Chronicle Editor
United Kingdom — Maurizio Sarri has the full support of the Chelsea players who have signed up to his philosophy says David Luiz despite the manager blasting them in the wake of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Luiz, who has become a pivotal figure in Sarri’s team after being sidelined last season by Antonio Conte, said it is remarkable how quickly Sarri has been successful in implementing his playing philosophy at the club.
While that was successful initially, Chelsea’s form has slumped of late with just two wins in their last five matches in all competitions, failing to score in three of those.
Arsenal and a resurgent Manchester United are just three points off Chelsea, who occupy the fourth and last Champions League spot.
Sarri is trying to rectify the scoring problem by offloading misfiring Spaniard Alvaro Morata and signing veteran Argentine Gonzalo Higuain, who flourished under him at Napoli.
Luiz said the manager “was not happy” after the match “but nobody was happy, so it was normal.”
However, the 31-year-old Brazil international defender said the players were all behind Sarri.
“Everybody is trusting his job and everybody is with him,” said Luiz.
However, he said pointedly there was nothing wrong with the strategy and that they just need to be sharper in front of goal.
“It is our style, it is our philosophy,” said Luiz.
“I think if you asked at the beginning of the season, ‘can Chelsea keep the ball?’ – you would have said no.
“And now we are able to do that, like the best teams in the world, but then we have (to) improve our last 25 metres.”
Sarri has changed things around from Conte’s time at the club.
Italy international Jorginho — whom he signed from Napoli — has been deployed in the central midfield role which has resulted in N’Golo Kante being moved to an unfamiliar wider role.
However, the biggest bone of contention has been the Italian’s decision to use Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard as a “false nine” which has apparently not been to the player’s liking.
Luiz, though, is full of praise for Sarri.
“What Sarri has done until now is unbelievable, amazing, because normally (for) a team to understand this philosophy needs one or two years, like Manchester City and Liverpool, who are playing very well with the ball now,” said Luiz.
“What he has done has been amazing, so we have to try to improve the details now.”
Meanwhile, Former Manchester United star Gary Neville has warned Manchester City against complacency following a subdued opening half against Huddersfield Town at the weekend.
With the Citizens prolific attack taking on bottom-feeders Huddersfield, it was expected to rain goals in south Yorkshire on Sunday.
But the defending Premier League champions were subdued in the opening stanza and went down the tunnel with a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, Neville warned Pep Guardiola’s men that such a performance could cost them in the future.
“I got angry with them in the first half — they were drifting and showing that little bit of complacency,” he said.
“If you were a City fan at home, you might sit there thinking ‘Did you never have 25-minute spells like that?’ but when you think of the intensity they got to all of last season… We were here last season and saw the celebrations at the end of that game. But today it felt like they were going through the motions in the first half a bit.
“They’ve got a big four months in front of them. They’re going for the Champions League, they’ve got the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup and they’re going for back-to-back titles and when you’re going for that, you’ve got to have that intensity all the time.”
City were better in the second half, making more opportunities and scoring twice to seal the victory and close the gap to table-toppers Liverpool to four points.
Arsenal strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have enjoyed a good relationship on and off the pitch.
The duo have combined for an impressive 26 goals and ten assists so far this season, consistently providing a potent attacking option for boss Unai Emery.
Lacazette played a crucial role in the Gunners 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday, showing good composure to fire the ball into the top right corner.
Aubameyang heaped praise on the Frenchman after the match. “It was really nice,” the Gabon native told the press.
“I think we did a lot of runs, a lot of effort for the team, we worked a lot, and of course we are happy when we play together because we have such a good feeling between us.
“It was cool. I think since I joined here at Arsenal he was here, and he came to me and talked to me and now we are going well. We have the same vision about football and I love him. He’s a great guy.
“It’s not a bad rivalry, we are friends when one is going well the other is happy and that’s the most important thing, to do well. When you have a striker like Alex near to you then he’s really good to play with. I hope we will play more games together.”
— AFP.
English Premiership results
Saturday:
-Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-3 Leicester City
-AFC Bournemouth 2-0 West Ham United
-Liverpool 4-3 Crystal Palace
-Manchester United 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
-Newcastle United 3-0 Cardiff City
Southampton 2-1 Everton, Watford 0-0 Burnley
-Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
Sunday:
-Huddersfield Town 0-3 Manchester City
-Fulham 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur English
Premiership Logs
P W L D Pts
1 Liverpool 23 19 1 3 60
2 Manchester City 23 18 3 2 56
3 Tottenham Hotspur 23 17 6 0 51
4 Chelsea 23 14 4 5 47
5 Arsenal 23 13 5 5 44
6 Manchester United 23 13 5 5 44
7 Watford 23 9 8 6 33
8 Wolverhampton Wanderers 23 9 9 5 32
9 Leicester City 23 9 10 4 31
10 West Ham United 23 9 10 4 31
11 Everton 23 8 9 6 30
12 AFC Bournemouth 23 9 11 3 30
13 Brighton & Hove Albion 23 7 11 5 26
14 Crystal Palace 23 6 13 4 22
15 Southampton 23 5 11 7 22
16 Burnley 23 6 13 4 22
17 Newcastle United 23 5 12 6 21
18 Cardiff City 23 5 14 4 19
19 Fulham 23 3 15 5 14
20 Huddersfield Town 23 2 16 5 11
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