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Tag: Maurizio Sarri

  • I can’t promise Hudson-Odoi playing time at Chelsea – Sarri

    I can’t promise Hudson-Odoi playing time at Chelsea – Sarri

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri says he cannot guarantee Callum Hudson-Odoi first-team football but that the club do not plan to sell him this year.

    The 18-year-old, who has 18 months left on his contract, has been the subject of a £35m bid from Bayern Munich.

    He also handed in a transfer request after concerns about playing time.

    “The club told me he’s out of the market [in January] for sure and probably he will be out of the market in July,” said Sarri.

    “On the pitch he’s doing very well. I’m really very happy with him.

    “I’m not very happy with the situation, but I know very well that every big team here in England has the same problem.

    “It’s not easy to keep these young players. He is of course one of the best 18-year-old players in Europe, so it’s very, very difficult.”

    Hudson-Odoi has not made a Premier League start for Chelsea and has made just three substitute appearances in the top flight this season.

    He did start in the FA Cup fourth-round win over Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday and scored his second goal for the club in the 3-0 victory.

    “It’s impossible to promise him that he will play every match, because it depends on the situation,” added Sarri.

    “He’s improving. I think he’ll be the future of our club. He will be the future of English football.”

  • EPL: Hazard is not a leader, says Sarri

    EPL: Hazard is not a leader, says Sarri

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has praised Eden Hazard’s qualities as a great footballer, but says that the Belgian is ‘not a leader’.

    Sarri hit the headlines last week for publicly chastising his squad after a 2-0 loss to Arsenal, claiming that his players are ‘very difficult to motivate’ and that they perhaps shouldn’t be playing at the highest level.

    The Italian then went on to say that a new player, or even an ‘old head’, could be the answer to turning the Blues’ fortunes, suggesting that the club lack leadership.

    When asked about Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz as potential leaders for the Blues, Sarri turned heads by stating Hazard is not on that list.

    “He’s more of an individual player than a leader,” Sarri said. “He’s very important for us, of course, because he’s a great player. He can win a match in two minutes, sometimes one minute.

    “He is one of the best in the world, but at this moment he is not a leader.”

  • Chelsea players are extremely difficult to motivate – Sarri

    Chelsea players are extremely difficult to motivate – Sarri

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri launched a scathing attack on his players after they laboured to a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Premier League.

    Sarri, who spoke angrily in Italian during his press conference to properly execute his message, accused his squad of being ‘extremely difficult to motivate’.

    First-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny allowed the Gunners to move within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea, who have failed to find their rhythm in 2019.

    The Italian insists the mentality of his players must improve, hinting at personnel changes before the January transfer window is over.

  • Transfer news: No January exit for Willian, says Sarri

    Transfer news: No January exit for Willian, says Sarri

    Maurizio Sarri says Willian will not be allowed to leave Chelsea in January following reports Barcelona are ready to reignite their interest in the player.

    Barcelona tried to sign Willian last summer, making three bids for the Brazil international, with their final offer worth more than £55m rejected in July.

    According to Sky Sports, Barcelona have proposed a deal that would see William depart for the Nou Camp with Malcolm coming the other way,but Sarri says it is “impossible” for Willian to leave Stamford Bridge this month.

    Asked about Barcelona’s reported interest in Willian, Sarri said: “I didn’t receive anything yesterday. I have no idea.

    “You have to contact the club and ask about the market, because if you ask me about the market, you put me in trouble because I don’t know how to answer. As you know, Willian for us is very important.

    “I think he can do better, he can do better because of his potential but he is really very important to us, so I think it is impossible to lose him in January.”

    One player who seems set to leave Chelsea this month is midfielder Cesc Fabregas, whose proposed move to Monaco is on hold until Chelsea can bring in a replacement.

  • English referees can’t use VAR, need to study the system – Sarri

    English referees can’t use VAR, need to study the system – Sarri

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri believes “English referees are not able to use VAR” after the system awarded Harry Kane the penalty that cost his team Carabao Cup semi-final first leg loss to Tottenham.

    The only goal of the Wembley game came from the spot after referee Michael Oliver consulted the video assistant referee to check if Kane was onside before he was fouled by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

    The VAR camera suggested Kane was onside, but Chelsea showed a screenshot of their own system after the game that suggested he was offside.

    After a 93-second wait, Oliver gave the penalty and Kane scored his 160th goal for Tottenham.

    “A few minutes ago I watched the video from our camera. It was offside. Our camera was in line with Harry Kane”, Sarri told Sky Sports.

    “I don’t think English referees are able to use the system.

    The Italian also noted that the English referees need to study the VAR system very well before usage.

    “If you are not sure with the system, as a player you have to follow the ball and at the end of the action decide. But the linesman stopped and didn’t follow the ball – for our defenders it was offside. I don’t know about the goalkeeper but sure the defenders were affected.

    “I think they have to study the system.

    “It’s very strange in the Premier League there isn’t VAR and in the Carabao Cup there is the system. It’s very strange for us, the players and referees.”

    The Premier League is set to introduce the system from next season.

  • EPL: Sarri wants a new striker after draw with Southampton

    EPL: Sarri wants a new striker after draw with Southampton

    Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri hinted at the need for a new striker after his side failed to break down a resolute Southampton team at Stamford Bridge.

