WE NEED TO TALK
Maurizio Sarri gave each Chelsea player a ten-minute rollicking after Tottenham loss
Blues chief also put his squad through a rigorous fitness session following his first defeat since arriving at Stamford Bridge
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MAURIZIO SARRI grilled all of his players individually for 10 minutes following after first defeat as Chelsea boss.
The Blues were smashed 3-1 by Tottenham at Wembley in a dire showing, with only a late Olivier Giroud strike as consolation.
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And after putting them through fitness tests, 59-year-old Sarri insisted he wanted to ensure his stars were mentally equipped to compete for honours.
He revealed: "I went player by player. I had a meeting of ten minutes individual meetings.
"We lost the match after three months and a half, we have to understand why and from the mental approach.
"If you don’t have the determination then maybe you don’t have the character in the mind, I wanted to understand this.
"The target in my mind is very clear, it is to win something and in the long run to become the best team in Europe."
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Goalscorer Giroud admitted the Italian was angry and tried to explain how the Blues' solid start went downhill so rapidly after the international break.
He added: "It was a disappointing result. The manager was not happy at all with our performance. It was our first defeat of the season, it was hard to accept it and we want to bounce back as soon as possible.
"Collectively we are not happy to lose that kind of game. It is a direct opponent. When you lose you are not happy so it is normal to be angry and we cannot be satisfied.
"We understand his philosophy and it is about pressing high, being compact, but we didn’t do that against Tottenham. We need to get back to those main principles. The message is clear and we need to put it right on the pitch.
"We can do it. You can improve yourself. We weren’t ready to play this game, I don’t know why."
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Sarri has struggled to get the best out of N'Golo Kante this season, with new signing Jorginho playing in the holding role.
And the former Napoli boss insists his dynamic midfielder needs to adapt his approach.
He explained: "As you know I want to play a central midfielder with great technical ability, so Jorginho and Fabregas.
"I don’t want Kante in this position. Kante tried to solve the match on Saturday, but in the wrong way. He tried to be too attacking.
"Maybe it is a question of time. He needs to stay near to Jorginho."
Chelsea face PAOK in the Europa League tomorrow and will be desperate to rediscover their form and avoid another inquest.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri lays in to his players and says they have ‘a lot of problems’ after Spurs loss
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