SPORTS

Anthonio Conte under pressure as Bournemouth shock Chelsea

Published

6 years ago

February 1, 2018

Antonio Conte had no doubt the pressure on his position would intensify after his Chelsea side’s stunning 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

The Blues head coach insists his Chelsea team, the reigning Premier League champions, are over-achieving this season –- but claims he is “relaxed” if members of the club’s hierarchy view things differently.

Defeat left Chelsea in fourth place in the Premier League, just two points above Tottenham Hotspur and Conte accepted there were concerns over whether the Blues would qualify for next season’s Champions League.

“The pressure, it’s normal. It’s normal for a coach, for a manager,” Conte said. “It’s normal if you are Chelsea’s coach.

“After the first game this season, you (the media) tried to put pressure on my job. But I’m trying to do my best.”

The Italian added: “If someone doesn’t think this club deserves this table (position) or deserve this situation. I repeat: we are doing everything, we are doing 120 percent. I’m exploiting this squad at the maximum level.

“But, if someone doesn’t agree about this, I’m here. I have to accept every situation. I’m very relaxed about this. I know that I’m doing a great job, a great work, me and the staff and the players.”

There have been reports that Conte has angered Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich with thinly veiled criticism of the London club’s transfer policy.

Reality
Asked whether the transfer business conducted by Chelsea’s top four rivals had made the task of claiming a top-four finish harder, Conte replied: “We have to understand that, if we want to speak about football and if we think to understand football we know very well this (a top four place) will be very difficult for us.

“If we want only to dream and not see the reality –- in this case, I can tell you now we can fight to win the title this season!”, added Conte, whose side area huge 18 points behind leaders Manchester City.

“It will be very important to look at the reality and to know that, if we are able to reach a place in the Champions League, it will be a great success for us. Otherwise we have a normal season.

“My task is to try to be more realistic and try to transfer this to the players, because the players… if they know and understand the danger… But the players are fantastic in their commitment. They understand very well what our situation is in this season.”

New signing Olivier Giroud watched the game from behind the dug-out but Conte said: “I don’t think now is the right moment to speak about Giroud after a bad defeat.”

“Now the most important thing is to understand we have to fight. This season will be very tough. We must be ready to struggle this season for everything.”

– ‘Best feeling’ –
Goals from Callum Wilson, Junior Stanislas and Nathan Ake in 16 second-half minutes secured Bournemouth’s impressive victory.

The win moved Bournemouth up to tenth place, although they remain just five points clear of the bottom three.

Eddie Howe said the victory at Stamford Bridge was the best moment in his nine years, spread over two spells, as Bournemouth manager.

Howe, who has steered the club through the leagues from third-division League One, said: “This is the best (feeling) because of the performance.

“When we won here in our first season in the Premier League it was a historic performance, but it was backs against the wall. There was no luck connected today. It was a very strong performance. We’re improving, we’re getting stronger, we were very brave in our approach.”

“Full credit to the players: Chelsea are an outstanding team, but we defended very well, attacked with purpose, and the shape and balance were very good.

“We were unbeaten in five coming here and wanted to keep that going, picking up points,” Howe added.

“To win by the margin we have is something we didn’t expect but are very proud of.”

Related Topics:Anthonio Conte Bournemouth Chelsea EPL News

Up Next

Dele Ajiboye Took Nigeria To CHAN Final, Says Sudan Coach Logarusic Hrvatsko

Don't Miss

Nigeria’s first ever Winter Olympians prepare for games

ENTERTAINMENT

Guinness World Record: Tunde Onakoya Is Yet To Be Defeated After 44 Hours Of Chess Marathon

Published

3 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Reporter

Tunde Onakoya To Break 58 Hours Of Chess Marathon | fab.ng

Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya is trying to break the world record for the longest chess marathon! The record he is set to break is 58 hours.

Tunde Onakoya has already been playing in the chess marathon for approximately 44 hours straight. This is at the time of this writing. Starting on April 17th and going until April 19th, the event is happening in the famous Times Square in New York City.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tunde Onakoya (@tunde_onakoya)

So far, Onakoya has beaten everyone he’s played, including a really good chess player from New York named Shawn Martinez.

Tunde Onakoya beats a very worthy opponent and one of New York’s finest, National Chess Master Shawn Martinez!

