Tag: Hazard

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has been reported to hold a clear-the-air talks with his Chelsea players on Monday after their 2-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirate Stadium.

According to reports from Mirror Sport, the furious Chelsea boss had launched an attack an extraordinary attack on his team following the loss at the Emirates Stadium and it seemed to have had an effect on the team.

The source further reported that the 60-year-old switched to his native Italian for his post-match media conference - "to send a message to my players and I want my message to be very clear," he said - as he attacked their attitude and personalities.

Sarri said: "I have to say I'm extremely angry, very angry indeed. This defeat was due to our mentality, more than anything else Mirror Sport reported.

"I thought we'd overcome this issue. But it appears we still have this issue. This group of players are extremely difficult to motivate."

The source confirmed that Sarri who has regularly criticised his players' determination and motivation this season, went a step further in analysing their flaws.

"It seems to me that, as a group of players, they're not particularly aggressive from a mental point of view," he added.

"They don't have that ferocity in their mentality. That's down to the type of players they are, their characteristics."It's something that is difficult to change. It could take quite a long time."

However, with a crunch Carabao cup semifinal encounter against Tottenham at hand, the Chelsea boss quickly had a peace talk meeting with the players on Monday during training.

Chelsea lost to Tottenham by 1-0 in the first-leg, and will be hosting Spurs at the Stamford bridge stadium in the second-leg in which they need to overturn the deficit.

However, there are speculations that some Chelsea players are still surprised why the Chelsea boss have continued to play Eden Hazard as a false nine, when the team still have a natural striker like Olivier Giroud seating on the bench.