Sarri confident Chelsea can iron out defensive flaws

LONDON: Maurizio Sarri’s fear of a slow start at Chelsea may have been unfounded but the head coach insists his side are still very much a work in progress.

Chelsea will travel to Newcastle on Sunday (today) aiming to make it three wins from as many Premier League games this season.

Having voiced concerns about how quickly his new players would adapt to his methods, Sarri’s problems right now appear to revolve around who to leave out of his line-up.

Nevertheless, he saw enough in the Community Shield defeat by Manchester City and last weekend’s narrow home victory against Arsenal to confirm him in the view that, defensively, there is still work to be done.

Against the Gunners, it took a late winner from left-back Marcos Alonso to secure a 3-2 victory after Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi had cancelled out Chelsea’s early two-goal lead.

And while Newcastle might not have the firepower to threaten the Blues in the way City and Arsenal did, Sarri knows his hopes of steering the club back into the top four will not be helped by a leaky back-line.

“I think that, in this moment, for a defender it’s more difficult to play in my team after only 20 days of training,” said Sarri.

“I am not worried about the defensive phase because, when I arrive at a new team, usually I have problems with the defensive phase for two or three months. So I think it’s normal for me.”