CONTE’S TIRED EXCUSE MAY WELL PROVE HAZARDOUS
ANTONIO CONTE did not even give him a glance, never mind a word.
Eden Hazard had not lasted an hour this time, now hooked in four successive matches.
Unceremoniously withdrawn, along with Cesc Fabregas, Conte put Hazard’s latest removal down to fatigue, but it somehow felt significant.
In common with each and every colleague, Hazard had not been performing adequately, never mind well.
But how many other players did Conte have on the field, including those he introduced, more capable of producing a surprise amid the abject?
Hazard had caught the mood of mediocrity, granted, but Conte left Tiemoue Bakayoko on, for goodness sake. It is the modern way, but there was a palpable sense of frustration behind the ripples of jeering.
Only goal difference keeps them from second place in the Premier League, they are one match from Wembley in one cup, still in another and have a Champions League date with Barcelona in their diary.
But this is Chelsea and Conte knows it. “The history of Chelsea is very clear. It is normal for the manager of the club to have this situation,” he said on Friday.
He was referring to modern history, to Roman Abramovich history, to the fact that even the most recent history of a Chelsea manager counts for nothing.
Referring to his apparent intention to try and see out his three-year contract, Conte had elaborated: “I think the club has to send me away.”
Rest assured, Antonio, they have got serious form for that and decent results do not carry guarantees.
Chelsea have lost once in 18 games in all competitions, don’t forget.
What can make this club send managers away is when the owner and
executives get a little tired of them agitating about transfer policy.
What can make this club send managers away is when their personal agendas, their feuds with individual rivals, become the story.
What can make this club send managers away is when a sense emerges of a worsening dynamic between the technical area and the pitch.
There is little to suggest Conte and Hazard do not have a harmonious relationship. It is certainly better than the one Conte has with David Luiz.
But it is clear Conte (right) is not getting the best out of Hazard right now.
A lot of the time, Hazard might have been withdrawn for energy-preservation reasons, but no other Chelsea player has been substituted more this season. That is now 10 times.
When he took to the dugout here, Chelsea had been dominated by Leicester and were trying to find some sort of way into the game.
Hazard, at his worst, is more likely to find that way than many around him at their best.
And, you do have to say, he was not far off his worst. He was certainly eclipsed by Riyad Mahrez.
You would not have to be an arch-cynic to raise a transfer-window eyebrow at this sort of commitment from Mahrez. If this was standard Mahrez fare, an absence of Big Six interest would be unthinkable. So much more than a stepover sideshow, there was a vision and directness to his contribution that has been scarce since the title-winning season. It was a contribution that should have been rewarded with a win, certainly with a penalty when Andreas Christensen dropped a knee to block his path. But there was enough theatricality about the fall to give Mike Jones the decline option. It proved pivotal, momentum-wise, Jones having no similar option when Ben Chilwell, who had been outstanding, produced back-to-back regulation yellow card offences against Willian and Victor Moses.
After Chilwell’s departure, Leicester’s preoccupation was to keep a slightly more buoyant Chelsea at bay.
That they did it with some degree of comfort did not go down well with the Stamford Bridge faithful.
Conte attributed the performance mainly to tiredness.
He substituted Hazard because he considered his star man to be tired.
Many more days like these and we all know who will tire of who.
And so does Conte.