Chelsea boss Antonio Conte insists he is 'doing a great job' under pressure and is getting 'maximum level' from his squad

Vaishali Bhardwaj1 February 2018

Antonio Conte believes Chelsea have performed better than they should have this season based on the size of their squad, with the Italian insisting he has done a "great" job at the club.

The Premier League champions slumped to a 3-0 defeat to relegation-battlers Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, which left Chelsea sitting just two points above fifth-placed Tottenham, who beat Manchester United 2-0 at Wembley.

Conte has been frustrated at a perceived lack of squad depth and quality in his squad this season, particularly up front where he only had Alvaro Morata and Michy Batshuayi to rely upon for the first half of the campaign.

The Belgian secured a loan move to Borussia Dortmund hours before the visit of Bournemouth on Wednesday which, coupled with Morata's back injury, forced Conte to field Eden Hazard as a false No.9 - a move that ultimately backfired.

Chelsea have signed Olivier Giroud from Arsenal and full-back Emerson Palmieri from Roma to go with fellow January arrival Ross Barkley this month.

But Conte said after the 3-0 loss to Eddie Howe's side that he feels he has done the best job that he could have this term based on the squad he had available to him.

Speaking to reporters at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea manager said: "I think, about the pressure, it's normal. It's normal for a coach, for a manager. It's normal if you are Chelsea's coach.

"After the first game this season [when Chelsea lost to Burnley], you tried to put pressure on my job. But I'm trying to do my best.

"I repeat: we are doing everything, we are doing 120%. 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."

When then asked whether he thinks he has overachieved with the players available to him this season, Conte replied: "Yes, yes. I think we are doing more.

"We are doing more, yes."

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