Maurizio Sarri has said that it is difficult to focus solely on tactics during training at Chelsea. He has also said that it is taking him longer to install his philosophy at Chelsea compared to Napoli due to the ‘English mentality’ which favours intensity over tactics. The Italian was granted a stay of execution with Wednesday’s win over Tottenham but there are still significant question marks over his future at Stamford Bridge, with a win over west London rivals Fulham required on Sunday. Some fans have questioned the manager’s dogged attachment to his ‘Sarri-ball’ style of play, and he admits the reticence towards working on tactics in the Premier League has been a problem.
Asked how long it will take Chelsea to get to the level he demands, Sarri told Sky Sports: ‘It’s impossible to answer. Sometimes three months is enough, sometimes you need one season or one-and-a-half seasons. I think that if you change country, if you change football, it’s longer. Now I am in the first season in England so I started to understand something, not everything at the moment, but something. So now I realise that here is longer, it’s more difficult.
‘The mentality is really different. For example, with an English player it is very easy to have a very good intensity during the training. But it’s very difficult to have a session only about tactics. In Italy it’s the opposite. It’s very easy to work in tactics, and it’s very difficult to have a great intensity during the training. It’s different. No worse, no better, just different.’
Probed further if Sarri-ball takes longer to establish with English players, Sarri added: ‘With English players but also with the other players, because we have a lot of players that are playing here for a long time so the mentality is an English mentality. I have to understand, and I think that I need also to have an English mentality.’