Giroud: Chelsea Becoming Predictable

By Nigel Phillips

Olivier Giroud believes Chelsea are becoming predictable under Maurizio Sarri, and says the players must ‘bring out something more’ if The Blues are to be dominant in the 2018/19 season.

Sarri replaced Antonio Conte this summer to set up the Stamford Bridge club on a five-game winning streak, with his trademark fast-paced possession-based style of attacking football called ‘Sarriball’ which features quick short passes designed to move the ball high up the pitch as quickly as possible.

The side’s winning run ended with a frustrating barren draw at West Ham on Sunday, and Giroud believes teams are beginning to see the antidotes to their style of play.

 “Sometimes we rushed our game and have not been patient, or maybe we did not put enough pace in our game. Now, our opponents are starting to know Chelsea well, so we need to bring something else. Maybe we need to give a bit more on the pitch as well.”

 “I always want to take this frustration to transform it into a positive thing for the next game. Now, we are going to look at what went wrong in this game. Even though we didn’t do so well, we could have won the game at the end of it.”

 “It’s disappointing and we lost two points – West Ham were happy with this draw. We have a big game at the weekend and we want to show our strength, our character. I’m not saying it’s a tactical problem. Sometimes, as players we have to recognise the best way to put them in difficulties.”

 “It’s a tough time, but this is when you see the men and we have to show stronger character and response in the next game."