20.2 C
Nairobi
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Antonio Conte: Chelsea is spineless

On

Related stories

Absa Bank partners with Visa to launch Superior Card payment offering

Absa Bank Kenya, in collaboration with Visa, a world...

M-PESA Global announces KES.20M sponsorship for M-Sport Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux

Today, M-PESA Global International Money Transfer service has announced...

Guinness Matchday, the Epic Live Football viewing experience hits the Road

Guinness and its Matchday Committee, led by Chairman G-Money...

Kenya Airways renews partnership as Official Sponsor of WRC Safari

Kenya Airways has announced the renewal of its partnership...

Antonio Conte accused his Chelsea players of being ‘spineless’ and lacking a soul during a half-time inquest as their dismal 3-0 defeat by Arsenal on Saturday confirmed the size of the task in front of him.

The squad can now expect to be treated to a video nasty of exactly what went wrong when they return to work today after Conte resisted the temptation to cancel their day off.

Chelsea’s head coach was shocked by the way in which his players surrendered at the Emirates during a first half in which Alexis Sánchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil scored for the home side.

The Italian gave his damning verdict in a half-time discussion in which the players also aired their views, describing the performance as a “disaster”.

Gary Cahill, who was at fault for Arsenal’s first goal from Sánchez, and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois let their anger spill on to the pitch.

Cahill shouted at Courtois to come for the ball, while the Belgian goalkeeper screamed at his defence after making a good save with his feet from Walcott in the second half.

Asked if he was angry at half-time, Conte said: “Yes but I prefer to keep my words private, because it’s right when I talk with my players to keep what I tell them. This is normal. Because there are rules in the dressing room and you must respect this.

“Sure I was angry, but my players were also angry,” he added. “Because we weren’t satisfied with our game, with our performance.

“We had a bad performance together – me first, my staff second, and then the players. It is important to take this experience as an opportunity to understand that if we want to come back very soon, to fight for something important in England, it is important to improve.

“It is important to improve, it is important to show during the game how to be a great team and not only one on paper.”

One of the biggest and most difficult problems Conte has to address at Chelsea is the lack of real leadership on the pitch, which is felt by the players.

For years, Chelsea could rely on John Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba to help pull them through games, but, of those big characters, only Terry remains and he was out injured for the Arsenal game.

Heads dropped as soon as the first goal was conceded in the 11th minute and there were no individuals capable of either inspiring or simply demanding an improvement from their team-mates.

The fact Branislav Ivanovic is vice-captain and skippers Chelsea in Terry’s absence could be used as an example of where they are going wrong.

It is not just a mystery to fans, but also many of the players as to how Ivanovic has kept his place in the Chelsea team during an awful run of form that stretches over 12 months.

“I don’t want to talk about defenders, midfielders or strikers,” said Conte. “Because I think we lose and we win as a team. Today we understood – me first, then the players – that this league is very tough. We must improve a lot if we want to stay up [near the top], and not in the middle of the table.

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once

Latest stories

Leave a Reply