Irish Independent

Chelsea boss: Something has changed and I don’t know why

- Ian Whittell

MAURIZIO SARRI admitted he was uncertain of his Chelsea future in the wake of his team’s worst defeat in 28 years.

Speaking to Italian television in the wake of the 6-0 humiliatio­n, Sarri even pointedly made reference to his lack of communicat­ion with the Stamford Bridge hierarchy.

“If the president (owner Roman Abramovich) calls, I’ll be happy, seeing as I never hear from him. To be honest, I don’t know what to expect,” said the Chelsea manager.

“Matches like this can leave a mark. It won’t be easy to get back on our feet after this.

“Football is also made of heavy defeats. At half-time, I told the lads that if we were able to react, we’d come back stronger than ever.”

Earlier, the 60-year-old spoke to the English press and confessed he had no feeling for whether he would see out his first season in English football.

“I don’t know. You have to ask the club,” said Sarri. “I am worried about my team, I’m worried about the performanc­e but my job is always at risk.”

The defeat has brought Sarri’s future into sharp focus. However, the manager remained defiant when asked if his plan to introduce the style of football he made famous at Napoli was doomed to fail. “No, because today I didn’t see my football,” said Sarri.

“At the beginning of the season, it worked. Now we need to understand the reason why at the moment it isn’t working. We need to understand the reason it’s not easy. We played better away at first, now we play better at home. Something is changing, I’m not able to see the reason, but I have to work for this. My target is to play my football, not to change to another football.”

Sarri had accused his players of lacking motivation in last month’s defeat by Arsenal, although this time his biggest issue was with stupidity, rather than effort.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Sarri, when asked if players were unmotivate­d. “I think we started well and then conceded the goal after four minutes in a stupid way. We made a lot of mistakes against the wrong opponents, and we have to say they played fantastic football.”

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