UNCERTAINTY OVER AT THE BRIDGE

                UNCERTAINTY OVER AT THE BRIDGE

Stamford Bridge isn’t falling down, but a few cracks are starting to appear. Antonio Conte has finally been sacked, it’s been openly known that the relationship between the Italian and the Chelsea Hierarchy hasn’t been warm to say the least. Conte enjoyed a successful debut season with the Blues, he won the Premier league, and Chelsea also set a new Premier League record for the most wins in a single season, with 30 league victories out of 38 league matches. He also changed the formation to a 3-4-3 and that had a major effect on the rest of the league.

Summer of 2017 was the beginning of Conte’s downfall. He had inexplicably sent Diego Costa a text message saying he didn’t figure in his plans for the coming season. Costa then forwarded the message to his Chelsea team mates who were all surprised and astonished at it. The Chelsea board were also not happy because Conte had acted without their approval. This situation led to Costa taking a self imposed strike in Brazil. Conte was also not happy with Chelsea’s recruitment in the summer transfer window as his preferred targets; RomeluLukaku, Alex Sandro and Virgil van Dijk, to name a few either went to Rival clubs or didn’t move to Chelsea. Diego Costa was eventually replaced with Alvaro Morata, while Nemanja Matic who it must be said was surprisingly sold, was replaced byTiémoué Bakayoko,however both players could not fill the void left by their predecessors. Chelsea however ended the year in second place and that seemed to paper over the cracks.

Conte suffered another round of transfer window frustration in January after seeing major rivals Manchester United and Manchester City strengthen their teams with the signings of Alexis Sanchez and Aymeric Larpote respectively. The team’s results began to spiral down, while Conte’s tactics were questioned in the defeats to United and City over his use of Eden Hazard in the false-nine role. Chelsea finished the season in 5^th place, outside the Champions League spots and 30 points behind eventual winners Manchester City, Conte did however deliver the FA Cup with victory over United.

There has been a lot of speculation concerning who will replace Conte even before he was sacked and it seems another Italian, Maurizio Sarri has won the race. Sarri will have a big job on his hands as the future of the clubs best players remain in the balance. Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard both have been linked with Real Madrid, and their starling World Cup displays will only enhance those rumours. NgoloKante, Willain, Alvaro Morata and David Luiz have also been linked with moves away. Chelsea’s failure to qualify for the Champions League could leave them a bit vulnerable. It doesn’t help that Chelsea’s billionaire owner RomanAbramovich’s UK visa renewal rejected by the authorities, the rejection seemed to come at a time were tensions are quite high between the UK and Russian governments.

Chelsea fans will hope that Maurizio Sarris imminent appointment will be able to lift jolt the club back to life and activity in the transfer window as they are already lagging behind their rivals. All eyes are on Stamford Bridge as the drama unfolds.