The No1 football pullout
Batshuayi strikes twice to show Conte what he can do.. but he could still be heading for exit
Chelsea 3 Newcastle 0
MICHY BATSHUAYI scored twice to send Chelsea into the FA Cup fifth round – then found himself in limbo ahead of Wednesday’s transfer deadline. The £34million Belgium striker netted a 31st-minute opener and a deflected second a minute before the break. Last week Conte (right) – hunting Roma’s Edin Dzeko (left) – suggested Batshuayi would be loaned out if a replacement came in. The Blues boss now claims Batshuayi could stay – with Chelsea
ANTONIO CONTE turned to the crowd after the third goal went in and gave the fans chanting his name a half-hearted clap.
Conte no longer does his touchline histrionics from last season – his enthusiasm has gone. This is a man who is never happy and his end game at Chelsea has already begun.
After all, Michy Batshuayi scored twice against Newcastle and yet Conte is not satisfied, and wants to replace him before the transfer window shuts on Wednesday night. The supporters know Conte is going, we know he is going, the players know he is going, he knows he is going and it just feels as if Chelsea are drifting until the end of the season.
You can only feel sorry for Batshuayi, who seems to have been caught in the political crossfire between the unhappy manager trying to make a point and the club’s hierarchy.
Incredibly, Batshuayi has now scored 19 goals (albeit he has made 35 substitute appearances) in 18 starts since joining for £33million, and yet his manager clearly does not fancy him.
Those stats are pretty good and you wonder, if they do get Edin Dzeko before the window shuts, whether he would actually be any better than Batshuyai, who would inevitably get shipped out.
Conte did his best to try and
dodge questions about transfers but struggled to bite his tongue.
These are difficult times at Stamford Bridge because the mood would be good at most other clubs, as they are into the fifth round, are still set to reach the top four and into the last-16 of the Champions League.
It is hardly crisis time and yet the club’s managerial revolving door policy inevitably ends up with every trophy being followed by a season of discontent. Last year’s title is forgotten and replaced by Conte’s ugly soap opera.
The Blues began with a near-full- strength line-up – Thibaut Courtois and Alvaro Morata were both injured – and they clearly want to win the FA Cup, but you feel it would be Conte’s parting gift to the club.
Newcastle started well, were fired up, and Rafa Benitez, the arch tactician, set up with a back five, midfield diamond and a determination not to get beaten.
Chelsea struggled to break them down (Gary Cahill collides with N’Golo Kante and Isaac Hayden, left), but the turning point came after 31 minutes, when Pedro’s sublime pass from midfield cut the Toon defence wide open. Eden Hazard found Marcos Alonso, who set up Batshuayi. It was close range, not even Batshuyai with his lack of confidence could miss an open goal from there and, sure enough, he steered into the empty net.
Chelsea keeper Willy Caballero made a couple of excellent saves as he defied Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle, and Newcastle did not give up even after going behind.
But a minute before half time. Henri Saivet was caught in possession, Pedro and Hazard combined again and this time Batshuyai hit a shot, which was deflected off Jamaal Lascelles and over keeper Karl Darlow.
If Benitez keeps up a squad of largely Championship players he will have done brilliantly, but it is now approaching 50 years since Newcastle won the Inter City Fairs Cup in 1969. There is no end in sight.
Benitez is just as political as Conte with some of his coded messages about transfers and signings. But Newcastle are woefully short of quality.
Chelsea’s third came after 72 minutes after Davide Zappacosta was fouled, Alonso stepped up and curled a stunning 25-yard free-kick into the top corner.
Alonso has been one of the Blues’ best performers all season, which makes it all the more bizarre they are trying to sign Roma’s Brazilian left-back Emerson Palmieri.
Left-back is the one position they do not need to strengthen. But that, in a nutshell, is Chelsea’s transfer policy – and probably why Conte is so frustrated.