Sarri: Why Chelsea players are having problems adjusting to Sarri-ball

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri admits his players are still adapting to his system.

Sarri has just led Chelsea to the Europa League final.

He told Sky Italia, “It’s not easy, because you run into some pretty strong cultural differences, in terms of mentality, food and doing things, so to a degree you have to show respect and adapt, which means cutting down on training sessions.

“English players are accustomed to playing continually. It’s a high level, it’s not so different a style of football from ours now, seeing as almost all the Coaches here are Italian, Spanish, French and German, so they are starting to play a more tactically-evolved style, but while maintaining the intensity and tempo of English football.

“It is on the one hand troubling to play so many games, but on the other, it does turn me on. I enjoy it, there’s a real adrenaline boost. Also, if some of these players have a week to rest, they play worse.

“On a purely tactical level, I am really disappointed that I haven’t been able to work on the defensive line as much, because tonight’s [Thursday] Eintracht goal was entirely avoidable.

“There are many players in England who are talented, but they like to hold the ball, so it takes a while to get them to move it quicker and pass it more often.

“They also have these forwards who have a very specific way of attacking and it’s difficult to get them to change their ways. They want the ball passed right to their feet and often go into one-on-one situations. At that point, it’s counter-productive to force them to go against their nature.

“Clearly, Chelsea have more individualistic players than ones who will follow a system like at Napoli.”