In advance of tomorrow’s Premier League home fixture against West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte gave an epic press conference on Friday. Conte called out the media for negative coverage; claiming that the press are greatly exacerbating the struggles of the defending champions this season. Additionally, he said the club hierarchy would be “stupid” if they were to terminate his contract this season.
We have video of the full session below, via YouTube. Now let’s examine and analyze the negatively biased media construct that Antonio Conte proposed here:
“We are talking about a team that is [fifth] in the league, that is preparing to face the game against Barcelona,” the Italian told his news conference.
“We are in the FA Cup, and we reached the semifinals in the Carabao Cup. I think we understand that, when you lose two games in a row, the situation is not simple. But maybe we are increasing the difficulty of this team [recovering].”
It’s not so much that Chelsea have had such an atrocious season, it’s just that CFC owner Roman Abramovich is notorious for his itchy manager sacking trigger finger, and thus reporters speculate that Conte has the sword of Damacles hanging over his head.
When tasked with clarifying his comments, Conte responded:
“Because it seems like we are fighting for the relegation zone. There are a lot of rumors and speculation, despite [the fact that] we are keeping our expectations. I don’t think that anyone trusted us to win the title this season. There were two teams fighting for the title, both from Manchester. Also last season, we started behind [them].”
“For this reason, there are too many speculations around this club, around me, around this team. I think that, maybe, you have to find a bit more balance. I understand that we have to live with this pressure, and it’s OK for me. It’s OK for me and my players.”
Chelsea are kind of in a no win situation tomorrow as they take on a side that hasn’t won a Premier League game since August. A win wouldn’t take the heat off Antonio Conte, and a draw or defeat would be nothing short of cataclysmic.
Odds via Sky Bet: Chelsea – 2/5 Draw – 19/5 West Brom – 15/2
Injury Report: go to this link
Chelsea starting XI prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Chelsea 2, West Brom 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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