Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has told people to stop comparing Maurizio Sarri to his predecessor Antonio Conte.
While Conte was a fairly pragmatic manager, Chelsea have taken a totally different direction this season, employing Maurizio Sarri and his attack-minded ‘Sarri-ball’ tactics to take charge at Stamford Bridge this season.
Conte got off to a difficult start to life as Chelsea manager, but after a switch to a three-at-the-back system, ended up steering The Blues to the Premier League title in his first season in England.
Things didn’t go as smoothly in the Italian’s second season, and after months of speculation, he was finally relieved of his duties and replaced by his compatriot Maurizio Sarri.
Sarri has got off to the perfect start to life at Stamford Bridge, winning all three Premier League games so far, but despite the distinctly obvious differences between the two managers, defender Antonio Rudiger has insisted that they should not be compared:
“Stop comparing [Sarri and Conte],” he said. “We do a lot of possession and try to press high,” the German defender said ahead of Chelsea’s game against Bournemouth.
“The system is good for our attacking players because we mostly have the ball, but it’s normal that you lose it, so we need big players to come to the back and I think N’Golo [Kante] and [Mateo] Kovacic did very well.”
