Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has revealed that the harrowing 6-0 defeat away to Manchester City was the moment that Maurizio Sarri knew he had to change his tactics.
Speaking after the 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday, as reported by The Times, the German defender discussed Chelsea’s recent upturn in form and the role their head coach had to play in it.
We can play both but it’s always trying to find the golden middle and that’s the difficult thing in life. I think everyone has adapted to new things — also the coach. In life, you need to adapt to things. This league is different to Italy.
You have to adjust a bit. You saw the way we played against Tottenham and Manchester City. It was different to the way we played in the first three months. Everyone needs to adapt, everyone needs to learn and it is good that it has happened in this moment.
The coach gives the tactics and the players follow. These are things the coaches need to analyse well, very well, and he decides if [the focus] is up the front or he can wait [defend].
Sarri had been under an increasing amount of pressure as Chelsea fans began to voice their frustration at the club’s style of play.
Despite dominating large spells of possession, Chelsea had been offering little threat in the final third. City took advantage and dismantled the Blues at relative ease at the Etihad.
There were calls for Sarri to be sacked but since then, the club have turned their form around, progressing in Europe and showing signs of improvement domestically, despite going out of the FA Cup against Manchester United.
