It's exceedingly rare to not have a Chelsea match available on television nowadays, but this second round League Cup EFL Cup matchup against Bristol Rovers was one such occasion.
That's not to say there no cameras at the ground, recording the match for highlights and future replays, but there were only two places to watch the game live, Stamford Bridge, and Rovers' home stadium on an exclusive "beam-back". Not even illegal streaming was a possibility for the Internet savvy, though the social media hero who broadcasted the whole thing on his Twitter account via a really low quality Periscope stream probably deserves some misguided "fight the system" award.
This was Chelsea's first non-televised match since the shocking 4-2 reverse against Bradford City a year and half prior, and perhaps that result played on fans' minds for much of the second half as the visitors first reduced their deficit to 2-1 and then to 3-2, Chelsea giving away rather cheap goals on both occasion.
All's well that ends well in the end, but Conte was not pleased with the defensive effort either.
"In the first half we conceded one goal after a cross, a free-kick. We must improve on this aspect. We must feel the danger in every circumstance, when there is a free-kick or a corner, because in England usually it can be a great chance to concede a goal."
"We know that we had to work very hard. I knew the atmosphere around this cup and I could tell this game was very tough."
"It’s a pity because we were dominating the game and created a lot of chances in the first half to score many goals. But I don’t like it when you concede in these situations, with a free-kick and a penalty. When you have the opportunity to kill the game you must kill the game."
-Antonio Conte; source: West London Sport
The second goal was perhaps a bit more unfortunate, with a breakdown on the counter following our own corner and while Pedro did give the penalty away, he perhaps deserves some credit for the hustle and what may even look like a bit of a harsh call. Either way, fortunately the "triple jeopardy" rules were changed this summer so the winger only collected a yellow card and Chelsea did not have to finish the match with ten men.