Has Last Season’s Failure Left Scars That Run Deep?

Has Last Season’s Failure Left Scars That Run Deep?

It`s hard to deal with the fact that Chelsea finished so far away from the top last year. According to Conte, it`s so hard that players haven’t fully recovered from finishing 10th in the Premier League. There might be some truth to that as the impression during the Liverpool game was that they were afraid to play at times and that they were not convinced they could win. Even though the Blues started off well this season, this was their first true test and they sort of failed. Even with the change in attitude which was noticeable in the second half, they still had a hard time keeping up with Klopp’s team.

‘It’s not natural. It’s not simple. When you finish in 10th place, it means that you have to work very hard to improve to make sure you don’t repeat the bad season. We must feel the danger in every single moment of the game.

‘I think that this season, the manager, the players, all the people who work for Chelsea must take their responsibility.

‘For this reason we must pay attention in every single moment of the game, in every minute. Because this is not the first time this has happened.’  [Quotes provided by the Daily Mail].

Courtois also spoke about Chelsea’s first defeat of the season and pointed out that his fellow teammates were taken by surprise by Liverpool and their physical state and aggressive playing style.

‘We didn’t start well. First half we didn’t have the duels, we didn’t have the second ball, everything was for them,’ said the Belgian.

‘They pressured us and we couldn’t cope with it. It was very hard and we gave two goals away.

‘The first goal was a set-piece that they took quick, everybody ran to the first ball and they ran to the second ball, put a good cross in and it was a good goal.

‘Everyone was a bit shocked, we didn’t start well and then they scored the second when we didn’t defend well. [Quotes provided by Metro]

This is exactly what sunk Chelsea last year. Hopefully Conte will be able to have a better approach and motivate the players. He will also have to recover them mentally as it is clear that they are still not at that point in which they can come back against a team like Liverpool, Arsenal, City or United. There are two ways out of this – they either win all their games or they push hard to forget what happened last year and start fresh. The second option will be the most likely road to take given the fact that the team hasn’t changed much and the players who performed last season are still key members in the starting eleven.