After the match Sarri was asked what happened in the second half.
“I don’t know and the players don’t know what happened in the second half,” he said.
“I cannot explain it. We played the best first half in the season and we could have scored four or five and then suddenly we stopped playing.
It ends 2-0 to the hosts.#EVECHE pic.twitter.com/GG4ndYXRiS— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 17, 2019
“It’s very strange and we stopped to defend and counter attack.
“We were in control of the match and we played very well so we needed continue but we didn’t defend at the start of the second half. We changed the system but it was the same.
“The problem was mental on the pitch, so the system and the tactics are not important.
“It wasn’t about motivation because we started very well. We have to play eight matches now and we have to fight for our possibilities.”
The Chelsea head coach was left perplexed at the manner in which his team surrendered a position of strength at Goodison Park and disintegrated in the second 45 minutes, enabling the hosts to beat top six opposition for the first time in 26 attempts.
There was no sign of such an outcome during the first half, as Chelsea controlled the tempo, but the way in which they folded after Richarlison had opened the scoring left Sarri to openly question the mentality of his squad, who fluffed the opportunity to put pressure on their top-four rivals.