Can’t see why critics are quick to stick it to Sarri, but give Unai an easy ride
DOUBLE standards never look pretty, and I cannot understand why Maurizio Sarri is allegedly fighting to save his job while Unai Emery is safe at Arsenal.
Both have done well, improved their clubs’ fortunes this season and neither should be in danger.
Sarri has guided Chelsea to two cup finals, and back into the Champions League mainstream by finishing third, in his first season at Stamford Bridge.
But if you listen to all the speculation, which I find disrespectful, he is likely to be gone after Wednesday’s Europa League final against the Gunners in faraway Baku.
Emery does not appear to be at any risk – even though Arsenal must win in Azerbaijan to get back in the Champions League after finishing fifth in the Premier League table.
Everybody else seems to be piling in on Sarri’s fate, and whether Frank Lampard should replace him at Chelsea next season, so I might as well have my say.
First and foremost, I think Sarri has done a good job.
His football has not always been free-flowing, to say the least, but the stats say he picked up more league points and got better results in Europe than his predecessor Antonio Conte last season.
To finish in the top four and reach two finals is no mean feat, especially when he was appointed late last summer. But if Chelsea turn to Lampard – and he is odds-on with the bookies to take over – I have to say he would be the ideal appointment.
Unless FIFA’s two-window transfer ban is overturned, whoever is in charge of the Blues next season is likely to be without Eden Hazard, who looks certain to leave for Real Madrid, and developing the crop of young talent among 42 players the club sent out on loan this season.
At Derby, Lampard has already helped Mason Mount to develop from an on-loan starlet into an England squad player, and the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Derby’s player of the year, have gained valuable first-team experience.
If Sarri goes – and I repeat, I hope he doesn’t – and the transfer ban remains in place, Lamps would be the best man to lead Chelsea through the maze. The club’s model is to hire and fire managers, win trophies and pay out big compensation whenever owner Roman Abramovich decides a changing of the guard is necessary. So far, he has paid out an estimated £92million to coaches and staff he has let go.
But Lampard is so loved by the fans, and so admired by Abramovich, that he might be allowed one season to lay the foundations of a new-look team.
He might even be forgiven a midtable finish. For me, it’s not a question of whether Lampard will go back to Chelsea as manager one day: It’s only a matter of time.
He has already proved, in one season at Derby, that he is cut out to be a manager – as many of us suspected all along.
When the going was rough, he instilled belief and desire in his players.
And his assistant Jody
Morris, who previously worked with
Chelsea’s youth team, would be another key asset. Those will be crucial components if Lampard has to operate under a transfer ban, which would leave Chelsea in a different predicament to Tottenham, who have reached the Champions League final despite not spending a penny in the last two transfer windows.
The difference is that Mauricio Pochettino had already established a team in his own identity at Spurs. The jigsaw was already complete.
As for Emery, whose job – quite rightly – has not been under intense scrutiny, the Europa League final could be a turning point for Arsenal. They have won four and drawn three of their last eight meetings with Chelsea, including beating them in the FA Cup Final two years ago, but defeat in Baku would leave them outside the Champions League elite.
If following Arsene Wenger at the Emirates was as hard an act to follow as Sir Alex Ferguson was a at Manchester United, Emery has done OK. Where David Moyes finished seventh and reached the Champions League quarter-finals as Fergie’s successor, Emery finished fifth and has a chance to win a trophy.
I hope Emery plays both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang up front as twin strikers on Wednesday night. They were unplayable at times in both legs against Valencia in the semi-final. But I cannot understand the two-speed conversation around the jobs done by Sarri and Emery. I might be adding fuel to the fire with this column, but I find the speculation around Sarri distasteful and disrespectful.