Antonio Conte admits he doesn’t have an instant answer for the problems that have plagued his spluttering Chelsea team in recent weeks. Conte’s side slumped to lacklustre defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal in their last two Premier League matches.
Chelsea have only one clean sheet in 15 matches in all competitions ahead of today’s Premier League trip to Hull, when they will again be without injured captain and key defender John Terry.
Terry has missed the last three matches with an ankle injury sustained against Swansea and his earliest possible return will be on October 15 against Leicester.
Until the January transfer window opens, Conte knows he has to make do with the current squad, many of whom are once again underachieving after their dismal 10th-place finish last season.
“We haven’t got a magic wand to change the situation in two months, three months, four months,” Conte said yesterday.
“We don’t forget the past. The past is there, it’s very clear. We finished in 10th place last season.
“When you finish 10th, it means you have problems. We must change the situation and we must work hard together and we are doing this.
“At this moment, that’s the most important thing: not to win or to lose.
“But to understand that only through great work, hard work, can we fill the gap that now we have.”
Chelsea’s only victory in their last four games in all competitions came in the League Cup at Leicester and their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal last weekend exposed numerous flaws in Conte’s team.
Former Italy and Juventus coach Conte says Chelsea’s recent problems have been instructive because he now has a better idea of what needs to change.
“In these two games against Arsenal and Liverpool we saw, and we learned, a lot of important things,” he said.
“We faced two teams who are very strong and, for me, these two teams are now at the top (of their games).
“We have a lot to improve. This is the great difference. This is also the great hope that we must have.”
Conte was reported to want to overhaul his squad in the January transfer window after failing to land his top targets before the August deadline.
He spoke to owner Roman Abramovich this week after the Russian billionaire made an appearance at the training ground, but denied he had demanded to splash out on a host of new signings.
“I’m lucky because Mr Abramovich is very passionate about football,” Conte added.
“To talk with him about football is very interesting. To discuss and explain my idea of football.
“I don’t see an opportunity in January to spend money or to change. Now I see the present.
“I see in the present the opportunity to improve, to continue to work, to understand it’s not easy.
“We know this in the club. And we must continue to change the story of last season.”