    The hosts had 72% of possession but could not find their way through a well-organised and disciplined Saints side as it ended goalless.

    “I think we played a very good match for 80 metres of the pitch, then we were in trouble in the last 20 metres,” said Sarri, who has Alvaro Morata as his only recognised striker with Olivier Giroud out with an ankle injury.

    “We have to try to solve the problem of the last 15, 20 metres. The club knows very well my opinion. I think we need something different for characteristics.

    “I’m not in charge of the market. I have to try to improve my players, my team, my offensive phase, or better my offensive phase in the last 20 metres.

    “The club knows my position, my opinion. It’s up to the board.”

  • EPL: It is time to decide Hazard’s future – Sarri

    It is “time to decide” the future of Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, says manager Maurizio Sarri.

    The 27-year-old Belgium international, who passed 100 goals for the club in Wednesday’s 2-1 Premier League win over Watford, said he wanted to become a Chelsea ‘legend”.

    Hazard, whose contract expires in June 2020, has been linked with a summer move to Real Madrid.

    Sarri said Chelsea “have to solve this problem”.

    Asked whether he expects Hazard to remain a Chelsea player in the long term, he said: “I don’t know but I think that it’s time to decide.”

    Hazard said in October it was his “dream” to join Spanish side Madrid, although two days later he ruled out a move to the Bernabeu in the January transfer window.

    After scoring twice at Vicarage Road, Hazard said: “I want to score more for this club and then try to be a legend like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and John Terry.”

    Italian Sarri said: “I have not the power to do this. I am the coach. I am not the president. I am not in charge of the market.

    “I want to speak to him only about the position on the pitch.

    BBC

  • EPL: Chelsea suffered mental confusion in defeat to Leicester – Sarri

    EPL: Chelsea suffered mental confusion in defeat to Leicester – Sarri

    Maurizio Sarri has said “mental confusion” affected his Chelsea players as Leicester City inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Blues.

    The result left Chelsea 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and level with Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification, but after the game Sarri was more concerned with his team’s reaction to going behind in the second half.

    “I think we played very well for 55 minutes,” Sarri said. “We played very good football.

    “After the goal, the reaction was, for me, a strange reaction. Not in the right direction. Not as a team, but as 11 different players. So it was really very strange.

    “I think we could have done better with the reaction. We had only to continue to play as in the first part of the match. There was time to score without a reaction like a team shocked, a team in mental confusion.”

    It is not the first time this season that Sarri has publicly questioned the mentality of his players following a defeat.

    “I don’t know,” he said when asked why the problem keeps happening. “If I knew, I’d solve the problem for this match. It’s difficult to understand because we have players with a lot of experience.”

    Sarri once again deployed Hazard as a false nine against Leicester, and he said that the strategy was working until Vardy scored.

    “I was really very happy at the end of the first half because, for me, we played very well,” he said. “We were dangerous and we conceded nothing to the opponents in the first half.

    “So I was really very happy with the team, with the solution with Hazard. Then, after the goal, the position of Hazard was not important.”

     

  • Premier League will miss Mourinho – Sarri

    Premier League will miss Mourinho – Sarri

    Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri, said the English Premier League will miss sacked Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho and hopes that the Portuguese can return to management in England again.

    United dismissed Mourinho on Tuesday after suffering their worst start to a league season for 28 years and replaced him with former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, until the end of the season.

    Asked ahead of Saturday’s home league clash with Leicester City if the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss would be missed.

    Sarri said,“I think so. Mourinho won everything, won everywhere, so I like him very much as a coach and as a man,” he said.

    Mourinho said a day after his sacking that United had a future without him, just as he did without them, and he backed the 55-year-old to make a swift return to the dugout.

    “I think he is right when he said that United have a future without Mourinho, but he has a great future without them.

    “I will like to see him on the bench as soon as possible, maybe in England,” intoned Sarri.

    He said Solskjaer should expect a tough job as he attempts to steady the ship at United and get the team firing on all cylinders again.

    “I remember him as a player. He was a good player. But I don’t know him as a coach. Of course, the job will be difficult,” the Chelsea gaffer.

    Sarri, the former Napoli boss, has enjoyed an encouraging start to his first season as Chelsea manager in spite of enduring a few bumps along the way.

    Chelsea sits fourth in the table with 37 points from 17 games but he ruled them out as title contenders along with leaders Liverpool and second-placed Manchester City.

    “I’ve never seen Chelsea like a contender for the title. I always said that at the moment there are two teams a step ahead of us,” Sarri said.

  • Sarri receives first award for Chelsea’s performance against Man City

    Sarri receives first award for Chelsea’s performance against Man City

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has taken ownership of an award which has come his way for the first time.

    It was announced last week that the League Managers Association (LMA) had crowned Chelsea’s display against Manchester City, when we won 2-0, the Performance of the Week.

    The game, which had goals in either half from N’Golo Kante and David Luiz, brought City’s first Premier League defeat of the season and kept us in the top four.

    The weekly award is voted for by a five-man panel comprising LMA Chairman Howard Wilkinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Joe Royle, Dave Bassett and Barry Fry.