Spurs awaken anger in Sarri
MAYBE the wake-up call of Chelsea’s first defeat will be the moment Maurizio Sarri finally finds out precisely 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 when Chelsea were outplayed, outthought and out-run by a fired up Tottenham turning in their best display for over a year.
As that unbeaten run stretched out further and further, many saw Sarri’s insistence on playing down his own side’s credentials as mind games designed to take pressure off his dressing room. Including, one suspects, one or two in that dressing room itself.
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.
However, with what looks set to be an emotional derby with resurgent Fulham on Sunday, followed in quick succession by an awkward trip to Wolves and the visit of 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 I told them this two weeks ago and one week PROBLEMS: Sarri predicted trouble stepped away from a very blunt post-match press conference, Sarri was seething and uncharacteristically had to be begged to share these extra thoughts before he could go and take his murderous mood home.
That anger will finally hit the players when they report to the training ground 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. “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 and gain some points. Then, soon, we have City, the top club in the table. So we can try and make the gap a bit smaller then.”
Certainly they would 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.
Spurs are now closer challengers to Pep Guardiola’s side as a result of Mauricio Pochettino finding a way to negate Jorginho’s influence with a high-pressing game that utilised Alli’s energy as much as his creativity.
“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. You don’t have to worry about anything else, your football is natural. 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 for Alli to enjoy himself quite so much.
TOTTENHAM NEXT UP: CHELSEA (4-3-3): Booked: Referee: (4-2-3-1): Goals: