UK Edition
I did not watch the World Cup – there is nothing I can learn from internationals, says Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri
Maurizio Sarri has said he did not watch a single World Cup match this summer because he does not believe there is anything to learn from international football.
The Chelsea head coach said he does not have any interest in the international game, adding that “every coach” shares his view but simply does not express it publicly.
Sarri also said that he thinks that his Chelsea side would beat England, saying that national sides would lose “every match” to the best club teams.
Sarri had again expressed his distaste for the use of a video assistant referee (VAR) when he was asked whether the success of the system during the World Cup showed it can be beneficial when used correctly.
“I didn’t see anything in the World Cup,” Sarri said. “I didn’t see a match in the World Cup. I don’t like the national team because there isn’t anything to learn. It is a usual position, every coach thinks like me. It is unusual to say it.
“It is impossible to arrange a team very well in 30 days. Every team in the World Cup will lose against the top-level club teams in every match. I think that is normal because in a club you have time to organise a team, but in the national team you have no time so it is very difficult to see an organised team in the Euros or World Cup.”
Asked if his Chelsea side, who face Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, would beat England, Sarri said: “I think so. Why not? Because I think our level is not less than the England national team.”
The Italian added that he has no intention of managing an international side in his career. “When I am tired and older than now, maybe I will change my mind,” he said. “But at the moment, no.”
Sarri, who was sporting a new buzz-cut following Chelsea’s defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final, also revealed that he shaves his head whenever his team loses. “For five years I have been doing that,” he said. “In the last three years in Naples [with Napoli] we lost 12 matches in three years.”
Chelsea face Newcastle looking to score their first home league goal since Dec 8, when they beat Manchester City in one of their finest performances under Sarri. They have since lost to Leicester City at home and drawn with Southampton, and the club has not gone three home games without a goal since November 1993.
Álvaro Morata, who will be allowed to leave Stamford Bridge if Chelsea can sign a replacement, is an injury doubt after missing the Spurs defeat with a minor hamstring problem.