Go back 12 months ago to January 2017; Chelsea had just suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss to eventual title rivals Tottenham Hotspurs. The loss ended a long winning run and although the loss was a bitter blow to the Blues, the aftermath was taken in a mature stride. Fans saw the bigger picture, ‘that loss was just a road bump on the journey to future success; Conte knows what he’s doing’. Fast forward 12 months to January 2018, Chelsea have just suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss to another North London side in Arsenal but this defeat hasn’t been taken in the same fashion as before. There has been uproar. #ConteOut was amongst the top trending phrases a mere minutes after the final whistle at The Emirates. Thousands upon thousands of fans seething at the fact this ‘despicable manager has allowed us to lose Arsenal…again’. Angry that ‘he plays the same deadwood players continuously’ or frustrated that ‘he only uses negative tactics’. Why the turnaround in opinion? How did this title-winning manager suddenly gain the ire of the fans who once revered him?
To put it bluntly, Antonio Conte and his side overachieved.
In his first season in England, to take a team who finished 10th the year before to the title in a year when two of the best managers in the world in Mourinho and Guardiola had arrived in the Premier League was nothing short of magical. Chelsea fans were expecting to experience that magical feeling again this season, however, the harsh reality is that those highs will not be repeated again anytime soon. The outstanding achievement last season is leading to Conte’s demise now as a countless number of Chelsea fans fail to understand how this team is not suitably equipped to compete on multiple fronts.
Chelsea are currently 3rd in the league, in the round of 16 in the Champions League, still in the FA Cup and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage. In reality, the club is in a good position with the potential to have a very good year. At the end of this season it could even be argued that Conte will have overachieved again!
Look at Chelsea’s squad, Marcos Alonso was ridiculed when he was signed by Chelsea as a previous Sunderland and Bolton reject, although he has acquitted himself well, he wouldn’t get into any of the best teams across Europe. The same applies to Victor Moses; the converted winger was never seen and still isn’t seen as an elite player yet is one of the first names on the team sheet for Chelsea. Further forward, Chelsea are solely reliant on a player in Alvaro Morata who has already played more minutes this season than he ever has played in any season. Potentially he could become a world class striker but as of this moment he is still developing as a player. Add to that, that Chelsea’s squad depth is threadbare and the quality beyond the first team isn’t up to the required standard when compared with their rivals, it’s no wonder Chelsea sometimes fall short.
Even this season, Chelsea have produced encapsulating wins; away at Tottenham, away against Atletico Madrid and at home to Man U and its those sweet tastes of success that have given the Chelsea fans a false reality of where they are and in the age of the entitled football fan who demand their teams win every single match and trophy, this will ultimately lead to Chelsea getting rid of the best manager they’ve had in a number of years.
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