Maurizio Sarri says he needs more time to implement his philosophy in the week his side were beaten 4-0 at Bournemouth.
The Chelsea boss even referred to Jurgen Klopp’s start at Liverpool as he tried to state his case in an extraordinary press conference today.
“I want to remember that Klopp in Liverpool was in the middle of the table, the situation is clear,” Sarri told reporters. “There are three teams above the other, in those the coach had five years, the other four and the other three. They were really patient and we need to work to change the mentality and go on.”
Sarri was highly critical of his players after they collapsed against Bournemouth, a result which saw them drop out of the big four. He also said that new signing Gonzalo Higuain needed to work on his fitness.
“At the moment he is not at the top physically because in 45 days he played few matches because of his back,” said Sarri. “He needs to improve as he can generate more than now. If he can improve physically then he will be useful for us immediately.”
When asked about the performances of Eden Hazard, which some have said have suffered from continued speculation linking him with Real Madrid, Sarri was diplomatic. He said: “I think that he is changing. He was used to play as an individual player, but now he has to play in a co-operative way.
“It is not easy for him as he became Hazard in another way. It is not easy but I can see now he is more available to play in this way. He is fantastic from the technical view and I think he can do more tactically. It is not easy to play in a striker with this team, we have a lot of individual players, like Hazard, Pedro, Willian, so it is not easy for the striker to move at the right time.”