Chelsea news: It’s difficult to play Sarriball, admits Blues star Pedro

Modified Feb 14, 2019 09:33 GMT

Maurizio Sarr's tenure at Chelsea has come under the microscope — Maurizio Sarri's tenure at Chelsea has come under the microscope

What’s the story?

Chelsea forward Pedro Rodriguez has admitted that it is sometimes difficult to cope with manager Maurizio Sarri's high-intensity tactics.

In case you didn’t know…

Sarri arrived at Chelsea amid huge fanfare, but the Italian has found life a bit tougher in the last few weeks. The former Napoli manager has led the club to three losses in the last four Premier League games and has come under fire.

Also, the Blues’ 6-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City means the club now sit outside the top four places and risk missing out on the Champions League yet again.

Pedro has been a major feature in Sarri’s side, but the manager’s system has been less favourable to other players, with N’Gole Kante being forced to play in an advanced role in order to accommodate summer signing Jorginho.

The heart of the matter

Pedro insists the Chelsea players are behind their manager, but admits playing his high-pressing and possession-based style is very challenging.

The Spaniard said, as quoted by Goal:

"All the team follows the idea of Maurizio: press really high, stay compact, and to create chances. With good possession, a lot of the ball. We can do this as a team.

"But sometimes it's so difficult to play in this way. It depends upon the opponents. City played very well, so it was so difficult to press, to create between the lines and to defend.

"But it's Maurizio's idea, and I prefer to press high when we recover the ball to create chances, not to wait for 90 minutes to recover the ball and run 60 metres to score the goal.