A lot has changed at Chelsea football club in last 12 months where The Blues have gone from being the Premier League Champions to struggle for a top-10 finish this season.
Regardless of the early season fiasco involving Jose Mourinho and Eva Carneiro, core of the squad remained same and yet their performance this season was shambolic.
Perhaps the best part of Chelsea’s 2015/16 season was the announcement of Antonio Conte’s appointment as their next manager.
Continuing their horrible form this season, Chelsea gave away a 2-1 half time lead to crumble against Sunderland and lose the game 3-2. Guus Hiddink was left clueless on the sidelines and I am sure Conte must be worried realizing size of the task that lies ahead of him.
At present, Chelsea need a completely new look to their spine with John Terry, Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard suffer the worst season of their Stamford Bridge stint.
A radical overhaul is needed at the club and given Chelsea’s lack of Champions League action, Conte may struggle to attract the big names and settle with secondary options in each positions.
We saw how Leicester upstaged everyone this season and given the resources they will have next season, The Foxes can only grow stronger. Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United will make things even harder for Chelsea to enjoy a successful season.
The only positive for Conte would be the lack of European distraction would allow him to solely focus on the league matters at hand and lead Chelsea back in to Champions League places and perhaps lead a title push as well.
Making a prediction about Chelsea’s next season performance would be a long shot as we need to see if Antonio Conte is the right man to manage them. In the past, we have seen the likes of Filippe Scolari, Andres Villas Boas and others arrive at the club with huge reputation but get kicked out after string of poor results.
Conte’s European success does not mean that he will be guaranteed to do well in Premier League. Next season is becoming more and more like a gamble for Chelsea which they must win at all cost if they want to regain their lost status one of Premier League’s elites.
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