Maurizio Sarri believes Chelsea must improve in attack as they bid to secure Champions League qualification.
By Ed Elliot, Press Association Sport
March 16 2019 11:25 AM
Maurizio Sarri believes Chelsea must improve in attack as they bid to secure Champions League qualification.
Head coach Sarri feels his team have tightened up defensively during a five-match unbeaten run in all competitions which has dragged him back from the brink of dismissal.
But the Blues remain the lowest scoring of the Premier League’s top six clubs with 50 goals in 29 matches.
And, on the back of Thursday’s 5-0 Europa League thrashing of Dynamo Kiev, Sarri wants more consistency in up front.
“Sometimes we’ve played with very good quality in the offensive phase, and sometimes not,” he said.
“We started to defend in a very good way in the last month, I think.
“Now we need to start in the offensive phase to play every match with the same ideas.
“At the moment, we are not able to do this because, sometimes, we are without movement without the ball.
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“Sometimes we didn’t put the ball into the box very well, or attack the spaces behind the opponents’ back-line very well. We need to have consistency on this.”
Sarri faces a selection dilemma up front ahead of Sunday’s trip to Everton.
First-choice centre-forward Gonzalo Higuain missed the midweek trip to Kiev due to illness, with back-up Olivier Giroud continuing his fine form in Europe by scoring a hat-trick.
Argentinian Higuain is expected to be fit to return at Goodison Park, meaning Europa League top scorer Giroud could be back on the bench.
