Chelsea have struggled at times this season under their new manager Maurizio Sarri.

That much was evident on Wednesday evening when the Blues were completely humiliated by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

They went into the match as strong favourites, but were beaten 4-0 thanks to goals from Joshua King, David Brooks and Charlie Daniels. 

In truth, this isn't the first time that Chelsea have been embarrassed in the Premier League this term as they've already been beaten heavily by the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal. 

In the games against those two London rivals, the team have been criticised for simply giving up when they've fallen behind and even boss Sarri has questioned their mentality. 

That same theme was on show against Bournemouth and rather than fighting to get back into the game against a team that were 12th in the league before kick-off, players appeared to just give up.

STRUGGLING TO ADAPT

Chelsea's difficulties on the pitch don't just come down to the mentality of the players. Under Sarri, they've been tasked with learning tactics far different to those they were using last season. 

When the Italian coach arrived at Stamford Bridge, fans were excited to see 'Sarri-ball' in action after it was so successfully deployed by Napoli in Serie A. 

But after a rather underwhelming campaign so far, it's clear that Chelsea are far from mastering this new style of football. 

SARRI'S BRUTAL ASSESSMENT  

And following their latest defeat to Bournemouth, Sarri revealed just how much his team are struggling to adapt  - saying his players haven't even learned the basics of 'Sarri-ball' yet. 

"We are struggling, above all mentally. We had assumed that we learned a certain style of football, but the truth is we never did learn it and are paying the consequences," he told Sky Sport Italia, per the Daily Mail.  

"We haven't even learned the most basic moves yet. We need to work on the basics, the primary foundations of my football, and only then will we try to change a few things."

Clearly, Sarri is not happy with how poorly his team have adapted to playing his style of football and those good results early in the season were just papering the cracks. 

But, Chelsea are a club that has a history of sacking managers when things go wrong and if the situation doesn't improve, it will be Sarri, rather than his players, who pays the price.