Gianfraco Zola has named the two players who struggled most during Maurizio Sarri's tenure as Chelsea boss.

Sarri, now manager of Juventus, was in charge at Stamford Bridge during the 2018/19 campaign in which he led the Blues to Europa League glory.

But his style of play drew criticism for being too slow in its build-up and prioritising attractive football over end product - and the season saw unrest from fans.

Sarri's regimented approach to coaching characterised his training sessions and his former assistant Zola admits that two of Chelsea's biggest stars were blunted creatively by the tactics they received.

Zola admits players "got bored" during Sarri's training sessions



Zola admits that boredom plagued Sarri's sessions as he continued to try and hammer home his style of play - only for this to fall on deaf ears.

He added: "At the beginning the players were very much behind everything that we were saying, they were brilliant.

Willian and Hazard were two of the players who "suffered" under Sarri's regime


"But boring is part of our job. Sometimes you need to get bored but when you get bored you persist in what you’re doing and you get better.

"I remember that when I was learning to play football, kicking a ball for example, I used to do it 300-400 times a day at least.


While Willian stayed at Stamford Bridge as Frank Lampard took over last summer, Hazard, Sarri and Zola all left Chelsea.

Hazard has struggled for form and fitness since his transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu, while Sarri has led Juventus to a slender lead at the top of Serie A.
