Antonio Conte: I'm at Chelsea to win trophies, not to keep 21 players happy
Antonio Conte has insisted he will not take the FA Cup lightly despite wanting to give game time to some of the Chelsea squad members, saying his job is not to make "21 players all happy".
Chelsea travel to take on Championship side Wolves in the fifth round of the Cup competition, with Conte expected to rest first-choice defenders David Luiz and Marcos Alonso for the trip to Molineux.
That could pave the way for Kurt Zouma, John Terry and Nathan Ake to start although Conte has said that while he will give playing time to the members of the Chelsea team who do not start regularly, his first focus is to set up his team to beat Wolves.
"When you are in a great team the target is to win, not to try to have 21 players all happy and you don’t win anything. The owner does not ask for this, to make 21 players happy," he said.
"We are in his great competition to try to win, not just to find a solution to make someone happy. I have to show always respect to my players and make the best decisions for every game and today for sure I will try to do this.
"When a player does not start he is not happy, but I don’t want him to be happy because I want the player to try to fight to give me problems to solve to find the best selection for the team.
"I am pleased to have a group of players that are growing very well in all aspects - technical, tactical and mentality, feeling the right responsibility for the season. Believe me, it is not easy to have those type of groups, and we have grown a lot in these seven months. We must continue to improve and put the team above all. Honestly, I am very pleased to observe this."
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