Exactly a month ago, Chelsea won 3-0 against Burnley and made it three wins out of three games in the new league season.
The fans were happy and everything was looking smooth. Three Premier League games later things seem to be moving in a completely different direction.
A draw at Swansea, a home defeat to Liverpool and a London derby defeat at Arsenal has damaged good start of the Chelsea season. But who is to blame for the poor performances and results in these games? New manager Antonio Conte, or a few under performing players?
I am a fan of Antonio Conte. His Juventus team was extremely solid and dominated domestic competitions in Italy every year. But there were always doubts whether he can achieve similar success in tougher competitions or tournaments in a different country.
His stint with Italy national team erased all doubts. A strong showing in the Euro 2016 held in France is a proof of that.
Italy were not the favourites but nearly eliminated Germany from the tournament. Chelsea fans were optimistic during and after the Euros.
As it always happens, few bad results and some of the fans are turning against Antonio Conte. But are they correct in rejecting him so early in his Chelsea career? The Italian inherited a team that finished 10th in the Premier League last season.
To be completely honest Chelsea never looked good enough last season and as a result couldn’t even qualify for any European competition. In the transfer market this summer, Chelsea failed to sign their top defensive targets and top striker targets.
Chelsea under Roman Abramovich are known to ‘splash the cash’ in the transfer window but this season things were a bit different.
Chelsea refused to pay asking price for their targets such as Kalidou Koulibaly and Romelu Lukaku. Poor performances last season and not a perfect transfer window, so why a lot is expected this season which is the first one in a new country for Antonio Conte?
Antonio Conte is known for producing tactically strong defensive displays. Apart from John Terry the other defenders in the Chelsea side have not performed as per their capabilities. Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic have been poor in the games against Swansea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Transition of Conte from Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini to Cahill, David Luiz and Ivanovic hasn’t been smooth and it shouldn’t be expected so soon either.
The most important question is that whether the unhappy fans will affect owner Abramovich? Will he be looking to give Antonio Conte the time he needs?
The Italian has been handed a ‘project’ at Chelsea. By project what I mean to say is that the manager has been given the authority to re-build the squad.
The process can be slow. It takes time for a new manager in a foreign country to analyse the new squad, get non performers off the books and build a new team.
Chelsea fans should be patient for now and should judge the current season’s progress on the basis of what happened last season. Realistic expectations, instead of dreams of a magical season, are needed.
Aneesh Chandoke
Roar Pro
There is no 'crisis' at Chelsea. After the Arsenal defeat there was a meltdown on Twitter and majority blaming Conte even when we have seen the huge individual errors. Chelsea fans need to be patient. That is all that is written in the article.
Arky
Guest
Lost to two good teams. Won 3 games, then played two good teams who had good days. Conte is still getting it together, but he has a pretty good squad (not perfect, not galacticos like when Roman first came to Chelsea, but pretty good) and the fact that Chelsea has no European commitments will begin to count for something when the fixture pileup starts hurting the other big clubs around Christmas.
Vas Venkatramani
Roar Guru
Is there anything really wrong with Chelsea? Or is it that they are now in a league where they can't simply spend more than their competitors? It's easy to forget just how different a plane Chelsea were when Roman's roubles first arrived. They essentially catapulted themselves to mid-table regulars to champions in the space of two seasons. What they are now experiencing is a confrontation of what happens when every other team can do it their way. Chelsea can no longer rely on outspending their rivals for their problems. Please don't construe this as anything other than truth - Chelsea were able to amass three league titles, a Champions League, Europa League, and multiple League and FA Cup titles in the last decade and a bit. But now, the game is different. Arsenal are finally awakening from their slumber following years of frugality since building the Emirates Stadium, Liverpool are entering into a positive new dawn with a new stand and an enterprising manager. Man Utd will be relentlessly pursuing glory from any means, and Man City now consign Chelsea's wealth to mere pocket change. Chelsea lost to two of them these last two weeks. I don't even mention Spurs or Everton, both of whom have started brightly and have reasons to be optimistic. There are plenty of teams vying for glory this season, so any notion of losing to rivals shouldn't be seen as something going wrong - it's simply the ledger being rebalanced.
danwain
Guest
Plenty going wrong at Chelsea, the over reliance on a 35 year old central defender is probably top of the list. The midfield is slow and has no creativity. Hazard is the biggest myth of a player putting boots on these days. Arsenal taught them a lesson on the weekend and it was wonderful to watch.
Midfielder
Guest
Manager sacked within 4 weeks in nothing improves...
SM
Guest
No one has been turning on the manager.
Fadida
Guest
Nothing. New manager having growing pains with team that bombed last season