Alvaro Morata’s poor form, defence decline and reliance on Eden Hazard: Why Antonio Conte’s Chelsea are slumping
As pressure mounts on the Blues boss after two wins in 10 games, our friends at Football Whispers assess the problems
THE pressure is mounting on Chelsea boss Antonio Conte after the Blues were thrashed 4-1 at Watford on Monday night.
Defeat at Vicarage Road means the reigning champions have won just two of their last ten matches in all competitions and are just a point clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.
Out of the title race, knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the semi-finals and up against Barcelona in the Champions League, Chelsea are facing the prospect of a season without silverware.
Come what may, Conte is expected to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, despite stating his desire to see out his contract which has another year to run.
With that in mind, we asked our friends at Football Whispers what has gone wrong for the former Juventus coach this season.
Failure to improve the team
Conte has not held back in his press utterances. He has issued a number of thinly-veiled messages throughout the season but, when it comes to the club’s transfer business, he has been pretty blunt.
Last month he told Sky Italia: “I do not aim high with my requests, especially as in my history I've rarely been given the players I asked for. I always ended up at clubs who were running an austerity programme.”
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That ‘austerity programme’ has resulted in the Blues’ failure to sign ready-made stars for the first team. Their rivals did just that.
In January, Manchester United bagged Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan while Liverpool picked up Virgil van Dijk. Chelsea signed squad players in Olivier Giroud, Emerson Palmieri and Ross Barkley.
Alvaro Morata’s poor form
The Spanish striker was the one success story from Chelsea’s 2017 summer recruitment.
He hit seven goals in his first eight games for the Blues in all competitions and looked the perfect replacement for Diego Costa.
However, the £58m forward has faltered since, scoring just five times since the end of September.
He is yet to find the back of the net in 2018.
His dip has been underlined by Conte’s lack of faith in Michy Batshuayi who was loaned to Borussia Dortmund in January.
That issue has finally been addressed with the £15.3m signing of Giroud from Arsenal. But it could be too little too late.
Summer signings haven’t worked out
Last summer Juventus left-back Alex Sandro was a Chelsea transfer target.
As was Swansea striker Fernando Llorente. But Conte got neither.
Instead Chelsea signed a series of players who have disappointed.
Tiemoue Bakayoko, sent off in the defeat to Watford, has been a disaster.
Antonio Rudiger can’t cement a regular starting place despite the Blues’ defensive woes. Davide Zappacosta has been a passenger while Danny Drinkwater has been plagued with injury.
Defensive decline
Much of Chelsea’s success last season was built around the change of system from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3.
David Luiz, who rejoined from Paris Saint-Germain after two years away, shed his tag as a comedy character and was instead reborn as a classy, reliable centre-half.
This season, though, the Brazilian has returned to his old ways and has played just three times since November following a falling out with Conte.
Alongside him, skipper Gary Cahill has gone from being a defensive rock to a liability. Both were at fault in the humbling defeat at Watford and there are fears Cahill is now in terminal decline.
Over reliance on Eden Hazard
One of the few bright spots in a dismal season for the Blues has been the form of one-time Real Madrid transfer target Hazard.
The Belgian has been Chelsea’s best player this term and, at times, he has been unplayable.
However, with Morata’s troubles in front of goal the west Londoners have become overly reliant on their No.10.
Chelsea have scored just seven Premier League goals in 2018. Hazard has scored four of them.
And while he thrives on the responsibility of being Chelsea’s creative leader, the Blues must find other ways to win or face becoming too predictable.