Maurizio Sarri has confirmed he held crisis talks with his Chelsea players following their record 6-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The Chelsea coach is under pressure to keep his job after the club’s worst ever defeat in the Premier League and heaviest for 28 years at Etihad Stadium.
Chelsea have had little time to dwell on the humiliation as they take on Malmo in the last 32 of the Europa League in Sweden on Thursday night.
But Sarri said: “We talked all together for one hour the day after the match. I think that it's better to work. Better to react on the pitch.
“In my opinion, the last game was not a problem of motivation. We were not able to react to the first difficulty during the match because, in the first four or five minutes, we started well. Then, after the first goal, we were not able to react.
"So the problem is different. But it's always a mind problem, a mental problem, so we need to solve them.
“How have the last few days been? Not too easy, of course. But I think, after a match like in Manchester City, it's normal. It's not easy to play tomorrow after a 6-0, but we have to play and we have to play well.
“We want to win. We know that it will be not really very easy because we have to play against a very good team, I think. They are compact, they are solid. They have usually a very good defensive phase, so it won't be easy. But we want to win and react immediately.”
Chairman Bruce Buck significantly listened into Sarri’s pre-match press conference at Malmo Stadion. While the supremo has been seen at debriefs with the media post match at Stamford Bridge, it is unusual for him to attend anything ahead of games.
Sarri admitted after the Manchester City loss that he rarely talks to owner Roman Abramovich and that hasn’t changed over the past few days.
In Pictures | Man City vs Chelsea | 10/02/2019
When asked, he said: “No, not in this week. It depends on the president, I think.”
After being pressed on whether they’ve spoken at all since he was appointed last July, he added: “Yes of course. Not in this week. Not in the last three weeks.
“Is it a problem? No, I'd like to speak to somebody at the club, not necessarily with the owner. I usually speak with (director) Marina (Granovskaia) and that is enough.”
Chelsea will be without Marcos Alonso (rested) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (back) for the first-leg encounter against the Swedish outfit.
