In the wake of Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat by Manchester City on Sunday – which saw the defending Premier League champions fail to register a shot on goal – Oliver Giroud and Eden Hazard have both called Conte’s tactics into question – with defender Marcos Alonso admitting the squad has an “attitude problem”.
Giroud has questioned Conte’s decision to play Hazard as a lone striker and leave him and fellow striker Alvaro Morata on the bench.
“It’s painful,” said Giroud. “Could we have been more ambitious? It is a good question. The coach made his tactics. We tried to respect that.
“If Eden had an opportunity to score we would have said it was a great choice. It was difficult for Eden but I’m not the coach. The coach makes the team. We have to respect that and give our best, no matter who is on the pitch.”
Hazard admitted as much himself too, saying: “If Olivier Giroud or Alvaro Morata had played up front, it would have been easier. With me, it’s more complicated. I tried my best.
“When the manager plays me up front [on my own], I try to give everything – but it’s difficult when you only touch the ball three times. I tried to jump towards the long balls. But I played against Nicolas Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte. It’s not easy to win duels against them.”
Alonso added: “It’s an attitude problem. We have to change the attitude. We don’t have a problem with quality. We have shown that – and if we don’t reach that kind of level of performance in every match it’s because of our attitude.”
These comments are damning for Conte, whose side are now five points off the top four.
And he will have his work cut out to raise those players for a difficult fortnight which includes a Premier League clash against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, a Champions League last-16 second leg at Barcelona, then the FA Cup quarter-final with Leicester.
But the manager has now decided to isolate himself inside his Italian “band of brothers” at Chelsea and has effectively cut himself off from the rest of the club.
He has surrounded himself with his nine-man Italian coaching staff, including brother Gianluca and has virtually cut out all the long serving backroom staff.
A source close to the club said: “Conte these days only speaks to the close circle of coaching staff including his brother that he brought to the club with him.
“He does not speak to any of the English staff. There is virtually a total cut off at the training ground.”
