EUROPA LEAGUE SARRI ON THE WARPATH
Chelsea stars hauled in for one-to-one inquests Coach blasts Kante but WON’T change new role
MAURIZIO SARRI hauled his Chelsea team in for one- to- one meetings as he demanded answers over Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Tottenham.
In a damning verdict on the performance, he accused his players of lacking determination and motivation, and said Spurs ‘destroyed’ his team at Wembley.
He insisted that N’Golo Kante would continue to play in a more attacking midfield role and criticised the Frenchman’s display. Sarri also stated that he will not change the role of Kante, who has moved wider to make space for £50million signing Jorginho in the centre of midfield.
‘I want to play a very technical player as a central midfielder — Jorginho or Fabregas,’ said Sarri. ‘I don’t want Kante in this position. Kante, in the last match, wanted to solve the match after the first 15 minutes but in the wrong way. He lost his position.
‘He attacked the other box too much and I think this is not one of the best characteristics of Kante, but it was only a reaction to the difficulties.’
Despite the defeat being the club’s first in 18 games, Sarri said he saw the result coming after a dip in performances and warned that the top four should be the club’s aim as Manchester City are a step ahead.
‘I saw the same problems in the matches before,’ he said. ‘If you go to the pitch with that approach and the opponents are very determined, like Tottenham were, the problem is bigger.
‘They were able to destroy us in 15 minutes. I have to think about everything because we played very badly. But we lost one match after 110 days, so the team have done well. But we have to understand why we played against Tottenham without determination.
‘It’s not normal. I want to see a reaction and see we have learned our lessons.’
Sarri organised individual meetings on Monday in which he questioned his players about the performance.
‘It’s very difficult for them to tell me why,’ he said. ‘Somebody told me that maybe the international break was a problem. I talked to them player by player, five or 10 minutes each.
‘We have to understand why, especially from the mental point of view. It’s very difficult for me to understand. If you don’t have determination, you have no motivation. If you have no motivation, maybe you don’t have clear targets in your mind. The targets are very clear in my mind — in the short period, to win something. And in the long term, to become the best team in Europe.’
Striker Olivier Giroud added: ‘We understand the manager’s philosophy, how he wants us to play on the pitch. It’s just a mental problem. We were not ready to play this kind of game, that’s it. When you are not ready in the head to play that kind of game, things can happen.’
Chelsea are now seven points behind City and Sarri conceded his team cannot keep up with Pep Guardiola’s side.
He said: ‘The points average of City is more than 100. Our target is to be in the top four because we want to play in the Champions League. We can’t look at City. They are a step ahead.’
Sarri will rest Eden Hazard against PAOK Salonika tonight after he suffered an ankle injury against Spurs but the Belgian will face Fulham on Sunday.
‘I am worried because 25 days ago he had a back injury,’ Sarri said. ‘Now it’s the ankle, so I think that he has lost a lot of training. But one week of training and a couple of matches and he’ll be back at the best level of physical condition.’
Chelsea, meanwhile, are concerned that up to 2,700 ticketless PAOK supporters may attempt to enter Stamford Bridge tonight.
The away team’s 2,300 allocation is sold out, but more fans are believed to have travelled. Chelsea have removed tickets from general sale and warned Greek fans they face ejection if they do not respect the segregation between home and away ends.