The Italian manager faces using a below par
defence for the first time in his career in his first
ever Premier League match
As Antonio Conte gears up for his first Premier League
match in charge of Chelsea, there is no doubt the Italian will
be frustrated with the state of his defence.
The former Juventus boss has built his successful
managerial career on the foundations of a strong backline,
which has almost always contained the fearsome trio of
Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli.
Conte has already been critical of his new defence during
pre-season. With Kurt Zouma injured, the gaffer goes into a
fresh campaign with only John Terry, Gary Cahill and
Branislav Ivanovic.
Terry is a club legend, but he is not supposed to be going
into this season as a first choice centre-back after having
accepted a pay cut and a lesser role as part of his new deal.
The club's defensive problems extend to the full-back
positions, too, with Ivanovic looking like a liability last
season after losing a yard of pace and a lot of confidence.
Ola Aina, who has yet to make his Chelsea debut, is
deputising for both Ivanovic and Azpilicueta after a
breakthrough pre-season campaign, jumping ahead of Baba
Rahman in the pecking order to see the Ghanaian loaned out
to Schalke.
To add to the Blues' pain, their rivals have strengthened at
the back with John Stones - who was courted by Jose
Mourinho last season - joining Manchester City, while
Manchester United have added Eric Bailly and Arsenal look
set to sign Shkodran Mustafi.
Chelsea have put all their transfer eggs in one basket, with
their focus on Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly. But despite
the player being keen to force a move, the club's president
Aurelio de Laurentiis has been extremely difficult to deal
with and commands a very high fee for his star defender.
There are signs that Conte's team are increasing in
confidence regarding the signing of Koulibaly, but if the deal
falls through they will be left desperately short - especially
having sent Michael Hector, Rahman, Nathan Ake, Andreas
Christensen out on loan, with Matt Miazga and Kenedy to
follow, as first revealed by Goal .
Chelsea have also been linked with Victor Lindelof
and Lamine Kone but any interest seems to be casual
compared to their intentions over signing Koulibaly, who
they have made bids for.
The former Azzurri boss has gone from having the best
defence at Euro 2016 to one in severe decline which
conceded 21 more goals last season than the year before,
leading to increased pressure to have his team defend well
as a unit and to get his tactics right.
N'Golo Kante will have a big influence on Chelsea
defensively, but with only him and Michy Batshuayi arriving
into the club so far it will be a disappointing transfer window
for the second year running if no further business happens.
The panic is starting to set in amongst the fan base who
have grown frustrated that the club has only two serious
transfer targets, with Romelu Lukaku being chased for an
expensive return to Stamford Bridge after leaving for Everton
for £28m.
Conte will echo that frustration with his side light on
numbers and quality at the back, but he is communicating
every day to offer support to Chelsea's transfer chiefs - to
make sure his club give him at least two more players
before the British transfer window shuts on August 31.
