By Daily Sports on August 15, 2017
Chelsea’s manager Antonio Conte has been accussed of destabilising the club in the wake of their opening day Premuer League defeat to Burnley.
Daily Telegraph of England chief sports writer Paul Hayward argues that with the constant talk of not having a strong enough squad emanating from the manager, confidence at the club must have taking a hit.
“I think Chelsea have got good reason to feel aggrieved with the way Conte is carrying on,” Hayward told Sky Sports. “This grumbling began at the end of last season, and it picked up momentum from the minute they won the title.
“This message went around that Conte felt he didn’t have enough players to compete on two fronts the following season, that’s standard fare for a manager, pushing early to get bodies in.
“But it has continued unabated. When you look at the players they’ve bought, they’ve done reasonably well in the transfer window. Bakayoko is a very dynamic central midfield player, a potential upgrade on Nemanja Matic I believe. Morata is a perfectly good A-list centre forward, they’ve bought a good centre-back in Antonio Rudiger.
“But Conte has appeared relentlessly unsettled or unhappy. Everyone knows that with the Chelsea manager, the owner and the people around him like to play the transfer game, like a bit of a hobby, almost like a poker game that they all enjoy.
“Chelsea won the title last season with a record number of wins
“Conte knew that, but he also knows they won the title and had an extremely good season and had built something to progress from, and yet he seems to want to destabilise everything.”
The Chelsea head coach was asked after the Burnley defeat whether his starting XI had been a message to the board about his need to improve the squad, but denied the suggestion, saying: “You don’t know me well. In pre-season we always play the best formation and it happened also today.
“With my choices, I put the best players in this moment. I repeat: I don’t like this type of question. Why do I have to send this message [to the board]? I want to win.”
Chelsea are now as long as 13/2 to win the title, with Conte tipped to be first Premier League manager to leave this season, despite recently signing an improved deal.
Source Daily Sports
Posted August 15, 2017
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