Echoes of last season problems in Chelsea’s defeat

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has expressed his happinesss at having Leicester midfielder N’Golo Kante as part of his squad.

The French international has completed his move from the Premier League champions, with Conte saying he’s the type of player they need, and praising his stamina.

“I want to say Kante was a target and for this reason I am very, very, happy, the club buy this player, good player, with good technique, fantastic stamina, I like this type of player and I think that in a team you want to win you need this player.

“Kante, (Nemanja) Matic and (Jon Obi) Mikel, for example, are for the team. I’m very happy because together the club we are working to improve the squad, we know we have to improve but we prefer to wait and go on the target rather than go off emotion and take the player that don’t adapt to our idea of football, but for Kante I am very happy, and I am very happy also for (Michy) Batshuayi because tomorrow Batshuayi arrives with us and he starts to work with the team.

“I think that Kante can give a lot to Chelsea to reinforce a zone is very important for us and if we want to play with two central midfielders. He showed last season he is able to play with another midfield. Also with this player we reinforced our squad,” the manager said.

The Italian suffered a defeat in his first match in charge of his new club, as they went down 2-0 in a friendly with Rapid Vienna, with Conte saying he saw echoes of their problems last season in the defeat.

“This first game, I know it was very difficult because after three days of training session, double everyday, very hard training sessions, not enjoyable. They were about physical, tactical and strength aspects, I think it is a bit normal to meet this difficult in this game but I don’t like to lose, me and the same for my players.

“I think that I saw some situation that I saw last season, I think this game is very important because we can learn a lot from this. It is important to switch our mind to change, because the past is not important, important is the present and the future. We must build to work on our present and our future, it’s important.”