Sarri will face a sterner test of his new-look side’s credentials when they host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in next Saturday’s London derby and he admits he is still some way from being able to implement the ‘Sarri-ball’ style of football that won him so many plaudits during his time at Napoli.
He said: ‘We have to improve to defend in the other half, to press against three defenders. We have to move the ball faster. We did it better in the second, there was more space and time.
‘It was a really hard for us. We were not ready to their situation, for us it was a problem. This team has not the experience against, maybe for the Naples it was not a problem. For Chelsea some players have only just arrived.
‘We are lucky now because we can work with one match a week. We have to improve in this month, then it might be difficult with the national teams. I hope in this month to improve the team.
‘The difference from the physical it is different. For the referees it is different. Maybe with an Italian referee maybe 15 more fouls than here.
‘I am very happy because in the first part of the season for us it is not easy to gain points. The first half was hard. If you look at the result you can think of an easy game.
‘We were in trouble for 15 minutes against a physical team, we are not a physical team. The best capacity was to suffer, but then I think the second half maybe they were tired.’