FA Cup 5th round
Chelsea fell at home 2-0 to Manchester United and concluded a disastrous week with 6-0 defeat at Manchester City. The series of bad result raised the question of coach Sarri and a possible layoff before the end of the season.
Chelsea are still in contention for the Champions League spots but confidence is at its lowest level now for the Blues. Coach Sarri comments on the bad back-to-back results.
‘I think with the result we were unlucky because in the first half we played better than the opponent and at the end of the first half it was 2-0.
‘In the second half it was really very difficult to play. They are a very physical team and defended low and compact. We played confusing football in the second half but in the first half we played well.
‘We need to be more aggressive and determined with situations in our box and the opposition box because the difference was there. We played 78 balls in the opposing box and United played only 16 in ours, but the result was 2-0, so that was the difference.
I think the situation with the players is very good in terms of our relationship but that’s not so important. What’s important is to play and get good results but my relationship with the players at the moment is good.
I can understand our fans because the result wasn’t good and we are out of the FA Cup, but I’m worried at the moment about our results.
Manchester United bounced back from a home loss against PSG as coach Solskjaer explains:
It’s massive [the response after PSG]. An absolutely massive result. We had some criticism after the game against PSG as we didn’t create a lot. Today was a tough, tough game and I have to say everyone, down to a ‘t’, did everything we asked of them.
The performance was fantastic, the tactics worked. Obviously we asked Ander and Paul, our midfielders, next to Nemanja to go a bit higher up and get into the box more often, with Marcus and Romelu wider. So we worked [on it] and the defending in the second half, when we had to, was fantastic. Chris has been out two months and just played one game and he was brilliant.
Chelsea They’ve got their way of playing, which is hard to play against. I thought, defensively, Juan did a fantastic job in between Jorginho and the two centre-backs. Defensively, we were absolutely perfect. With the ball, we could have done better and kept it more in the second half and controlled it but, then again, we kept a clean sheet.”
