Kalidou Koulibaly knows his "time will come" under Graham Potter at Chelsea, while the centre-back admitted he misses his former club Napoli despite choosing to leave.
The Senegal international ended an eight-year stay in Naples as he moved to Stamford Bridge in July for a reported £33.8million (€40m), signing a four-year contract with the Premier League side.
Thomas Tuchel, backed heavily in the transfer market by new owner Todd Boehly, was the man to sign Koulibaly before the Chelsea chairman dismissed the German and brought in Potter.
Koulibaly has been overlooked for the first two games of Potter's tenure, but the 31-year-old remains confident he will soon get his chance.
"It's true I haven't played yet with the new manager, but I'm easy, I know my time will come," Koulibaly told reporters.
"We have a lot of games and I will give everything in training. I am a big worker and when I don't play, I like to put all my energy into my work.
"At the moment, I am working good and trying to give my best in training to show him he can use me on the pitch and play my first game for him."
While the former Napoli defender remains patient for his chance to impress, Koulibaly acknowledged he misses life in Italy.
"I expected this. It is hard to move eight years of my life to come to London. I know that I have reached a big club, one of the best clubs in the world, so everything is hard," he continued.
"I do miss Napoli and Naples but it was my choice. I wanted to come here to London, I wanted to come and join this club, one of the best in the world.
"We knew it would be difficult, everybody says so. Even some of the best coaches in the world said so because everyone knows that to go from Italy to England is difficult.
"But I was ready to take on this challenge. At the moment, we are going through a process that is normal and I am working very hard. I like it here and I'm very happy to be there.
"But we all have to work. I think my time will come. I am easy, I know that it's a normal process. So I have to keep on working, stay passionate and my time will come."
Koulibaly will hope to get a chance in Potter's starting XI when Chelsea host Milan on Wednesday, the Blues aiming for their first win at their third attempt in Champions League Group E.
"I think today the most important thing is that Chelsea have to win the game tomorrow because I know we didn't start well in the Champions League with a defeat and draw," he added.
"I am not worried about anything, I just want Chelsea to win the games as we did at the weekend.
"We showed a lot of good things this weekend and I am really happy for the team and everybody because we have a good team spirit and it's difficult when you change a manager.
"But you see this team is going up and up and I hope that tomorrow we will show a lot of good things to win the game."
I owed it to the fans – Jack McKenzie relieved after clinching goal
Jack MacKenzie put his clinching goal in Aberdeen’s stunning 3-1 win at Ibrox on Saturday down to payback for his European error in Germany.
The 23-year-old Dons defender made sure of the three cinch Premiership points against Rangers on Saturday with a drive in the 86th minute which sent the travelling Red Army into raptures.
The Pittodrie side led with goals from centre-back Stefan Gartenmann and midfielder Jamie McGrath before Abdallah Sima reduced the deficit after Gers half-time substitute Scott Wright was sent off for picking up a second yellow card for a foul on Gartenmann.
It was a first start for MacKenzie since conceding an early penalty in the 2-1 Europa Conference League defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany and he was delighted to make such a telling contribution in Govan.
He told RedTV: “Looking last week at Frankfurt, and I switched off for one second and you get punished. It’s a penalty and we are 1-0 down in eight minutes.
“So I felt I kind of let the boys and supporters down a wee bit.
“When I found that I was playing (against Rangers) I needed to owe them something.
“I didn’t think I was going to score in a 3-1 win, mind you, but I just felt I couldn’t let anything down my side and defend against a really good player in James Tavernier for the whole game.
“I need to be on it and thankfully I was but the whole back five was outstanding and they have been for the last couple of games.
“I’ve been at the club since I’m nine years old so I know that these victories just don’t come around often. So to get a convincing win is really pleasing for everyone.
“It was probably relief because when we went 2-0 up and they went down to 10 men, you felt as though the game was there for us and then to concede the goal, it was, ‘here we go’.
“So to get the third goal and get that two-goal lead restored was just a big relief, to be honest.”
After three wins in a row, Barry Robson’s side turn their attention back to Europe and the Europa Conference League game against HJK Helsinki at Pittodrie on Thursday night.
