apparently, he is not fully fit. Judging by his 35 minutes of action, highlighted by an expertly- headed goal and a fiendishly intelligent assist for the David Luiz strike, he must be some athlete when he is fully fit.
If owner Roman Abramovich wanted an answer as to why Jeremie Boga started ahead of a man for whom the owner wrote yet another enormous cheque, you would not be surprised.
Morata, a needless offside intervention into what looked like a goalbound Andreas Christensen shot apart, looked a class act.
At least that might be some consolation to the fans and to the hierarchy.
It is safe to assume there will be urgent talks regarding recruitment in the coming days.
Conte, maybe making a point, had a number of substitutes who would have had Danny Rose battering the Google key.
For one reason or another – suspensions, strops, sales and soreness – this was a shadow of the champion side of 2016-17. It certainly showed.
It goes without saying that enormous credit is due to Sean Dyche’s Burnley.
Although their defensive approach to the second half invited an unlikely comeback, one that looked possible even after Cesc Fabregas got a daft second yellow to go with his daft first. For a sublime player, he has silliness off to a T.
Conte may even add suspension issues to his list of reasons why his club should be heavily involved in what is left of the summer market.
What happens between now and the end of the month will surely have a decisive say in Conte’s long-term future.
It was a touch knee-jerk, but one bookmaker, when Vokes’ second went in, made Conte the favourite to become the first Premier League manager to leave his post this season. That oddsmaker was probably thinking back to the start of Jose Mourinho’s last campaign as a Chelsea manager.
Thinking back to the Thibaut Courtois red card in the 2-2 opening home draw with Swansea that became infamous for the Eva Carneiro incident.
Thinking back to how Mourinho had warned the board about getting it wrong in the market, to how he cut an unsettled figure from day one of what turned out to be a truncated title-defending season.
Conte has already spoken about the perils of that sort of season.
It’s way too early to see it coming, of course. But for unrecognisable Antonio, it could hardly have been a worse start.
14 minutes into the second half, a funny thing happened... Conte brought on a a £60m player, but why Morata did not start is mystifying
The Italian manager was rocked as Burnley sprang a major upset with victory over his nine-men Blues.
Conte admitted: “I saw two faces of Chelsea today – one negative in the first half and the other positive in the