Chelsea winger Pedro Rodriguez has admitted that the players have found it difficult to implement Maurizio Sarri’s tactics on occasions this season.

‘Sarriball’ as it’s known requires high intensity as well as pressure on the ball, but the Spaniard said that they failed to get it right against Manchester City:

“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.”

“In the last few games, it’s not been in very good condition for the results. Now is a good opportunity tomorrow to win and get our best confidence.”

Chelsea face Malmo in the Europa League this evening with Sarri under intense pressure following the 6-0 drubbing by City on Sunday.

The Blues boss admitted that the squad had an hour-long post mortem on Monday to assess what went wrong at the Etihad Stadium.

Sarri believes that the problem was not tactical, despite pundits suggesting Pep Guardiola had out-thought the Italian to exploit the team’s weaknesses at the weekend.

The former Napoli head coach said the issue was a mental one that needed to be rectified:

“We were not able to react to the first difficulty during the match because, in the first four or five minutes, we started well. Then, after the first goal, we were not able to react. So the problem is different. But it’s always a mind problem, a mental problem, so we need to solve them.”

Anything other than a win against Malmo will magnify the focus on Sarri’s position as Chelsea manager. He will be hoping for a response from his players tonight.