It was a very good run while it lasted. The Blues suffered their first loss of the Maurizio Sarri era, in any competition, (unless you count the preseason Community Shield) 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur today. It was the most anticipated match of the weekend, but the day completely belonged to Spurs.
The blowout victory for Tottenham at Wembley Stadium on Saturday resulted in their leap-frogging Chelsea in the standings. It also gave more credence to the theory put forth by Sarri heading into this contest- that a major gap exists between his side and league leaders Manchester City.
Tottenham, who got goals from Heung-Min Son, Harry Kane, and Dele Alli today, look like a team that’s really starting to come together as they get more key players healthy again.
As for Chelsea, well, their manager labeled his defense “a disaster” several times in the post match news conference today, and he also admitted that even if he had changed all 11 players out on the pitch, it still wouldn’t have made a difference.
“The defensive phase was a disaster. I am not talking about the defensive line, the defensive phase — the offensive players pressed very badly, the midfielders defended not very well and the defensive line as a consequence was a disaster,” Sarri said. “The defensive phase of the team was a disaster.”
It’s fair to say that he thinks one phase of his side’s performance in the match today was disastrous. Sarri wasn’t done venting his frustrations.
“We played very badly from the physical point of view, mentally, technically — especially in the first 20, 25 minutes — tactically, so we have a lot to work on,” he continued.
“I had to do something different, just to change the match,” Sarri said. “But it wasn’t important. Today they were better than us, 11 players out of 11. It was not important. I wanted to change the match with something different but I think I could have changed 11 players with the same result.”
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 Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.