Chelsea reserves coach Steve Holland says he's enjoying his time at Stamford Bridge after facing former club Stoke City.

Stoke defeated Holland's squad 3-2 this week.

Holland told The Sentinel: "I still speak to the staff here at Stoke, so I know Louis has had one or two opportunities with the first team.

"It is terrific to see, because everyone in the academy at Stoke works really hard and it is great reward for them to see someone get close to the first team. The higher the level the first team gets to, the harder it is to produce players for them.

"Stoke have a similar problem to Chelsea in that respect, because the bar is continuously being raised. That means it gets harder and harder to get through."

Holland says he is loving life at Chelsea, where he has also had the chance to work with the first-team players.

The former Crewe manager said: "Last week, before our game with Bolton, I had John Terry, Nicolas Anelka and Ricardo Carvalho and John Obi Mikel.

"Every day is different and that is an exciting challenge.

"I also enjoy the reserve games. I missed that at Stoke.

"That's not a criticism of Stoke, because my job didn't involve taking a team that had games, but I didn't realise how much I missed it."