Ross Barkley has offered his support to Maurizio Sarri and says given time, the under-fire Chelsea boss will get it right.
Sarri’s possession-based style of play and 4-3-3 formation, plus his unwillingness to try a different approach, have attracted scrutiny and criticism, including from Chelsea supporters.
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But Barkley reckons, with time, Chelsea can fulfil their ambitions of a beautiful and successful game. Whether Sarri has time, only Roman Abramovich knows and the Chelsea owner is not renowned for his patience.
Pep Guardiola’s first season at Manchester City has been repeatedly used as an example of how patience can be rewarded.
But Guardiola had pedigree from Barcelona and Bayern Munich; former Empoli and Napoli boss Sarri is yet to win a trophy.
He can put that right against City in the Carabao Cup Final today, and Barkley says he needs to be given time.
“We’ve got ambition to be one of the best footballing sides in the world,” Barkley said. “We’re one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“The style of play the manager wants to play it’s not where it’s at right now. Over time it will come. “He (Sarri) tries to improve every player.
Throughout his career, you can see at Napoli how well he did with the players he had, how well he improved them.
“You can see on the training pitch a lot of things improving in each individual.
“We went through a bit of an up and down spell in the last couple of weeks, but we’re confident we’ll come through it and achieve success.”
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