Pep’s City were a nightmare to play against
Sarri reveals ‘horrible’ Champions League night
COMMUNITY SHIELD: CHELSEA
The words “nightmare” and “horrible” were used as he cast his mind back to the 2-1 defeat in which City were two up in 19 minutes.
It was a performance Pep Guardiola described as “perfect”.
And when the two sides met again in the group stage, just a few weeks later, the margin of City’s victory, at 4-2, was even greater.
At least that means Sarri has some idea of what to expect when FA Cup winners Chelsea take on the defending champions in the Community Shield at Wembley this afternoon.
Sarri (right, with Pep) said: “I played against City in the best moment of their season and it was very hard, very difficult. The first 20 minutes was a nightmare, it was horrible. We need to defend well and, at Wembley, I’d like to defend in the other half, if it’s possible, but sometimes it’s not.”
Chelsea lost both matches against Guardiola’s men 1-0 last season.
And in March, after the second, Eden Hazard appeared to complain about old boss Antonio Conte’s tactics.
“I could have played for three hours and not touched the ball,” said the Belgian, who is missing today’s game because he does not get back from his post-world Cup break until tomorrow.
But Sarri insists it won’t just be about tactics this afternoon and he wants his Chelsea players to believe they have what it takes to mix not just with City, but any team in the world. He added: “Apart from the tactical point of view, it’s very difficult for everybody to play against City. Not only for one player or another. “I’d like for my players to have the personality and that they are able to think in their mind that we are at the same level. “Maybe, at the moment, it’s not true. But they have to start to think that they can play against everybody in every stadium, against every team. “The last Premier League table told me Manchester City 100 points, Chelsea 70, so there is a difference. “We have to try to reduce 30 points and I know only one way: to work. “This is my job, to improve my players and I will try to do it. I don’t think that every problem can be resolved by the market.” Perhaps not every problem, but the flaw Sarri saw in Chelsea’s midfield has been addressed with the signing of Jorginho, who has followed his boss from Napoli.
City were also in for the Brazilian and thought they had signed him, only for the player to make the switch to Stamford Bridge.
Asked if he’d spoken to Guardiola about the player, Sarri, laughing, said: “I will try to explain all the situation to him at Wembley.
“We need Jorginho more than City, so it’s right that Jorginho is here.
“Pep has great midfielders, central midfielders – Fernandinho is a wonderful player.
“So we needed Jorginho more than him. Jorginho is one of the steps to try to reduce the gap between us and Manchester City.
“He’s only the first. The rest is to work, it’s not all about the transfer market.”