Conte’s flops fail to lift doom and gloom
CHELSEA took advantage of a brief lull in the fighting between Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho to scramble under the barbed wire and play a football match yesterday.
If Conte was hoping the contest would bring him some respite from the fractiousness that is lingering around him, his future and the club he manages, this goalless draw with a purring Leicester City was not the game he needed.
Conte’s side were outplayed by Claude Puel’s team for most of the game and were lucky to escape with a point. Even when Leicester were reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute courtesy of Ben Chilwell’s second yellow card, Chelsea rarely looked like breaking them down. They are without a win in four games now and they left the field to yells of dismay from the crowd.
Conte has allowed himself to become rattled by Mourinho’s expertly aimed barbs and by what he perceives as his club’s failure to match his ambitions in the transfer market. When Mourinho’s latest comments about his contempt for Conte were put to him after the match, Conte sighed: ‘I don’t know if he said this for me,’ he said. ‘I’m not worried. I sleep well.’
The build-up to this had seen him fending off suggestions Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri or Luis Enrique had been lined up to take over from him at the end of the season. The way Chelsea played suggested off-the-field distractions may be taking their toll on the players, too.
Leicester overwhelmed Chelsea with pace and guile as Conte’s team struggled to cope with the combination of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez in particular who was the best player on the pitch.
Leicester should have taken the lead after eight minutes when Chilwell ran on to a long ball. He dragged a cross into the path of Shinji Okazaki who could only lift it over the bar from close range.
With Leicester dominating, only Cesc Fabregas offered much in the way of creative play going forward for Chelsea. Kasper Schmeichel saved well from him at his near post but it was not long before the home side were on the defensive again.
This time, they were indebted to a fine saving tackle from Tim Cahill that denied Mahrez after he had played a clever one-two with Okazaki.
Mahrez then shot at the Chelsea goal with his effort deflecting off Marcos Alonso to leave Thibaut Courtois rooted to the spot but it bounced wide of the left-hand post.
Leicester continued to dominate but when Chilwell was sent off for a second booking in six minutes, Chelsea pushed for a winner they didn’t deserve and failed to get.
Conte added: ‘I’m the coach. I’m trying to do the best with my players.’
The air of gloom and disquiet around Stamford Bridge lingers on.