Antonio Conte will no doubt be feeling the pressure at Chelsea after a more than miserable campaign this season, with the Blues looking unlikely to even qualify for the Champions League tournament next year at this present moment.
The Italian looks dejected on the touchline when his side is playing and looks even more disinterested when in press conferences pre-and-post match.
It will have come to no comfort that some of his players have been praising the abilities of other managers, especially when those said managers have been linked with replacing him at Stamford Bridge in the summer. Marcos Alonso has been talking about Luis Enrique despite the rumours being circled around the media.
Alonso: Enrique ‘is a great coach’
The former Barcelona manager has been identified as a potential replacement should Conte be shown the exit and Alonso has given him a glowing review. The wing-back shared his belief that the Spaniard is a “great coach with many qualities”, although acknowledged he did not know him on a personal level.
“Luis Enrique has shown at Barcelona that he is a great coach with many qualities and I believe he would be good for any club, but I do not know him a lot on a personal level,” he told Spanish media outlet Cope.
Football will need to be better to progress
Chelsea will meet with Barcelona at the Catalan’s home on March 14 as they look to progress to the next round of the Champions League and will take a 1-1 draw with them. The Blues will be looking to build momentum from their first leg draw, however, two successive defeats and a game with Crystal Palace to come first could harm their chances to qualify.
Conte’s side was beaten by Manchester United and Manchester City on consecutive weekends, whilst being blasted for the way they have played their football, which has also seen Chelsea slide further down the Premier League table. With just nine matches to go until the end of the season, the Blues might just have to win the tournament to be involved in next year’s competition.
Header image by football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
