Sarri wants Kante to stick to his position at the middle of park after having post-match talks with his players following the 3-1 defeat to Tottenham hotspur last weekend. Sarri’s 18 game unbeaten run came to an end last weekend as local rivals Tottenham edge the Blues 3-1 at Wembley stadium
N’Golo Kante was part of the post-match brawl between the media and the former Napoli trainer as several Pundit were of the opinion that deploying Kante on the right side of the midfield is affecting the team. The Frenchman who is arguably the best defensive midfielder on the planet has been deployed a position outside his preferred role which saw him winning the Premier League back to back. This is because of the presence of the arrival of playmaker Jorginho.
In an interview with the media ahead of Chelsea’s Europa league clash with Paok, Sarri said: “I want to play a centre midfielder who is very technical. For me, the centre midfielder is Jorginho or (Cesc) Fabregas.
“I don’t want Kante in this position. Kante in the last match wanted to solve the match after the first 15 minutes, but in the wrong way.
“He was lost in the position, he attacked the other penalty area too much. And I think it’s not one of the best characteristics of Kante. It was only a reaction to the difficulties (we were having).”
Sarri described Chelsea’s performance against Spurs as “a match without determination”.
He wants to see an immediate reaction to the defeat, against PAOK and in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Fulham, after discussing the Spurs performance with his players.
The Blues are already through to the Europa League last 32 and need a point to guarantee finishing top of Group L with one match to go.
“I had a meeting of five or 10 minutes with the individuals, individual meetings with the players,” Sarri said.
“The targets are very clear in my mind — in the short period, to win something. And in the long period, to become the best team in Europe. I want to see we learned our lessons.”