6 hours down, 52 hours to go!#TundeChessMarathon pic.twitter.com/oXBjfakdBm

— Tunde Onakoya (@Tunde_OD) April 17, 2024

Onakoya’s manager, Taiwo, says the official rules allow for 5-minute breaks every hour. But Onakoya only took a total of 30 minutes of rest after playing 12 people in a row for 15 hours! That’s intense! He said he’s playing two sets of games at the same time, and he can’t lose any of them to win the record.

He wrote,

“The opponent on the first set is Shawn Martinez, a US National Chess Master, and he will play with Tunde throughout the attempt.

“Opponents in the second set are random players. He can’t lose any game on either set.

“Only Tunde’s match against Shawn Martinez is considered valid for the record. He is not competing in his simultaneous play against random opponents in the second set. NYC, come out and play regardless.”

For more news updates, check here.

SPORTS

Fabregas Speaks On Coaching Premier League Club

Published

4 days ago

April 15, 2024

Reporter

Fabregas Speaks On Coaching Premier League Club | Fab.ng

Cesc Fabregas, a retired football star who played mostly in the Premier League, wants to be the head coach of a top team there. Even though he has experience coaching Arsenal’s youth teams and Como’s U19 team, he doesn’t want to be an assistant coach.

Fabregas only coached Como’s U19 team for a month because he didn’t have the right licence. He’s been working on getting that licence and doing sports analysis while he waits.

Now 36 years old, Fabregas is taking a course to get his UEFA Pro licence to allow him to coach in the best European leagues, and his dream is to lead a Premier League powerhouse.

“You never know how the future will go, but I want to be a main coach. I am doing my own way at the moment.

“100 per cent my ambition one day is to coach a top club in the Premier League, the Champions League.

“But you need to respect the right steps. I feel I am ready to be a first-team coach already so I don’t want to go into these types of little coaching on the side or being an assistant. I have very clear things in my mind that I just want to be a main coach, a first-team coach, and that’s why I will do my own way until I am ready to jump onto a big train”, he said.

Check here for more sports news.

NEWS

Manchester City Defender, Manuel Akanji Wants To Help Nigerian Kids; Talks Afrobeats And Burna Boy

Published

1 week ago

April 12, 2024

Reporter

Manuel Akanji Wants To Help Nigerian Kids... | Fab.ng

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji is back on social media and using his platform to connect with his Nigerian roots. The Nigerian-Swiss player recently spoke about his passion for helping Nigerian children.

Akanji had a stellar season with Manchester City last year, helping them achieve a historic treble: the Premier League trophy for the third year in a row, the FA Cup, and most importantly, their first-ever Champions League win.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, valued Akanji’s skills as a central defender who can also play the ball well. Akanji wasn’t afraid to take risks by pushing forward and joining the midfield when needed.

Manuel Akanji Wants To Help Nigerian Kids... | Fab.ng

Manuel Akanji wants to help Nigerian kids

Akanji’s off-field style is as progressive as his approach to the game, as evidenced by his recent collaboration with Hypebeast, a fashion trendsetter.

Since joining Manchester City, he’s been a rock star on the pitch, consistently delivering top performances.

Hypebeast recently interviewed Akanji at Manchester City’s training ground, where they discussed his life in Manchester, the influence of manager Pep Guardiola on the team’s fashion sense (they’re apparently known for being very stylish), the new Netflix documentary, “Together: Treble Winners,” and more.

One topic particularly close to Akanji’s heart is his Nigerian heritage. He spoke about his desire to help underprivileged children in Nigeria who weren’t as fortunate as him growing up in Switzerland.

He said,

“In Nigeria, I like to help kids who didn’t have the same luck that I had with growing up in Switzerland.”

Manuel Akanji Wants To Help Nigerian Kids... | Fab.ng

Manuel Akanji on Burna Boy and Afrobeats

The conversation also touched on music. When asked about Afrobeats, Akanji said…

“My favourite artist is Burna Boy.

I spoke with him after the Champions League final. I love listening to Afrobeats.”

While Manuel Akanji has a strong connection to his Nigerian heritage, as evidenced by his desire to help children there, he ultimately chose to represent Switzerland on the international football stage.

This is likely due to growing up in Switzerland and potentially coming up through their youth development system.

Check out more sports updates here.