Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri admits he is 'always at risk' of losing his job

LONDON -- Maurizio Sarri insisted he accepts the fact that his job as Chelsea head coach is "always at risk" but reiterated that he will keep trying to implement his style of football at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea's shock 4-0 humiliation against Bournemouth on Wednesday intensified criticism of Sarri's methods, with many of the travelling supporters chanting "You don't know what you're doing" at the Italian during the match and a handful staying to confront him outside the Vitality Stadium as he left.

Sarri travelled back to London in a car rather than Chelsea's team bus in order to get home quickly to analyse the match, and revealed that he has slept for no more than "six or seven hours" across the two days since the Bournemouth loss as he agonised over what went wrong.

Four defeats in Chelsea's last 10 Premier League matches, coupled with reports of player disquiet at Sarri's training methods and tactics, have raised significant questions about whether the Italian will survive the season at Stamford Bridge.

But after pleading for patience from those inside and outside the club, Sarri admitted that he is well aware of the unforgiving nature of his industry.

"I think that my job is always at risk, and I love my job for this reason," he said. "I thrive on pressure. So I love my job for everything, but I know very well the rules. My job is always at risk. You can win against [Manchester] City, but after three days you are at risk."

When it was put to him that Chelsea's recent history suggests he will not be given the time he wants to get things right, Sarri replied: "It's not my problem. I want to remain the same man. If I am a dreamer, I am a dreamer.

"If I have fun with my football, I want to play my football. If I believe that the organisation in a team is everything, I cannot change my mind."

Asked if anything could conceivably change his mind about the way football should be played, he admitted: "I don't think so at the moment. I can change my mind in the future, I don't know. I changed in the past.

"But, at the moment, no. If I can change the mentality of these players, they are really very suitable for my football."

Sarri claimed after the Bournemouth loss that his players "haven't even learned the most basic moves" of his system and, while he remains devoted to refine things with his players at Cobham, he pointed out that Chelsea's relentless fixture schedule is not making his task any easier.

"First of all, here it's very difficult to have training," he explained. "Because it's impossible. We started to play every three days in August. In five months, we have only had one week without a match during the week, so it's very, very difficult to have training here.

"So it's very difficult to improve the single players, to improve the team. We are trying to work with videos, but it's a long way. We are trying to change something during training but we have little time.

"First of all we worked on how to build up the action. Now we are working on the last 30 metres. But the time is really little."

Sarri is expected to make minimal changes to his team from the Bournemouth defeat for Huddersfield Town's visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but Andreas Christensen could partner David Luiz in defence with Antonio Rudiger in danger of missing his first Premier League game of the season.

"We have only one [injury] problem, not a serious one, but I don't know if Rudiger will be able to play," Sarri said. "A little problem in his knee, so I have to speak with the doctor. The situation [on Thursday] was 50-50."