By Daily Sports on January 20, 2019

Manager Maurizio Sarri said it seems his Chelsea players are “very difficult to motivate” as he heavily criticised their performance in defeat by Arsenal.

The Blues lost 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and only had one shot on target in the match.

Chelsea have only won two of their last five matches and are now just three points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal and sixth-placed Manchester United.

“I’m really angry about the approach that we adopted today,” Sarri said.

“It’s an approach we can’t really accept.”

In a remarkable news conference after the defeat, Sarri said he wanted to speak in his native Italian rather than English “because I want to send a message to my players and I want my message to be very clear”.

“I have to say I’m extremely angry, very angry indeed,” said Sarri, who took over as Chelsea manager at the start of the season. “This defeat was due to our mentality, more than anything else.

“This is something I can’t accept.

“This group of players are extremely difficult to motivate.”

Sarri took over at Stamford Bridge last summer, replacing Antonio Conte.

His starting line-up against Arsenal included seven players who won the Premier League title under Conte in 2017, before going on to finish fifth the season after.

“This is not a team that is going to be well known for its battling qualities but we need to become a team that is capable of adapting, possibly suffering for 10 or 15 minutes then playing our own football,” Sarri said.

“You can find yourself in difficulties from time to time, but we need to react to those difficulties a lot better than we did today.

“Today we didn’t play our own football.”

Chelsea scored 27 times in their opening 11 league matches this season under Sarri but have only scored 13 times in 13 games since.

Strikers Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata have fallen out of favour under the Italian and the club have been heavily linked with a move for Juventus forward Gonzalo Higuain, who Sarri worked with at Napoli.

Sarri said the club’s mentality could be influenced by a new signing arriving at the club.

“You have to influence them, it could be about a new player coming in or one of the old heads taking control,” he said.

“I don’t think a player at this level can’t be afraid to face up to their responsibilities.

“The best thing that can happen is that the players and I talk very openly about what happens.

“I am the person responsible for the players and it is important for them to have the attitude, and if they can’t then maybe they shouldn’t be playing at this level.” (BBC)

•Photo shows Chelsea coach, Maurizio Sarri 

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 20, 2019

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