After beating Atletico Madrid at their newly opened Metropolitano stadium in September, few would have thought that Chelsea would find themselves, one month later, on their lowest ebb for over a year.
Their victory over Diego Simeone’s side in Spain came one year and three days after the seminal moment of their title-winning season, the 3-0 defeat at the Emirates. It is probably unique that a title-winning season should be defined by a hefty defeat to a city rival, but it was then that Antonio Conte made the change that set his side on the way to becoming champions. And it looked as though victory in the Spanish capital was another timely reminder of Chelsea’s special resilience.
After a difficult start to their defence of their crown, Chelsea had started to look like serious contenders again. The merits or otherwise of their up-and-down summer transfer business notwithstanding, we had started to remember why they looked unbeatable for most of the campaign, and although they were always going to struggle with extra games this season, we had to remember that the bulk of this squad had won two Premier League titles in three seasons.
But now, after two defeats in a row for the first time since that north London turning point in September 2016, Chelsea are in need of another big European night to reignite their season.
Defeat to Manchester City was not the end of the world, even if becoming the first team to concede a goal to Crystal Palace, let alone lose a match to them this season, felt like it might have been. Whatever humiliation they may have felt notwithstanding, though, retaining the title was always going to be a tough task; and given that, perhaps it would be sensible to look to the cup competitions as better targets.
Indeed, having won their first two games in the Champions League group stage, this remains the competition they are performing the best in. Last season in the Premier League, Chelsea lost five times, this year, they’ve lost three already.
And they go into their next Champions League group game against a side who are in a strangely similar position. Chelsea and Roma are both fifth in their respective leagues, and both find themselves in the unenviable position of being nine points behind their respective leaders, having both suffered defeats at the weekend. Indeed, both have been defeated 1-0 by their league leaders in recent weeks. Oddly enough, both of those table-toppers, Napoli and Manchester City, have met in Europe this week too.
None of that means very much, of course, except, perhaps one thing: that European competition could very quickly become the saviour of their seasons, if it isn’t already. That might change the complexion of this tie: one which is a double header thanks to the structure of the Champions League group stages. And that might make this quite a cagey two games.
For Chelsea, they know that victories – probably a draw and a win – will put them in a commanding position in the group, whilst Roma know that they’ll need to get something from the Chelsea games, as they will face Atletico Madrid away in the penultimate game in the group.
The downside to all of this might well be the one man who has escaped most of the criticism so far, the manager.
In the summer, it was the board’s inability to bring him the players he wanted in the numbers he wanted them that seemed to cause a rift between them and Conte. Since then, negative performances don’t seem to have been framed as Conte’s fault, but often explained through the lens of poor summer business or the loss of key players like Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic.
That’s not to say that Conte deserves any more criticism, or even that the above analysis is necessarily wrong. But Chelsea now find themselves in a position where it might – even in mid-October – be sensible to look to Europe as their best chance of premium silverware. And if that’s the case, their manager’s record surely won’t inspire confidence.
As a manager, Conte has only ever been in contention to win a European competition once, when he reached the Europa League semi-final in 2014, losing to the eventual runners-up Benfica. Indeed, that season’s final was played at the Juventus Stadium, and surely should have represented a real target for the club to lift a European trophy at their own ground – a new one, in fact.
Although Conte has flattered to deceive in Europe in many ways, if he’s going to win one as a manager, he clearly has to start somewhere. Given his side’s ability to remain consistent in the league last season, blowing the competition away with a solid defensive base and a clever tactical system in attack, there’s no reason why an assault on Europe this season can’t bear fruit if they’re willing to put more effort into that part of their season.
Continuing their poor run of Premier League form in Europe over the next few weeks, however, could leave Chelsea playing catch-up on all fronts. And that would be a position not even Conte’s tactical flourishes could fix easily.
