I am not surprised by Chelsea's defeats, says Antonio Conte

10/01/2016

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has revealed that Blues' struggles this season has not at all surprised him since he expected it to be the case even before arriving at Stamford Bridge. The Italian also said that despite their poor performances, he expects his players to improve soon.

After a forgettable last season, Chelsea looked to have turned a new leaf in their initial matches under new coach Antonio Conte, but a porous defence and an ineffective midfield have condemned the Londoners to defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal, the latter being a painful 3-0 drubbing. But, Conte believes that it was what he expected when he arrived at the club.

“I am not surprised [about the results] because, usually, when you change manager it means you have a problem.When you arrive in a place for you to solve the problems then you know you must face this situation,” Conte said in a press conference before the trip to Hull City.

"Sometimes you can be happy to solve it very quickly, sometimes you need to have times to solve this situation. It is important to understand how many problems you have to sort, but never in my life, my story tells that I have never I found an easy situation,” he added.

A portion of Chelsea fans booed off their side after they went 2-0 down to Liverpool at half-time, but Conte said that it is the same standard that he and his team demand from themselves.

“The expectation is to improve compared to last season. The expectation comes from me. I have that expectation, not only the club or the fans because I decided to be the manager of a great team like Chelsea. Within myself I have the expectation, but also I know in my experience as a footballer and as a manager is to have passions to continue to work very hard to find the right way to go into the situation and to solve the situation,” Conte said.

But the ex-Juventus manager expects things will get better as he has a group of great players with him.

“It won’t be easy. It is normal, but I am comfortable because I have a group of players that want to work and have the right spirit.”