
Antonio
Conte admitted his concerns and urged Chelsea to "dig deeper" after they
slumped to a 3-0 defeat to Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Stephan El Shaarawy scored after 39 seconds and then pounced on an Antonio
Rudiger error to make it 2-0 after 36 minutes.
Diego Perotti struck a fine third after 63 minutes as Roma climbed above the
Blues to take top spot in Champions League Group C.
A win would have seen Chelsea advance to the knockout stages, but instead
Conte was left ponder how to respond in Sunday's Premier League clash with
Manchester United, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
Conte said: "This season we have to dig very deep if we want to be
competitive and fight for something important. If we are not ready to dig
deeper, we can have this type of game.
"This season will be very difficult if we don't understand quickly the right
way that we have to go.
"Last season we showed great hunger, great will to do something of
importance. Last season we won the league and did a miracle. If we think
that only because our name is Chelsea and the opponent has fear for the name
Chelsea, I think this is not the right way.
"We must find the hunger that we showed in all last season and in this
season sometimes. We have to try to find the strength to understand and to
use this loss in the right way."
Chelsea looked to be coasting in Group C after following up their opening
6-0 win over Qarabag with victory at Atletico Madrid.
But after conceding six goals in two games with Roma, Chelsea need points in
Azerbaijan before the final group clash with Atletico.
Conte insisted he was content with Chelsea's first-half performance, but the
second was "really bad".
"I actually believe that in the first half we played a good match," he
added. "We created many chances and were unlucky not to take them.
"What I'm most disappointed about was the performance in the second half
when Roma had more hunger, more desire, more fight to beat us and clearly
deserved this win.
"The second half was really bad, bad for a team like us. I didn't see
positive things."
Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco, meanwhile, was overjoyed by his team's
performance.
"We really deserved this," he said. "Our fans deserved this great win, and
it's no coincidence I played many players today who helped get us into this
competition.
"We have gained self-belief. There are more fights to come to establish
ourselves, but we've proved we can play against any team with this mindset
and collective effort."