SARRI'S BLUES DISASTER
I warned them this was coming blasts Maurizio
MAYBE the wake-up call of Chelsea’s first defeat will be the moment Maurizio Sarri finally finds out what he has inherited at Stamford Bridge.
The “disaster” – to use the Italian’s own word – that the Blues manager has long been predicting finally arrived at Wembley.
Chelsea were outplayed, out-thought and outrun by a fired-up Tottenham side turning in their best performance for over a year.
As that unbeaten run stretched out further and further, many put Sarri’s insistence on playing down his own side’s credentials as mind games designed to take pressure off his dressing room.
Understandably, given the way Chelsea have gone from runaway champions to also-rans twice in four yo-yo seasons, Sarri has never felt confident in the mental resilience of his squad.
Hope
However, with a derby against resurgent Fulham next weekend followed in quick succession by an awkward trip to Wolves and that showdown with Manchester City, how Chelsea bounce back from their Wembley humbling is crucial.
“I hope this is a wake-up call,” said Sarri. “I knew very well we had a problem and told them this two weeks ago and one week ago. Now the problem is evident and I hope, first of all, it is evident to them.
“But I don’t know the character of the team. I think it is very strange, 93 points in one season, then 50, then 87 again.
“I hope there is a reaction – and that is to move up the table.
“But I knew very well we had problems and we had to work. Now everybody knows it.”
Centre-back David Luiz was easily reassured after his manager had held his tongue in the dressing room afterwards.
“He’s been many times angrier when we’ve won,” the Brazilian said of his boss. “But of course the coach is not happy.”
After stepping away from the bright lights of a very blunt post-match press conference, seething Sarri uncharacteristically had to be begged to share these extra thoughts before he could go and take his murderous mood off home.
That anger will finally hit the players when they report for training this morning. For now, though, Luiz is still happy to dismiss the manner of the defeat simply as a one-off.
“I think it’s good for us to understand, to remind us that the Premier League is never easy,” he said. “It’s not easy to win any game.
“We played really badly, we didn’t have the same intensity as in the other games. The good thing is we have another game next week, so an opportunity to recover.
“Then, soon, we have City, a tough team, the top club in the table. So we can try and make the gap a bit smaller then.”
They would certainly want it to be smaller than the ones in their own defence on Saturday as Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min exploited Chelsea’s collective vulnerability with goals long before Olivier Giroud nodded in a scant consolation.
Amazing
Tottenham are now closer challengers to City as a result of Mauricio Pochettino finding a way to stop Jorginho’s influence with a high-pressing game that utilised Alli’s energy as much as his creativity.
“Working with Poch, you know how good he is,” said the England star. “He’s an amazing manager tactically. A lot of it was the work we did tactically – on the front foot, pushing up high.
“He makes it very clear what you have to do, so going into the game you know your role and what you have to do.
“You don’t have to worry about anything else, your football is natural.
“So as long as we’re clear on our roles and responsibilities, we can enjoy playing.”
But with Inter Milan and Arsenal to come in the next six days, there will be no time this week for Alli and Co to enjoy themselves quite so much.
“We have to keep that as our level,” he added. “We can’t drop off and we have to improve as well.
“We’ve got some really tough fixtures and it gives us confidence going into those games that we can beat anyone.”