Once they get two up it’s very difficult
Burnley have fallen to a 4-0 defeat at home against an impressive Chelsea team to give Maurizio Sarri all three points on his first visit to Turf Moor as a manager.
Asked if it was their best performance of the season, Sarri said: “I don’t know. We were in trouble the first ten minutes. They started very well, very aggressively. They pressed in our half. We were in trouble.
“Then we started to move the ball very well, very fast. The advantage was only a consequence of that. We managed the second half better than in other matches. We defended better than in the last three matches, apart from the first ten minutes. We were able to cover the men who had the ball in the other half. So, very good, very good.”
“Once they got their noses in front it became very difficult. Even with the confident mood they are in, they grow even more from that and that’s how goals affect games. We were staying in the game but once they get two up it’s very difficult against sides with such quality.
“They’ve got pace, they’ve got power and they can mix the game up with some very high-quality players who cost bundles and bundles of money.
“You need everything to go your way against these teams; a good performance, them to have a quiet one and the decisions. If they don’t and it’s a level playing field and you both play well, the chances are they beat you because of their quality.
“You don’t invest hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds and not get something back. Then, to cap it off, they bring two World Cup winners off the bench – and that’s a big gap to where we are. You have to reflect on the quality of the division sometimes and these sides are the anomalies in the league as far as clubs like us are concerned.”
He added: “The way we’ve tried to take on these games is to open up and play, because over a season you have to keep trying that. Today, we could have sat back and literally gone nowhere, but the chances are you still get beat doing that. You might as well learn something from it and the thing I learned is we were progressive at times, particularly early in the game.
“But eventually, their technical quality and power wins the day and sometimes you have to hold your hands up to that.”
There were positives though, they came in first home games for both Robbie Brady and Steven Defour since November 2017 and January this year respectively.
The manager said: “It was great to see Robbie out there and getting ninety minutes, which wasn’t part of the plan. We were hoping he might get seventy, but with Jack going off injured with a rolled ankle he had to stay out there and he will benefit form that and get stronger.
“Also, Steven got his first full ninety, so we are pleased with that because the more fit people we have, the better the competition for places.”
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