Recently we've seen a lot of turmoil in West London, with fingers being pointed in both directions. I've done a lot of digging to try and figure out why the team is having trouble with consistency... Could if be Conte's tactics? Could you blame the board for not bringing in any top class players in the winter transfer? I wanted to open up the dialogue and give my perspective on where the issues lie.
First, I think its important to point out that one big factor in the lack of consistency has to be the Champions league matches. Last year, the team was healthy, didn't play much during the week, and were fully fit for Premier league matches on the weekend. The champions league group stage adds a tremendous amount of pressure and fatigue to the players. It is important to rotate the squad when playing in domestic and European tournaments through a long season. Which leads to the first big issue.
Depth. Although the team brought in Alvaro Morata in the Summer transfer, they lost Diego Costa due to some turmoil in the locker-room. Although Conte could be to blame for Costa leaving Stamford Bridge, the board did little to replace him. Let's face it. Morata is still young and is not yet a top quality striker. He's still adjusting the Premier. This teams NEEDS a prolific scorer, who can change a match at any time. I'm not talking Andy Carroll or Peter Crouch. I'm talking a world class striker.
Another Issues I've seen are in the tactics that Conte as imposed this season. Last year Chelsea played a 3-4-3, in comparison to this season where we see a lot more of a 3-5-2 formation... I think the lack of a third attacking player has really been a problem and is the reason why this squad struggles in the final third. An extra attacker, ie Willian or Pedro, provides much more creativity and quality in front of net. More scoring options. I know Conte like to flood the midfield with players but last year that Attack was nearly impossible to stop. So way change it????
So who do you think is more to blame??? Does Conte have enough weapons to compete with Europe's best and domestically? Or does the Board need to spend some Money to make sure we don't fall too far behind the likes of ManU and ManCity.