Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri says Jorginho needs more help from his team-mates, suggesting they are to blame for the midfielder’s dip in form.
Blues fans have grown frustrated with the former Napoli star, criticising his lack of mobility and creativity.
The £50million summer signing returned to form in Chelsea’s 5-0 demolition of Huddersfield on Saturday, however he is still yet to register an assist despite seeing more of the ball than any Premier League player this season.
Nonetheless, Sarri continues to back Jorginho, and insists his struggles are due to a lack of movement from those around him.
“Jorginho played very well,” Sarri said after the Huddersfield game.
“Jorginho needs movement without the ball from the other players because he is used to play one touch and it’s very difficult to play one touch without the movement of the other players.
“So the team in the first 25-30 minutes played very well, we have movements without the ball and for Jorginho it’s easier I think.
“We played our football because we moved the ball fast, very well. We didn’t play our backs to the opposing goal like in the last match but we attacked the spaces, so we played our football.”
Jorginho was replaced by Mateo Kovacic in the closing stages of the Huddersfield thrashing and Chelsea fans greeted the rare substitution with ironic cheers.
After the sale of Cesc Fabgregas, Sarri has previously admitted there is no-one who he can rotate into Jorginho’s position.
However, the Blues boss is eyeing up Kovacic, the Real Madrid loanee, as a potential cover for the Italian.
“Kovacic is really close to Jorginho in moving the ball very fast, one touch,” said Sarri. “In the future, he will be able to play this position well and Jorginho will be able to rest.”
Jorginho started the season in spectacular fashion, but opponents quickly began to target him in order to stifle Chelsea’s possession-based style of play.
Sarri’s over-reliance on the midfielder was exposed in the 3-0 defeat by Tottenham at Wembley back in November, when he was man-marked out of the game by Dele Alli.