Champions League: Antonio Conte urges Chelsea players to show ‘hunger’

Roma 3 Chelsea 0

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte urged his players to rediscover their appetite to avoid the season turning into a disaster.

With the Blues struggling to keep pace with Manchester City in the Premier League, their European form is now under scrutiny after a thumping defeat away in Italy.

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The defeat, the first inflicted on an English club in this season’s Champions League, leaves Chelsea second in Group C, a point behind Roma.

It could have been worse for the Blues if Atletico Madrid had managed to beat Qarabag, but the Spanish side are also off-colour this season, and their 1-1 home draw against the Azerbaijani outfit means the 2016 runners-up have accumulated just three points from four group games.

But while Chelsea will still qualify for the last 16 if they beat Qarabag on 22 November, they won’t progress beyond that phase if they play like they did in the Italian capital.

It went wrong from the start for their visitors, Stephan El Shaarawy putting Roma one up after just 39 seconds. The out-of-form Alvaro Morata should have levelled for Chelsea soon after but the Spaniard has mislaid his shooting boots of late, and his failure to hit the target was made all the more painful for the Blues when El Shaarawy capitalised on sloppy defending to double Roma’s advantage on 36 minutes.

Chelsea’s defence was again at fault for the third goal, allowing Diego Perotti the time to thump home from 20 yards out midway through the second-half.

Although Chelsea missed N’Golo Kante in the middle of the park, they still created chances to score but between them Morata, Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso couldn’t find a way past Alisson Becker in the Roma goal.

But it was at the back were the Blues were a farce, and such was the shabby nature of their defending they were lucky to concede just the three goals on a night when Conte was left with many questions to ponder.

“Our first half was good, we created many chances to score,” said the Chelsea boss. “But in the second half, it was a really bad performance. Roma showed more will to fight and more desire to win the game.

“I’m very disappointed with our second half. For this performance, we all have to take responsibility.”

Asked if he was concerned at the manner of the defeat, Conte replied: “When you concede three goals, you must be worried. It means something doesn’t work. It’s very difficult now, but we have to analyse the game.

“We need to work on the tactical aspect. We are working less on this aspect this season. We have to look at ourselves. Tonight was a bad night for us. I only want one night like this and we must work together this week.”

Chelsea don’t have much time to turn things around. On Sunday they play Manchester United - who beat Benfica 2-0 to all but secure qualification to the last 16 - and defeat in that game would leave them trailing their rivals by seven points.

“My task is to try to find the best solution,” Conte said. “But, for sure, we have to work together… we have to find the hunger we showed all last season.”

Last night’s Champions League results

Group A

• FC Basel 1 CSKA Moscow 2
• Manchester United 2 Benfica 0

Group B

• Celtic 1 Bayern Munich 2
• Paris Saint Germain 5 RSC Anderlecht 0

Group C

• Atletico Madrid 1 FK Qarabag 1
• Roma 3 Chelsea 0

Group D

• Olympiakos 0 Barcelona 0
• Sporting Lisbon 1 Juventus 1

Tonight’s Champions League fixtures (7.45pm unless stated)

Group E

• Liverpool vs. NK Maribor
• Sevilla vs. Spartak Moscow

Group F

• Napoli vs. Manchester City
• Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Feyenoord

Group G

• Besiktas vs. Monaco (5pm)
• FC Porto vs. RB Leipzig

Group H

• Borussia Dortmund vs. Apoel Nicosia
• Tottenham Hotspur vs. Real Madrid