Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri is struggling to impose his style of play on the Turin side and his frustration came out into the open again after a poor performance in their Champions League defeat to Olympique Lyon on Wednesday.

In comments that could be viewed as refreshingly honest or a risky public criticism of his players, the chain-smoking 61-year-old said that his team were struggling to grasp the concept of passing the ball around quickly — a style dubbed “Sarri-ball” by his admirers.

“I am having a lot of difficulties in getting across the idea of moving the ball quickly to this team,” said an exasperated Sarri.

“In training, the ball moves around at 200 kilometres an hour but the strange thing is that doesn’t happen in matches. In training, we work twice as fast as we did on Wednesday,” he added after the 0-1 defeat in the round of 16 first leg.

Juventus have traditionally been a side who have won trophies without worrying about how they do it.

Sarri has complained several times before that the message is not getting across but Wednesday’s performance was particularly frustrating.

“In the first half, our passing was lacklustre and that was why we suffered,” he said. “The second half was better but not good enough for a Champions League match.”

Such constant public criticism is unusual as it could risk alienating either the players or the club leadership.

Inter coach Antonio Conte suggested earlier this season that Sarri’s complaints might ring hollow now he is in charge of the team with Serie A’s biggest spending power.