Joao Pedro has made an honest admission about Chelsea replacing Enzo Maresca with Liam Rosenior in the middle of the season.
Chelsea have been known to change managers constantly over the years. When the ownership changed, many fans had hoped that it would come with some stability in the managerial hot seat. But that was not to be.
Thomas Tuchel, the club's Champions League-winning manager, was shown the exit door months later. Graham Potter was brought in but he was quite clearly not good enough. Frank Lampard had a poor interim stint until the end of the campaign.
Mauricio Pochettino had a decent run, proving instrumental in the rise of Cole Palmer, but he left after just one season at Stamford Bridge. Enzo Maresca was the first manager to bring silverware under the new ownership, but even that was not enough for him to last more than 18 months in the job.
By now, most Chelsea fans have decided that managers cannot last beyond a certain point in the structure that the new ownership has put in place, where the focus seems to be more on the player trading model than the results on the pitch. It is up to Liam Rosenior to prove them wrong.
Of course, the constant changing of managers must be frustrating for the players as well. Joao Pedro has made some interesting comments regarding this situation.
The Brazilian international said while speaking with Ge Globo: "It's a World Cup year, and with the arrival of a (new) coach there's always that apprehension, because I had been getting a lot of playing time under Maresca, and then there was the change of coach. And when Liam arrived, I think I was one of the first players to have a conversation with him, and one of the points I made to him was that it's a World Cup year, that I needed to play, because I represent the Brazilian national team, which is a team that has great players. And that I needed playing time.
"And he said that if he gave me playing time, I would respond on the field. He gave me a lot of confidence since he arrived, and we know how important playing time is, because in my position on the Brazilian national team there are many players who want to be there, including me. So the competition is fierce. But, thank God, everything is going well, I've been having a good run of games and doing what I can on the field. And it's been very well done, thank God."
Pedro seems to be playing some of his best football since the arrival of Rosenior. Under the Englishman's management this season, he has scored five goals and provided an assist in seven games.
Now, it remains to be seen if this newfound form proves to be sustainable or not. Pedro had started phenomenally after arriving in the summer as well, playing a starring role in the Club World Cup triumph. But he ended up struggling for goals from the start of September to mid-December, only scoring twice in the Premier League over that period of three-and-a-half months.
If Pedro wants to be the starting number 9 for Chelsea, he will need to score goals consistently. Considering how poor Liam Delap's output has been since his £30 million move from Ipswich Town, that spot is the Brazilian's to lose.