Maurizio Sarri called Chelsea flops in for one-to-one meetings after Tottenham defeat

Maurizio Sarri hauled his Chelsea team in for one-on-one meetings as he demanded answers following Saturday's demoralising 3-1 defeat at Tottenham.

In a damning verdict on his team's performance, he accused his players of lacking 'determination' and 'motivation' during the match at Wembley and said Spurs 'destroyed' his team in the space of 15 minutes.

He also insisted that N'Golo Kante will continue to play in a more attacking midfield role and criticised the Frenchman's performance at Wembley.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's Europa League match against PAOK Salonika, Sarri also said he saw the result coming after a dip in recent performances against Everton and BATE Borisov.

He said: 'The problem was with the approach in the last three matches. If you go to the pitch with that approach and the opponents are very strong, like Tottenham, and determined like Tottenham were, the problem is bigger. So they were able to destroy us in 15 minutes, but I saw the same problems also in the match before.

'I have to think about everything because Saturday we played very badly, a match without determination, but we lost one match after 110 days, so the team did well, generally. But we have to understand why we played against Tottenham without determination.

'It's not normal. First of all I want to see a reaction, but I want to see a reaction in the next Premier League match as well. I want to see that we have learned our lessons.'

Sarri then organised individual meetings in which he questioned his players about the performance.

Sarri said: 'It's very difficult for them, I think, to tell me why. Very difficult. Somebody told me that, maybe, the international break was a problem. A problem to be immediately ready at 100 per cent.

'I talk to them player by player. I have a meeting of five or 10 minutes with the individuals. But, as I said before, we lost one match after three and a half months. We have to understand why, especially from the mental point of view.

'It's very difficult for me to understand why. We played without a determination in such an important match. If you don't have determination, you have no motivation. If you have no motivation, maybe you don't have clear targets in your mind. I wanted to understand this.'



Sarri also insisted that he will not change his game-plan and alter the position of N'Golo Kante who has been asked to play a more forward-thinking midfield role to make space for the £50m summer signing Jorginho at the base of midfield.

He said: 'I think, as you know, I want to play a central midfielder as a very technical player – Jorginho or 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 his position. He attacked too much the other box. And I think this is not one of the best characteristics of Kante, but it was only a reaction to the difficulties.'

Asked how long it will take Kante to understand his new role, Sarri said: 'Maybe it's only a question of time, but Kante has to stay near to Jorginho, especially when the ball is on the other side, on the left.' 

Source: Dailymail

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