Antonio Conte Disappointed With Lack of Fight From Chelsea Players After Damning Defeat to Roma

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte expressed his disappointment post-match after his side were beaten by Roma 3-0 through some spectacular strikes.

It was a tough evening for the Blues who failed to put their chances away and paid the price for it alongside the disastrous defensive show from the Chelsea back line. 

Stephan El Shaarawy opened the scoring within 40 seconds and the poor performance carried on from there despite missing several chances in the first half. Conte felt it was unjust the opening goal but conceded the visitors deserved to lose: 

"In the first half we played a good match, but after 30 seconds we could have scored. We had many chances. I am most disappointed by the second half, they had more hunger to fight and deserved to win."

Some felt Conte went with the wrong lineup after playing with a midfield five away to Atletico, but Conte made it clear he didn't need to repeat himself after his first explanation on the defeat. 

"I was clear enough. The first half the score was unfair. Roma were the better team in the second half, they more than deserved the win."

After a few poor performances from the Premier League champions, it is evident this is a team which is performing to the levels like they were last season and the Chelsea boss made it clear they need to start showing signs of what they did last year.

"For sure my task if to try to find the best solution and avoid this type of game. We have to work together, we need to have the will to dig deep. If we think only become our name is Chelsea that is not the right way. We must find the hunger we showed last season. This season it has been up and down. If you are a great team you must have consistency."

Chelsea's lack of fight in the second half was totally incontrastable to their comeback against Watford, but they never showed signs of what the hosts Roma did to them at the Bridge coming from 2-0 behind to draw the game 3-3.

Whether this would have a lasting impact on the squad remains to be seen - the Italian reiterated the team needed to find consistency,  particularly given their patchy start to the season losing to Manchester City, Crystal Palace, and struggling against Watford.

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"There is a great disappointment for the second half. I didn’t see positive things. In the first half I think we were unlucky. I don’t like to speak about that, we created many chances but were unlucky not to take them. The second half is really bad for a team like us. Last season we showed a great hunger to do something important. If we want to be competitive this season, we have to try to avoid this up and down. A great team must have stability."

Ahead of the visit of Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Conte reiterated that Chelsea need to be ready to bounce back with the Red Devils being a strong side, particularly after another win against Benfica put them inches away from the knockout stages.

"I don’t know what will happen on Sunday. I know they are a really good team. For sure we have to try to have the strength to understand and to use this loss in the right way. As I said before, this season we have to dig very deep if we want to be competitive. If we are not ready to dig deep we can have this type of game. We have to know this. This season will be very difficult if we don’t understand quickly the right way we have to go."

However, the Chelsea manager didn't make it explicitly clear whether he was concerned about the fixture against Manchester United, one that could be season defining.

"This season we are going up and down, consistency has not been there. You have to be strong to come through it."