Following the comfortable victory over PAOK Salonika, in the Europa League, on Thursday night, our boss, Maurizio Sarri, had a few words for the media.
The Italian speaking to BT Sport, and as reported by the BBC, continued to discuss his assessment of who he believes should occupy the holding spot in front of the back-four.
Ahead of the game, in his pre-match press conference, Sarri surprised everyone by publically blaming N’Golo Kante for the Tottenham defeat and implying that the French World Cup winner doesn’t have the technical ability to play the role currently occupied by Jorginho, despite the Frenchman being widely recognised as the best of his kind by his fellow professionals.
Against PAOK Salonika, Sarri chose to give Cesc Fabregas a rare start and had this to say about the Spaniard, whilst also having, what appears, to be another dig at Kante:
“Cesc Fabregas played very, very well, especially in the first half. I said that in the central position of the three midfielders I prefer a very technical player like Jorginho or Cesc but N’Golo Kante has never played with me in this position, he has always played on the right of centre, he can do very well in that position.”
Sarri’s opinions regarding Kante continue to perplex the Chelsea support, in our recent fixtures, against Everton and Tottenham, it appeared that the opposition had worked out how to nullify the threat and influence Jorginho brings to the game.
Now whether, Sarri will stick to his guns and play Kante out of position or adapt, in the near future, could, in my opinion, have an influence on how long the Italian remains in the Chelsea managerial hot-seat.