Antonio Conte on the brink at Chelsea: Three reasons it’s all gone wrong

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Moments before the final whistle was blown at Vicarage Road on Monday evening Antonio Conte stood deadly still in his technical area with a mixture of fury and bemusement etched across his face.

The Italian, who is usually renowned for his energy and enthusiasm on the touchline, has looked a pale shadow of his former self for much of this season, and so have his Chelsea team for that matter.

What a different a season can make.

It was only eight months ago that Conte was the toast of the Premier League having guided The Blues to the title in his debut season in English football with the second highest points tally in the competition’s history.

Chelsea finished the campaign seven points clear of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur and fifteen points ahead of Manchester City, yet the Italian has been unable to motivate his team to a similar level of performance this time around.

The 4-1 defeat against Watford at Vicarage Road on Monday followed on from a three-goal defeat against Bournemouth on home season eight days earlier to leave Chelsea scrambling to retain their place in the top four and Conte facing mounting pressure to keep his job.

The Blues are now 19 points behind Manchester City, offering a meek defence of their Premier League title, whilst they were knocked out of the League Cup by Arsenal over two-legs and face the unenviable task of facing a rejuvenated Barcelona in the Champions League.

Here are three reasons things have gone wrong for Conte and Chelsea this season…

A European distraction

When Antonio Conte walked into Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2017, he would have found a club at its lowest ebb since Roman Abramovich purchased the West London oufit in 2003.

The Blues had finished the previous campaign stranded in mid-table after Jose Mourinho’s second-coming was spectacularly cut short and the only real direction that the club could go was up.

It allowed Conte to put all of his eggs in one basket. Failure to qualify for either of the major European competitions the previous season meant that Chelsea were able to concentrate on the Premier League without having to concern themselves with mid-week trips across the continent.

More often than not the Italian found himself with a full week to prepare his players for domestic fixtures whilst their main competitors were busy racking up air-miles in the Champions League and Europa League. This extended preparation and recovery time certainly played a key role in Cheslea’s eventual title success.

However, this campaign the Blues have struggled to balance their domestic and European commitments, to such an extent that the defence of their Premier League title was all but over by Christmas.

Conte has been hampered by injuries at times but he has also struggled to rotate his squad effectively to avoid fatigue, whilst their have also been suggestions that some players are unhappy with the heavy workload in training.

Elite clubs need to be able to compete for silverware on multiple fronts and the Chelsea have just not been able to do that this season.

Transfer policy

Ever since Roman Abramovich purchased the club in 2003 Chelsea have been renowned for buying the best players from around the world for premium prices and, more often than not, have been applauded for the effectiveness of their transfer policy.

However, this campaign the club has struggled to keep stride with their competitors and have certainly made a number of costly errors.

The issues started in the summer when Romelu Lukaku, despite looking certain to join the Blues, instead opted to join Manchester United, whilst Ross Barkley had a last-minute change of heart on deadline day, although he did complete his transfer in January.

Meanwhile, Nemanja Matic departed to Old Trafford and was effectively replaced by Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater – there is little doubt who got the best out of that deal and it certainly was not Chelsea.

In short, the club’s transfer policy simply has not been up to scratch and this was further emphasised in January. Whilst Manchester United were purchasing Alexis Sanchez and Arsenal were agreeing a deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Chelsea were being linked with the likes of Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch.

Even the eventual arrival of Olivier Giroud is hardly an inspiring move considering the fact that he has been little more than a bit-part player at the Emirates Stadium during the previous eighteen months.

So is it really any surprise that Chelsea are falling behind the competition when their rivals are purchasing world-class talent whilst the Blues are settling for second-best?

Conte’s attitude

During his debut season in English football Antonio Conte moulded the Chelsea team into a direct image of himself – energetic, dynamic and passionate.

However, the Italian appears to have slowly lost all of his enthusiasm in recent months and both he and his players look a pale imitation of themselves this campaign.

The Italian certainly has not helped himself with his attitude and comments to the press.

Following the three-goal defeat on home soil against Bournemouth Conte claimed that he was ‘exploiting this squad at the maximum level’ and that finishing in the top four would be a ‘great success’. The comments were both inaccurate and provocative and adds weight to the notion that all is not well behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge.

At Vicarage Road on Monday evening the Italian explained to the press that his side had ‘played with fear’ and appeared to openly questions the character, commitment and personality of his players.

It would be interesting to know what the same group of players, many of whom spent two-thirds of the game playing with a man less after Tiemoue Bakayoko’s red card, thought of the very public criticism directed at them by their manager.

At the moment, Conte appears content to pass the blame to anyone else rather than accept responsibility himself and, even if there are continuing issues behind the scenes, he has a responsibility to be getting a higher level of performance out of his players than they have produced in the past two games.