Whenever a manager is not in charge of the dressing room, his players become unwilling to play for him, they will prefer to lose matches, they will ignore manager’s tactical plan and they will try to fast-track the manager’s dismissal.
Sadly this appears to be Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri new situation with the club he barely seven months ago. It’s safe to say such experience shows the gaffer days are numbered.
The Italian manager joined the Blues in the summer and he brought new atmosphere and new playing style to Stamford Bridge. Things went on smoothly for the him in his early days with the team and the Blues faithfuls couldn’t help but heap praises on ‘Sarri-ball’ formation.
However, situation drastically changed to worst within a space of two months. First, his 12-match unbeaten run was halted by Tottenham who were 3-1 winners in November last year.
His players followed it up with many uninspiring performances which led to defeats to Wolves, Leicester City, and Arsenal.
It doesn’t just end there, Bournemouth and Manchester City added to Sarri’s woes as both clubs scored 10 goals against the Blues in the space of two weeks.
As much as the recent unimpressive run of results have dented Sarri’s hope of staying at Stamford Bridge beyond this season, the manager’s tactics had equally let him down.
Sarri surprisingly turned N’Golo Kante to a playmaker, which was his first and greatest mistake he made as the Blues boss.
He equally charged Eden Hazard not to hold onto the ball for too long which prevented the Belgian star from engaging in his usual dribbling and skillful display from the flank.
Sarri equally converted the Belgian playmaker to centre-forward, despite knowing quite well that the former Lille star is not prolific in front of goal.
All of these are responsible for the players’ inconsistency and unwillingness to grind out positive results in difficult situations.
Yesterday’s shameful act from Kepa Arrizabalaga further revealed the level of regard the players have for the former Napoli boss. The young goalkeeper supposed to leave the pitch after being substituted in the last minute of extra time but he surprisingly ignored his manager.
? – Have you EVER seen anything like it!?
Maurizio Sarri tries to substitute Kepa Arrizabalaga for Willy Caballero, but Kepa refuses to come off and Sarri is absolutely FURIOUS! ? pic.twitter.com/Q81v6ry3Kk
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 24, 2019
Kepa was furious with Sarri’s decision to sub him out of the game, therefore, he decided to remain on the field of play.
Although Sarri and Kepa jointly told reporters in their post-match conference that the incident was just three minutes confusion, you would agree with me that there are more to it.
It simply revealed the division and the gap existing between players and coaching crew which could stopped them from qualifying for next season’s Champions League competition if not properly attended to by the board.
Last night defeat to Manchester City means Sarri has lost his last four meetings against Premier League sides — Bournemouth, Manchester City (EPL) ; Manchester United (FA Cup) and City (Carabao Cup) — in all competitions.
The defeat also mean Pep Guardiola’s men have retained the trophy they won last season. It could also mean the end of Maurizio Sarri’s reign as Chelsea manager.