A loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield will bring the cloud of 2015/16 over Chelsea. A win, though, could set in motion an equal calamity if the club concludes that all is well.
The last time Chelsea won the Community Shield they went on to win the domestic double, and set a club record with 103 goals scored. The last time Chelsea lost in the Community Shield, they sacked the manager in December and went on to finish 10th. Between those two opposites the Blues lost the friendly trophy twice, with much less dramatic seasons to follow.
Chelsea’s website currently have 21 players listed as the first team. Two of those players are injured (Eden Hazard and Tiemoue Bakayoko). One is questionable due to injury (Pedro). One is a third-string goalkeeper. And the other two are personae non grata Diego Costa and Kenedy. That brings the available first-team squad to 15, which Conte will have to supplement with some combination of Lewis Baker, Jeremie Boga, Loic Remy or Kyle Scott.
A Chelsea win would be a heartening achievement. Any London derby win is special, particularly when it involves taking a piece of silverware off of Arsenal. It would show the team’s resilience and resourcefulness to win with so few experienced first-team players. A win would also spare us the doubts and hot takes comparing Conte to Mourinho.
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But a win could also send the wrong message to Chelsea’s upper management. Their activity this summer already sends the impression they are skeptical when Antonio Conte says he needs new players.
The coffee-sipping “this is fine” dog is the perfect mascot for Chelsea’s management in this window. Conte won the Premier League last season with a less-than-championship calibre squad. He worked wonders with players like Victor Moses, Gary Cahill and Marcos Alonso. With the club’s record signing now leading the line, surely another title and a deep Champions League run is imminent.
If the club believes this, and points to a Community Shield victory as proof, the shield will be the last trophy Chelsea win this season.
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Antonio Conte would not state the number of players he needs at Friday’s press conference. But he was clear that he needs several. He not only said that no single star – not even Neymar – would complete his squad, but reiterated that the squad is simply too small. That should be obvious to anyone who can count. But if the simple numbers concern Conte, with his prodigious ability to achieve a lot with not very much, the situation may be even more dire than we know.
Even if he agrees that the Community Shield is just a fitness check, Conte still wants to win it. He does not know how to not want to win something. A loss may better serve Chelsea’s and Conte’s long-term interests, but that is never – and should never be – Conte’s mentality.
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Chelsea management bears full responsibility for ensuring that a Community Shield win is not a pyrrhic victory, one that comes at the expense of the trophies that really do matter. Win or lose today, they owe the manager the players he needs since they will surely hold him accountable if the Blues fall short starting next week.