Chelsea coach, Maurizio Sarri has lambasted his players for their performance in the 2-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The Italian was livid at the end of the match because his team could not react to going behind early in the match when Lacazette opened the scoring for Arsenal in the 14th minute.
“I’m really angry about the approach that we adopted today,” Sarri said.
“It’s an approach we can’t really accept.”
In a remarkable news conference after the defeat, Sarri said he wanted to speak in his native Italian rather than English “because I want to send a message to my players and I want my message to be very clear”.
“I have to say I’m extremely angry, very angry indeed,” said Sarri, who took over as Chelsea manager at the start of the season. “This defeat was due to our mentality, more than anything else.
“This is something I can’t accept.
“This group of players are extremely difficult to motivate.”
‘This is not a team known for its battling qualities’
“This is not a team that is going to be well known for its battling qualities but we need to become a team that is capable of adapting, possibly suffering for 10 or 15 minutes then playing our own football,” Sarri said.
“You can find yourself in difficulties from time to time, but we need to react to those difficulties a lot better than we did today.
“Today we didn’t play our own football.”
“You have to influence them, it could be about a new player coming in or one of the old heads taking control,” he said.
“I don’t think a player at this level can’t be afraid to face up to their responsibilities.
“The best thing that can happen is that the players and I talk very openly about what happens.
“I am the person responsible for the players and it is important for them to have the attitude, and if they can’t then maybe they shouldn’t be playing at this level.”