The midweek Premier League action that took place over the past couple of days has certainly brought some eye-catching results. Newcastle United beating Manchester City Tuesday night was a shock. The way that Chelsea fell at AFC Bournemouth, 4-0 tonight, was perhaps even more surprising.
Chelsea surrendered all four goals in the second half, the most they have conceded in one half of Premier League action since 1996. Then came an unusual and unorthodox move by Blues boss Maurizio Sarri. He spoke to his team for almost an hour, before then doing his mandatory media availability; and he spoke to them without the presence of his backroom staff.
Just last week, Sarri gave an infamous press conference in which he lit into his own team. That rant was not the first time he openly questioned the motivation and desire of his team this season. Obviously, the Blues played like a team that didn’t seem to be all that interested in winning.
On Wednesday night though, the tone was very different. The Italian said he asked his players to explain what had just happened, but he didn’t get any real answers.
“In that moment I wanted to talk with them alone, without anybody else,” Sarri said.
“I needed to understand. It’s impossible to play in such a different way between the first and second half. I don’t understand why. I don’t know exactly. I want to try again tomorrow because we want to solve the problem. It’s very difficult to have an idea of the performance. We played very well in the first half.
“In the second half we conceded the [first] goal after two minutes and stopped playing. In the offensive phase, we played not as a team, but as individual players, and did not defend. It’s hard to understand why.”
“What I saw in the first half, there was the possibility to solve the problem. We had 43 minutes still to play, so we could solve the problem. But not with that kind of reaction. So it’s very difficult for me to understand why. I wanted to try to understand after the match.”
“I spoke with the players immediately after the match, but it’s very difficult also for them to say why. So I have to try again tomorrow because I need to understand why, because I need to solve this problem.”
It was a team effort (or lack thereof) in the second half, but Jorginho had a miserable game. David Luiz was even worse and didn’t look someone who belonged on the pitch.
The result dropped Chelsea out of the top four, and they’re now behind Arsenal via tiebreakers.
For Sarri and company, the next match is easiest of all, at least on paper. They’ll host Huddersfield Town on the weekend.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.