Maurizio Sarri felt the opening goal altered the complexion of this evening’s game vs Man City, & the Italian praised his side for their performance, particularly in the early part of the 2nd half. Goals either side of the break, from N’Golo Kante & David Luiz, ensured it was the Blues who came out on top, ending City’s unbeaten Premier League run in the process. Sarri provided his assessment of the game & his team’s display...
‘We had Eden for the 1st time in that position [striker] & in the 1st 20 or 25mins we didn’t work well in the defensive movements in the opposition half, but fortunately we defended well in our half. We started to press better & after the 1st goal the game changed.
‘We played very well in the last few minutes of the 1st half, & the 1st 20mins of the 2nd, & in the end we deserved to win. ‘We’re very happy with the win, we know it’s not easy to beat City in this moment. For me it’s not easy to win against Pep, as you know, so I’m very happy but now we need to find this kind of motivation & play with this level of determination & aggressivity in other matches, otherwise its useless winning matches like this.’
Sarri was asked if it was our plan to stand off City in the 1st half... ‘No, we know the ball possession is usual for us, today it was a problem. We knew there would maybe be more space for counter attacks, but it wasn’t a total choice to defend in our half.’
He didn’t rule out playing with Hazard up front in the future... ‘He had some problems at the beginning of the match but he was great in the 2nd half. Maybe he deserved to score & I think he’s a very good option [in that position]. We will play like today in the future, for certain matches of course.’
The Italian was pleased with the performance of Kante... ‘I think Kante scored by chance because they played very close to Jorginho, more than in the other matches. He defended very well & had some good counter attacks. Then he was in the box for the 1st goal, but today he played in the right position, very close to Jorginho. He played very well.’
Sarri also spoke about David Luiz, who was excellent throughout... ‘I have to say I was very happy with him from the beginning. Of course there are matches like this one in which it’s easier to stay on the defensive line because the o ffensive movements are working very well, & there are matches when that’s difficult, like Tottenham, because the defensive phase of the team is a disaster. Today he played a really good match.’
Alvaro Morata wasn’t part of the matchday squad for today’s game, & Sarri explained why... ‘The reason was clear; we played with Hazard as a striker & so if we had to change something there was Giroud. I think it was useless to have 2 strikers on the bench, I prefer more midfielders because today I was in trouble with wingers, so the only option was Loftus-Cheek.’
The Blues boss responded to a question about the gap between ourselves & City...
‘I think it’s impossible to close the gap in 1 season. You can play 1 match but in a competition of 10months it’s very difficult. I think they are the best team in Europe. We won today but we have to say we were a bit lucky in the 1st 25 because they could have scored. ‘I’m very happy with the win because it’s very diff to win against Guardiola’s team. I know they are a step ahead, we have to work to cover the gap. We will try & I’m very happy.’
