Chelsea boss Antonio Conte slams Stamford Bridge chiefs as he claims he is putting Blues players at risk because of small squad
Manager says the injury-hit Blues will pay an increasingly heavy price in the Premier League and Champions League
ANTONIO CONTE has hit out at his bosses over Chelsea’s mounting injury problems.
Frustrated manager Conte claims he is ‘risking’ his players in the Premier League and Champions League because his squad is not big enough to cope.
Conte signed six new players in the summer at a cost of £197million.
But he still believes he is stretched too thinly to cope with the demands of defending their title, trying to win domestic cups and competing in Europe.
Conte said: “The problem is we are playing always the same players. Also we have players in our team who are not used to playing three games in a week.
“For N’Golo Kante, it’s the first time. For Victor Moses, the first time. For Alvaro Morata, it’s the first time to play regularly for his team. For Marcos Alonso it’s the same.
“When you have a lot of games, you need to rotate players. If this is not possible, I have to take risks.
“Then, for example, against Manchester City Morata was injured after 20 minutes.
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"But if I hadn’t put Morata in the starting XI, you’d have told me I’m crazy. Sometimes the players need to rest instead.
“The situation is difficult. We have to play every three days, and it’s not simple.
“Also because, in this moment, we are ‘thin’ and we have to play always the same players.
“Honestly, there is this type of risk to have other injuries. I hope not.
“But the best way, now, for us is to go game by game and then to decide every game which is the best formation and sometimes to take risks.”
Chelsea missed out on a deadline-day move to bring in experienced striker Fernando Llorente, who joined Tottenham instead.
A deal with Everton’s England midfielder Ross Barkley also fell through.
Even so, generous owner Roman Abramovich backed demanding Conte enough to shatter the club’s record transfer fee with the £65m deal for Spanish striker Morata, defenders Antonio Rudiger and Davide Zappacosta, midfielders Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater plus reserve keeper Willy Caballero.
Morata is fit to face Roma tonight but problems for Moses, Kante and new signing Drinkwater have weakened Conte’s midfield ahead of a key game.
Kante, Morata and Moses all have hamstring injuries to varying degrees leading to questions about Conte’s training methods.
Ambitious Bakayoko told SunSport last week he has never worked as hard in his life as he does under Conte’s regime.
Last season the Stamford Bridge outfit’s fitness record was exemplary when they had no European football to contend with — but now the extra load appears to be taking its toll.
Left-back Marcos Alonso admits Chelsea cannot take their eyes off the ball or face losing the title after back-to-back defeats in the league against Manchester City and Crystal Palace.
He said: “We’ve lost a lot of points already. We cannot lose any more games.
“We’ve not had time off. We’ve been recovering and preparing for tomorrow. The team are ready.”
CHELSEA (likely line-up): Courtois, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Rudiger, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Alonso, Pedro, Morata, Hazard.
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