MacKenzie said: “Obviously we know the situation in the group so we know we need a positive result at home.
“The boys will be feeling confident but we won’t be complacent at all.”
Ali Al-Hamadi’s goalscoring ability was never doubted by Johnnie Jackson
Johnnie Jackson never doubted the goalscoring capabilities of Ali Al-Hamadi, whose impressive hat-trick proved decisive in AFC Wimbledon’s 4-1 win over Tranmere.
The Iraqi international bagged his first career treble, leading the charge as AFC Wimbledon came from behind to pick up their first home win of the Sky Bet League Two season and move into the play-off places.
Prior to Saturday’s contest, Al-Hamadi had found trouble converting his chances and his goal tally for the season sat at just one.
However, Jackson insisted that it was an inevitability that the 21-year-old would find his shooting boots for Wimbledon.
Jackson said: “I always said it was coming, but no one said it more than him.
“No one here was worried about him scoring goals because you’re seeing how well he’s playing, seeing how many chances we’re creating for him as a team, how many he’s creating for himself by his own devilment.
“We knew they’d come for him. It’s ironic how in one week you get one, and then the next week you go and get your hat-trick.
“Delight for Ali, it’ll do him the world of good.”
For Tranmere manager Nigel Adkins, the heroics of Al-Hamadi only brought frustration as his side’s wait for a point on the road this season continues.
Rovers had snatched an early lead through Connor Jennings, but after Armani Little brought AFC Wimbledon level, it all went wrong for the visitors.
Defeat leaves Tranmere in the relegation zone, where they started the day, having won only two of their first 10 games this season.
However, Adkins has nonetheless found encouragement by the start his team made to the game.
He said: “We started both halves really, really well. The first half especially.
“Our intensity, our passing, our movement, our identity, our understanding of what we wanted. For the first 20 minutes, it was spot on.
“And then goals changed the complexion of the game.”
A key moment of the game came eight minutes after the interval, when Josh Turnbull saw red after a rash challenge on Isaac Ogundere.
The challenge was right under the nose of Adkins, who understood referee Daniel Middleton’s decision to dismiss Turnbull.
“It’s a thunderous challenge going in, committed,” Adkins added.
“We want committed challenges going in, but I think in the climate of today, maybe a follow through is just enough [to be a red card].
“It’s a fraction harsh, but the referee had a decision to make and we went down to 10 men.”
Scott Lindsey not taken by surprise as Crawley’s stunning start continues
Crawley boss Scott Lindsey is not surprised his side are up to second in League Two after they beat rock-bottom Sutton 3-0.
After suffering their worst campaign since promotion to the EFL last season, there has been a transformation at the Broadfield Stadium and the Reds are now boasting their best start since coming up in 2011.
An early goal from Adam Campbell sent the hosts on their way and Laurence Maguire and Danilo Orsi added further goals in the second half as Crawley recorded a fourth straight league win.
“We expect good results because of the work we put in,” Lindsey said.
“Within the group, we felt we could do what we’ve done.
“We feel we will always score goals but we do need to be stingier at the back.
“This was our first clean sheet since the opening day and we have spoken about us needing around 20 over the season so we need to do better.
“We know that football can kick you in the teeth.
“So we must remain professional and I will not allow us to get complacent.”
Sutton manager Matt Gray felt the turning point of the game arrived when Crawley added their second goal from a free-kick which he was convinced should have gone the way of his bottom-of-the-table side.
“I’m not happy with that as it was a blatant free-kick to us,” Gray said.
“But we should have taken one of our many chances to go in level or ahead at half-time.”
Sutton, who lost keeper Dean Bouzanis to a hip injury shortly after the break, have now lost eight of their last nine league games, but Gray is convinced results will soon turn.
He added: “Over the last two weeks I’ve been pleased with the performances and I was in parts today.
“A little bit of fortune would be nice. A couple of decisions going for us, and a bit of rub of the green will help turn it.
“I was disappointed with the second goal today, our disallowed goals and the penalty shouts.
“We need to make sure we get that result and we can kick on from there.”
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