Sarri critical of Kante as manager seeks immediate reaction
Maurizio Sarri held individual post-mortems with his Chelsea players following their Premier League loss to Tottenham Hotspur and N’Golo Kante has been ordered not to deviate from his defined role on the right of midfield.
Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley on Saturday to end Sarri’s 18-game unbeaten start to competitive action with the London club and the Italian wants to see a reaction after rebuking France World Cup winner Kante for roaming too much.
Kante won two Premier League titles, with Leicester and Chelsea, playing in central midfield, but has been deployed out of position on the right to accommodate Italy playmaker Jorginho in Sarri’s chosen style.
The 27-year-old signed a new five-year contract just last week and was Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 2017.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Europa League Group L clash with Greece’s PAOK, Sarri said: “I want to play as a centre midfielder with a very technical player. For me, the centre midfielder is Jorginho or [Cesc] Fabregas.
“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 the position, he attacked too much the other box.”
Sarri described Chelsea’s performance against Spurs as “a match without determination”.
He wants to see an immediate reaction to the defeat, against PAOK.
They are already through to the Europa League last 32 and need a point to win Group L with one match to go.
“The targets are very clear in my mind: in the short period, to win something,” he added. And in the long period, to become the best team in Europe. I want to see we learned our lessons.”