Antonio Conte Must Show More Ambition to Turn Chelsea’s Failures into Success

LONDON STADIUM, London — He doesn’t get much wrong, but Antonio Conte blew it against West Ham United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

The Chelsea boss made seven changes to the side that had beaten Manchester United 4-0 just three days earlier, losing the momentum a recent winning streak had helped build up in west London.

After a damaging September, the Blues have looked reformed over the past month or so, but so many changes for a crunch cup game has left a sour taste.

With no European football to contend with, it means Chelsea are now playing for just two trophies this season. The Premier League remains a tough ask for a side that finished 2015/16 in 10th place, leaving them with just the FA Cup as a realistic option.

The EFL Cup was an opportunity for Conte to continue the development of his team by putting more silverware in the trophy cabinet. That had to be the end game in this competition, as it will be when the FA Cup comes around early in the new year.

Running the risk of going over old ground, it was that thinking Jose Mourinho had when he took over at Chelsea back in 2004.

AC: “Usually you learn more after a defeat than a win. We must continue to work, but I’m optimistic.” @br_uk #CFC

— Garry Hayes (@garryhayes) October 26, 2016

The Blues were a different club back then; the mandate was about achieving something that hadn’t been done before and Mourinho used the League Cup as a means of helping him realise that aim.

By chasing glory at the first opportunity, the Portuguese underlined his need to get his players winning things collectively. From there, Chelsea added the Premier League to their 2004/05 haul and more trophies would follow for that vastly talented group of players.

Fast forward to the present, Conte isn’t attempting to build a dynasty. It’s too early for any of that; he is repairing a fractured club, and it’s by winning football matches that we will see those cracks begin to heal. Defeating Manchester United—Mourinho’s United no less—the way they did was a big step forward in that; losing to West Ham feels like a shuffle in the wrong direction.

If we look at the balance of play against Slaven Bilic’s side, Conte is correct in his assertions that Chelsea were …

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