Antonio Conte faces criticial fortnight as Chelsea manager

Having spent 90 minutes leaping about in the Stamford Bridge sunshine on Saturday, Antonio Conte needed a boost. The first thing he did on entering the press room, following his side's 3-0 win over Burnley, was to reach for a well-known brand of fizz – manufactured in west London for more than half a century.

“For energy,” he beamed, without a bead of perspiration, in contrast with opposite number Sean Dyche's sweat-soaked shirt.

If Conte felt he was flagging, then he showed no outward sign of it – and neither did his team. An energetic performance, albeit against a side expected to struggle this season, had been in the eyes of the Blues boss their best of the season so far. But the momentum of four consecutive victories, three of them in the Premier League, had just been brought to an abrupt halt by the arrival of the international break.

These punctuations to the season, a reasonably new phenomenon, do make some sense. They enable a separation between domestic and international football that is supposed to benefit both camps. But, increasingly, the timing of them has been both annoying and unnecessarily disruptive to the Premier League schedule.

The return of the world's richest league came, with a fanfare, just 17 days ago. In Chelsea's case they have had less than two weeks’ worth of action, before the squad is carved up into its many nationalities and sent off on tiresome treks around the globe.

There is no unfair disadvantage over other clubs, for all suffer the same stuttering start to the schedule. But this season, in the case of Chelsea, the early break crash-lands at a time when a new boss is instilling a radically different system, in a squad that seems to be just starting to get the concept.

Over the next 10 days or so, Chelsea's players will head off to train with the national coaches of England, Belgium, Serbia, Brazil and more, and will instantly be drilled in different formations and systems. Bad habits creep-in; rote learning is easily forgotten. Conte, refreshed by his sugar rush, touched on this after Burnley: “It’s a pity now there is this international break. After three wins I wanted to continue to play games but we have to stop.”

Conte was clear this would not be a break for him and his coaches. Assistant Angelo Alessio, Conte's brother Gianluca and goalkeeping coach Gianluca Spinelli will all stay put to re-watch early-season performances and learn from what the first-team coach described as the many good, and few bad things he had seen.

Steve Holland, Chelsea's permanent undersecretary to the ever-changing governance of the team, will be torn away though – joining Gareth Southgate's England U21s for a UEFA Championship qualifier against Norway.

So while the pause may provide time for consideration of Conte's methods, the disruption could not be much more significant in terms of his ability to pass what he learns on to his team. Amid all of this, let's not forget, comes arguably the most significant moment of the season for this slowly reforming side: the transfer deadline.

Chelsea's chances last season were arguably diminished more by the lack of activity at the closing of the window than by any on-pitch or training ground mishap. Chelsea's administration - here we talk specifically of Michael Emenalo, Marina Granovskaia and ultimate money man Roman Abramovich – have much still to prove before the calendar flips over to September.

Chelsea's early advances have to be put in the context of a newborn season in which they have been blessed with a soft start by the Premier League's fixture computer. Things will get much trickier, fairly quickly, once this break is passed.

Conte's side will not kick another ball in anger before September 11 – when they run out at Swansea's Liberty Stadium. By the time that moment arrives, the club and Conte’s chances of continuing success are likely to have been more clearly decided.