Chelsea draw a blank after Conte gamble fails
There was a time when every decision Antonio Conte made seemed destined to yield results, from his radical new formations to his substitutions, which is why when he replaced Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas before the hour without even a sympathetic glance, one assumed that a goal was coming.
Conte is not a man who is prepared to die wondering what might have been, and yet as his Chelsea team failed to overcome a Leicester City team down a man for the last 22 minutes plus stoppage time after Ben Chilwell’s red card, their manager was out of options. This was the club’s third consecutive goalless draw, and while their defence of the Premier League title has long since turned to dust, this one felt the most damaging of all.
Much of the blame will rest on Alvaro Morata, now five games without a game, and given his fragile confidence this was the wrong time to run into the outstanding Harry Maguire, winning challenges and carrying the ball clear like a farmer delighting in his new 4x4.
Even when Chilwell was sent off for two yellow cards within the space of six minutes, there was no breaking Leicester.
The most damning verdict was Conte’s response to Hazard and Fabregas, the creative soul of his team, early in the second half when the Italian did not even bother to wait for an hour before he hauled both of them off.
Hazard did his best to suppress his displeasure, but Conte had clearly seen enough to feel that Pedro was a better option than one of the Premier League’s finest players.
Hazard was overshadowed by Riyad Mahrez, especially in the first half, when his flickering feet and bursts of acceleration was a constant source of concern for Chelsea’s left-sided defender Antonio Rudiger. There was frustration at Conte’s line-up with a five-man midfield that included another full game for Tiemoue Bakayoko, a more obvious substitution, it appeared, when Conte tried to ramp up the pressure with Pedro and Willian.
There were boos for Chelsea at the final whistle, and afterwards Conte defended his players, citing the exertions of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal. Their manager rejected the notion that he should jettison the unpopular 3-5-2 in favour of last season’s title-winning 3-4-3 system and said that he just did not have the players.
And there was the mandatory response to the latest Jose Mourinho intervention, Conte responding to the Manchester United manager’s view that he held his counterpart in “contempt”, although there was also an acceptance that the feud could soon come to an end. “I think I said I’d stop,” Conte said. “It’s the same for me [that he would stop if Mourinho agrees to]. I don’t know if he said this for me. I’m not worried. I sleep well.”
He might sleep less well knowing that never before have Chelsea strung together three goalless draws in their history and with no imminent move in the transfer market, for Alexis Sanchez or any other attacking player, it will be down to Conte to change things himself. “I think the problem is for the team, not only for Morata,” he said.
“Compared to last season, we are conceding less and showing great solidity defensively. But we are not showing great quality in our finishing, but not only for Morata. Defenders have had chances from corners, and we’ve not taken those chances. We have to try to improve on this aspect. It’s for all the team.” When asked again about whether the club might consider a bid for Sanchez, he was non-committal. “I’m the coach. I’m trying to do the best with my players, to try to improve my players. It [transfers] is not my business.”
Leicester had dominated the attacking parts of the first half, and Mahrez was a constant thorn in Chelsea’s side. Shinji Okazaki should have scored from a cross, and they ended the half with 12 attempts on Chelsea’s goal, more, their former player Gary Lineker pointed out, than any away side in a first half at Stamford Bridge in 15 years.
Chilwell’s first yellow card was for a foul on Willian, Fabregas’s replacement, and he was sent off after 68 minutes after a heavy challenge that left Victor Moses limping.
Puel declared both cards “harsh”. “We lost two points,” he said. “Of course there’s disappointment but a good feeling to show our quality.
“They are champions playing at home, so it’s good to see my players with this quality, and all the chances we created.”
Chelsea had one final chance, when substitute Vicente Iborra gave away a dangerous free-kick in the third minute of injury-time but Marcos Alonso dragged his shot wide, and it would have been hard to say they deserved the three points.