Antonio Conte admits he must address Chelsea’s defensive issues and “find a solution” after their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday.
The Blues were second best in the opening 45 minutes, with an early mistake from Gary Cahill allowing Alexis Sanchez to open the scoring.
Conte brought on summer signing Marcos Alonso early in the second half and also changed to three at the break.
“I have to solve the situation,” said Conte. “The situation is that, every game, we concede minimum three goals. Two at the back, three at the back, four at the back, I don’t care. I just have to solve this.
“I must find the right solution for this team because, in every game, we are conceding two goals minimum. I work a lot to find the right solution.”
While Chelsea were unconvincing at the back, Conte was reluctant to place all of the blame on the defenders.
“I think that it’s not good to talk about the defenders because it’s more important to talk about the whole team,” he said. “Because we are a team. We win as a team, and we lose in the same way.
“We started the game in a bad way and, from the first minute, it was very strange. Today Arsenal v Chelsea is a massive game. When we play this type of game, against a team who are very good like Arsenal, you must concentrate from the first minute. Today it did not happen.
“We must work. We must work a lot. A lot. If someone thinks that this season it’s going to be easy… we must work a lot to improve, to change the situation. Now we are a great team only on paper, not on the pitch. To be a great team, I prefer to be a great team not only on paper but also on the pitch.
“The pitch is the truth. The pitch speaks. The pitch is the most important thing for us: not the words, not on paper. We must change this…We know there are many difficulties, but if we understand this we are in a good position to recover and change the situation.”
The defeat is Chelsea’s second in a row in the league and Conte hopes his side can learn from them and bounce back.
“I think we must work a lot to find some continuity,” he said. “I think that, now, the most important thing is to work and not think about other situations. We must show on the pitch that we are a great team.
“Two defeats in two big games. For this reason, we must understand the moment and understand we need to work a lot to improve and change our story.”
Chelsea’s defensive woes once again bring to the fore the absence of John Terry, who was not declared fit enough to feature as he completes his recovery from an ankle ligament injury.
“John is recovering from a bad injury but I don’t like to talk about players that today didn’t play,” Conte said.
“I don’t like this. I think this is a lack of respect for the players today who played bad or good.”
