Antonio Conte warned his Chelsea players that they must “feel the danger in every moment of the game” if they are to avoid a repeat of last season’s Premier League capitulation, after a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool on Friday. Conte’s defence last night was missing John Terry and quite clearly, it was missing any leadership perfectly summed up in Liverpool’s first goal by Lovren.
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Willian struggled to have an impact on Friday night’s clash and the Brazil global was brought off with seven minutes remaining.
Chelsea have never won in the Premier League era when two goals down at half-time, but gave their fans hope by pulling a goal back on 61 minutes.
Chelsea, who were booed off at half-time, failed to lay a glove on the rampant Reds until Diego Costa netted his fifth goal of the season with 29 minutes remaining, but Liverpool saw the game out comfortably.
The Blues have beaten West Ham United, Watford and Burnley in the top-flight campaign this term.
“Everybody said we could take the risk, but I heard the word “risk” too often and so said: “no, we can’t take it, Roberto is out”.
David Luiz, meanwhile, lost to Liverpool on his second Chelsea debut, following his return to the club from Paris Saint-Germain – just as he had in his first appearance in February 2011.
“I don’t think that he thought before the season that he’d be playing [at number] six but he’s a good player and he can play anywhere”.
“To leave him out and then see the other players play this kind of football is nice”. I’m the coach so I must work more on this aspect.
“Those cups are important and we want to win a trophy this season”. I’ve always scored through the years, no matter who I’ve played for.
“I told the lads before the game anything can happen, but if we lose we must lose in our way”. But I’m happy when I can do a good job for the team like against Chelsea. We scored the goal in the second half and we had the chance to draw but it was late.
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“Two weeks ago everybody was asking what’s wrong with Liverpool in the transfer market – why have they not got five midfielders and eight new left-backs – but now these boys are starting in one of the most hard fixtures in football, and we deserve the result tonight”, he added.
