A brief history of Antonio Conte goading Roman Abramovich
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte could be sacked at any moment following his side’s 4-1 defeat to Watford. Here’s a look back at a tumultuous season for the Italian.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte could be sacked at any moment. That’s the feeling permeating Stamford Bridge over the past 24 hours, following Chelsea’s 4-1 defeat to Watford. The team lacked pace and energy against what should have been a manageable opponent. As a result, Chelsea have come under increased scrutiny for what many regard as an undermining attitude since the start of the season.
Anyone who has watched the defiant Italian at post-match news conferences and TV interviews this season can attest to the fact things are growing increasingly worse between Conte and Chelsea’s board. The tension has been simmering since the summer and growing to a boil with each passing month. The public displays of dissatisfaction have become more heated in recent weeks, culminating with the defeat against Wartford and his post-match comments.
“I tried to warn everyone about the difficulty of our path and in the league of trying to find our place in the Champions League, but now we are facing a lot of difficulties and you can see we perform very bad,” Conte told reporters after the Watford loss.
Asked whether he was worried about being sacked, Conte seemed to almost dare the board to fire him.
“I’m not worried about my job,” he told reporters Monday. “I work every day and I give 120 percent, OK? If this is enough, it’s OK. Otherwise, the club can take a different decision. But I’m not worried.”
Here’s a look back at several key comments between Conte regarding the defending Premier League champions in this drama-filled timeline:
August
After winning the Premier League at the end of last season, Conte signed a two-year deal with Chelsea last summer, meaning his contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Soon after, he sought reinforcements on the summer transfer market. The next goal, in his estimation, was to compete for the Champions League, something Conte insisted he couldn’t do with the squad he had at his disposal. He had recruited Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger, but the losses of John Terry, Nemanja Matic and eventually Diego Costa (who he drove out of the squad) weren’t enough. The loss of Matic to rivals Manchester United especially hurt, something Conte made known to everyone.
“Matic knows very well what I think about him,” Conte told Sky Sports. “The importance for me about this player, who is a really good player, a top player, very important for our team, but sometimes you must accept this crazy transfer market. And sometimes you must accept different decisions. But he is a great loss for us.”
December 2017
When Chelsea failed to sign some of Conte’s targets, like Fernando Llorente and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Conte reflected on the team’s transfer moves for the year with some strong language during a year-end interview with Sky Sports: “For a club like Chelsea, the target is to fight until the end for every competition, and to do this, it is important to have a number of players.”
The team was fighting for a top four spot, but appeared to be in no position to overtake Manchester City.
“Sometimes you have the same vision [as the club’s management], sometimes you don’t have the same vision, but this is life! Sometimes my wife is the same! Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t, but life continues and you have to be ready to put ourselves forward for the family or the club,” he added.
Jan. 24
The disagreements between Conte and Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich and the board over which players to buy and how to spend money inevitably became a talking point in 2018 as the tension mounted. The club, however, was not happy that Conte continued to disparage the club whenever a microphone was put before him.
“About the transfer market, from the summer, the club decides every single player that comes here,” Conte said after 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the semifinals of the Carabao Cup. “My first task is to do my job, to be a coach and to try to improve my players. For sure, I don’t have a big impact on the transfer market.”
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Feb. 3
Even after reinforcements arrived in January in the form of Oliver Giroud, Emerson and Ross Barkley, Conte, as recently as last week, called for quality over quantity and that the team needed to sign more world-class players in the future to be able to compete in the Champions League.
“Now we have to struggle to fight for a Champions League place … We must be realistic. We must be strong to accept this type of situation,” he told reporters when asked if the team, currently fourth, could catch first-place Manchester City. “Then, in the future, if there is the possibility, you have to try to buy only two or three players, not eight players. Don’t forget, this summer we brought in eight players and spent a lot less than other teams who bought only two or three.”
Conte didn’t stop there, adding: “That means you don’t have a basis, a great foundation. We must have great patience to understand the moment. We lost strong, experienced players in the last few years, so we must have patience to understand that, now, we have to appreciate the moment, be realistic, create a basis and then build something important to face big challenges with the other teams.”
Feb. 5
Just ahead of Monday’s defeat, Conte had called on a public vote of confidence from his employers to help silence talk of him departing the club.
“For sure, I think that I’d like to have a statement to support against this speculation,” he said.
Chelsea play Barcelona in the round of 16 of the Champions League on Feb. 20 and March 14. There will be lots more drama between now and then. Only time will tell if Conte will be pacing the Chelsea sidelines.