Oscar: Conte has given me confidence

Oscar has hailed Chelsea manager Antonio Conte for boosting his confidence after last season’s disastrous Premier League title defence.

Chelsea have started the new campaign with three wins out of three under Conte, beating Burnley 3-0 in their last game before the international break.

Oscar is thriving in a central midfield role and the Brazil international explained he prefers his current position to being played on the wing or in the hole behind a striker.

“[Conte] is giving me a lot of confidence and I’m doing very well,” Oscar said. “Hopefully I can continue to do so.

“In the last few seasons I have played as a 10 or as a winger. Now I’m going back to my original position of number eight, attacking and defending from box to box, which is my original role and the one I like the most.

“It’s been a very successful time for me here at Chelsea. I won a lot in the last few seasons – the Premier League, League Cup and the Europa League. 

“Only last season wasn’t great, not only individually, but as a team. Hopefully this season we will win trophies and get back to a winning mentality. 

“The objective is not only to finish in the top four, but to fight for the league, FA Cup and League Cup because we have to win trophies.”

Conte’s training methods also won praise from Oscar, who has started all three Premier League games to date under the Italian.

“The coach has changed the formation, we are playing a different system to last season,” Oscar said.

“His training method is different to what we had last season and he’s changed both the players’ mentality and the team’s mentality. I think we have improved since he’s come here.

“I think you can see that last season we were lacking a bit of resilience. We had that spirit in some games, but we weren’t consistent. 

“It’s good to have that spirit back and we are looking to improve on that front. If we keep up this team spirit, we will be a threat in the Premier League.”