LONDON • Antonio Conte's first season in English football last campaign was relatively smooth sailing as the Italian turned the English Premier League title race into a procession and made Chelsea the champions.
This season, Manchester City are rampant in their pursuit of the title while Chelsea are self-destructing with four consecutive draws to start the year and three defeats in their last four matches.
Here's why Stamford Bridge is falling down this term.
1. COSTA FIASCO & STRIKER WOES
The first sign of problems came even before the season started, when Conte allegedly texted the club's top scorer Diego Costa telling him he was no longer needed.
The falling-out attracted nothing but bad press and negativity for the Chelsea manager and he had a huge task on hand to find a suitable replacement for Costa.
Alvaro Morata signed but, while he is an excellent striker, the Spaniard has struggled following a good start to the season. He has not scored in his last six matches and lacks the toughness that made Costa so effective as an attacking juggernaut.
On Monday, with Morata injured and new signing Olivier Giroud also carrying a slight injury, Conte played with Eden Hazard as a false nine in the 4-1 defeat by Watford. He would perhaps be wondering if Michy Batshuayi - sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund and making an instant impact with two goals on his debut - could have made a difference.
Following the Costa situation, Conte went on to drop and freeze out David Luiz after the Brazil defender did not agree with his tactics. The manner in which Conte dealt with senior players like Costa and Luiz called into question his man-management skills and that likely sowed discord among the rest of his squad.
2. MISSING MIDFIELD GENERALS
When Nemanja Matic joined Manchester United, Chelsea were heavily criticised for letting such an important player leave for one of their rivals.
The loss of the Serb was felt even more keenly when his replacement, Tiemoue Bakayoko, has yet to live up to expectations.
N'Golo Kante had also missed a series of matches with a hamstring injury and that left Chelsea without competent players to orchestrate proceedings in the centre of midfield. Cesc Fabregas is a creative midfielder, but not one to hold the fort in the absence of Kante and Matic.
Former England and Manchester United defender Phil Neville was one of many who said Chelsea made a huge mistake by selling Matic.
"What's gone wrong for Chelsea? One word: Matic," the England women's team head coach told BBC radio.
"When you had Matic sat in front of you, alongside Kante, there was protection. Whoever made that decision needs sacking. That is one of the poorest decisions I have ever seen in the Premier League."
3. TRANSFER TRAVAILS
Conte has been complaining all season about his thin squad, especially with Champions League commitments and how the Chelsea board has failed to back him in the transfer market.
He was not wrong as several of his key targets ended up elsewhere before the season started.
Arsenal's England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opted for Liverpool and Spanish striker Fernando Llorente elected to move from Swansea to London rivals Tottenham, while Ross Barkley stayed at Everton.
Barkley eventually moved to Chelsea during the January transfer window but perhaps it was a case of too little, too late.
But what would have hurt Conte most was Romelu Lukaku choosing United over a return to his former club. In the end, Chelsea had to scramble a move for Morata in what could be seen as a "panic buy", given the current situation.
4. KEY INJURIES AND TRAINING METHODS BLAMED
Conte was hindered by injuries to key players during the first half of the season - Hazard missed the first few weeks of the season, Kante did not play in October, while Victor Moses also missed matches.
There was talk that the relentlessness and intensity of Conte's training sessions were to blame for the injuries.
The Times of London reported in October that several Chelsea players were unhappy and they felt that the heavy training sessions, alongside many tactical meetings and minimal days off, were exacerbating their injury problems.
5. DISCORD WITH THE BOARD
Conte's stated wish to have been backed at the start of the campaign when a home defeat by Burnley set the rumour mill in motion that he was close to being sacked was not an unreasonable stance, but the Chelsea hierarchy does not like its managers to offer any criticism, no matter how veiled or polite.
At the heart of the disconnect between Conte and the club is that nothing really changed in the balance of power after he won the title in his first season.
Whatever the speculation, Chelsea did not react well to it and players were perhaps unsettled by their manager's exit rumours.
It is Conte's task to wrestle with constraints but, at times, he has given the impression he may simply be plotting his exit with his public outbursts, facing the cold fact that owner Roman Abramovich has sacked eight managers, many still on the downslope of a trophy-winning high.
Chelsea seem to be once again cranking up the exit music with half a season to play.
THE TIMES, LONDON, THE GUARDIAN
