Ross Barkley’s stumbling start shows how even playing badly is difficult | Barney Ronay

Chelsea’s Antonio Conte, rather than his debutant midfielder, should be the focus of any scorn after Barkley’s traumatically raw and rusty hour against Arsenal

There was a funny start to Ross Barkley’s Chelsea career on Wednesday night. As Willian prepared to limp off the Emirates Stadium pitch midway through the first half Barkley, his obvious replacement, was still dutifully gambolling up and down the touchline in his tracksuit.

This didn’t go down well with Antonio Conte who seems, even at the best of times, to be in a state of constant eye-boggling rage at every detail of his sentient existence. This is Conte’s default mood, his baseline. But he still managed to find some even deeper gears, letting out a shriek, waggling his arms and clenching his fists like a man strangling invisible kittens and generally urging Barkley back down the touchline like the most embarrassing stressed-out dad in the long and detailed history of embarrassing stressed-out dads.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/jan/26/ross-barkley-stumbling-start-chelsea-antonio-conte