Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte said his side’s 5-0 utter annihilation of Everton was not a proverbial “statement game.” The Italian made these comments despite the fact that the result moved Chelsea temporarily top of table, until Liverpool surpassed them the next day.
Conte is of course saying all the right things, as it’s his job to keep the team at tunnel vision, thinking micro level goals. It’s our job in the media to think big picture, macro level narratives.
“We don’t want to send a message to the other teams,” Conte said after the rout. “It’s important to send a message to ourselves, to think and be focused on our work. Not to see the others.
“We want to improve and we’re working a lot to improve. I think this is the right way and the players are recognizing this way to continue.”
“It’s important to celebrate this win, but I like to say that now Everton is the past. After the international break it’s important to be focused and to restart in the same way that we left it [here].
“If we look at the table tonight we can see we are top. Tomorrow probably the situation can change, but it’s not important.
“Today it was important to win, to continue to improve, to play good football and bring onto the pitch our principles. Five games in a row we don’t concede — I think we can be satisfied.”
Chelsea head into the long, dull international break just one point behind Liverpool in second place. They are one point ahead of third place Manchester City.
Since Conte made the decision to switch to a 3-4-3 formation, the Blues have scored 16 goals and yielded none.
Obviously, it appears that Antonio Conte has made the right call regarding his lineup.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.