Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri has ruled his side out of the running for the Premier League title this season, despite impressive results in the opening games of the season.
The Blues secured a dramatic 3-2 win over Arsenal last Saturday, with Marcos Alonso scoring the winner with a few minutes left to play. The goal was the fifth of the game, after Arsenal grabbed two, to cancel out the opening goals by Pedro and Alvaro Morata in the first half.
That exposed the defenses of both sides, who clearly have to add some steel to the guile and trickery they possess in their squads. Despite the deficiencies at the back, Chelsea won convincingly against another title favorite and followed their 3-0 opening day win over Huddersfield.
Sarri is having none of the the praise and prefers to keep working his players into understanding his style. The Italian tactician says all of his Chelsea players would have to contribute to the defensive demands in order to achieve a solid base for the season.
“No, not in this moment. We did very well in the last 25 minutes, but I think we have to work. We have to improve in the defensive phase and I’m not talking about only the defenders. The defensive phase of all the team, all the players.
If we press very high, we are able to do well. But, at the other moments, when we are not able to press in the other half, we are in trouble. So I think we have to work and we need to improve.”
Maurizio Sarri, Goal
