Antonio Conte is warming to the idea of making sure Chelsea go on all-out attack so he can avoid spending mega millions on new defenders.
The Blues boss and board took a sharp intake of breath when quoted telephone numbers for Kalidou Koulibaly and Alessio Romagnoli from Serie A.
Both would cost an estimated £70 million to cross from Italy to The Bridge, and Chelsea are determined to avoid spending over the odds despite their needs.
However, Conte’s defence was rarely troubled in the 3-0 win over Burnley on Saturday.
In fact, against the so-called lesser sides of the division, and Clarets boss Sean Dyche described his own side thus, the manager doesn’t need £70m’s worth of defenders.
He even thinks long balls over the top and ‘strange’ goals - probably the Italian’s convenient word for breakaways, will also soon be a thing of a past average season.
“If I have to choose one form of defence, it’s to attack,” he explained. “Sometimes the long ball behind you makes you concede a strange goal - but we’re working on that.
“To keep the clean sheet it’s important because (it means) the whole team is working well - not just defenders.
“When we concede a goal, all the team concede a goal, not just defenders.”
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