Chelsea assistant manager Gianfranco Zola and defender David Luiz slammed Burnley’s tactics after the Premier League draw at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
The Blues failed to overtake Tottenham in the Premier League table after being held to a 2-2 draw by Burnley, who are now virtually safe from relegation.
N’Golo Kante cancelled out Jeff Hendrick’s early opener in west London, before Gonzalo Higuain put Chelsea in front with a superb strike.
Ashley Barnes levelled for Burnley, however, as Chelsea were unable to take advantage of Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester United all losing this weekend.
Speaking after the match, Luiz claimed Burnley’s tactics were ‘anti-football’, telling Sky Sports: ‘We tried everything to win the game.
‘It’s difficult when you play against a team who have two chances and score two goals and didn’t want to play the game.
‘It’s anti-football. Losing time [time wasting] all the time, especially when you have the ball. Their players went to the floor and stopped the game.
‘They were playing 11 inside the box. It’s difficult to score against a team like that.’
Chelsea assistant Zola, speaking to the press rather than Maurizio Sarri who was sent off towards the end of the match, was also critical of Burnley’s tactics.
He said: ‘We wanted to win. They didn’t want to lose.
‘We are unhappy. There was too much time wasting. Five minutes injury time wasn’t enough to compensate. We couldn’t build important rhythm.
‘We were hoping for something more. We are determined to fight until the end. This team are playing good football. We need to improve but we’re in a good way. We care as we showed today.
‘We expected it to be a tough game. We didn’t expect so much time wasting. We expected Kevin [Friend, referee] to give more extra time. That’s why we’re very unhappy.’
