Players must not escape blame for growing crisis
Focus is on Chelsea’s manager but squad need to accept responsibility for lack of leadership
As David Luiz stood in conversation with Marcos Alonso during a stoppage in play shortly after Manchester United’s first goal, it was clear the Chelsea blame game was already well under way.
Chelsea fans later revolted against head coach Maurizio Sarri, singing “f--- Sarri-ball” and chanting the name of former midfielder Frank Lampard. But the players cannot be allowed to get off the hook. There was head shaking, shrugging of shoulders and there were outstretched arms, as Luiz and Alonso appeared to debate just who was at fault for Ander Herrera’s opener.
Minutes later, Luiz had his arms outstretched asking how United had been allowed to double their lead on the stroke of half-time.
This group of Chelsea players might keep trying to tell us they are not an impossible group to pull together, but it is increasingly clear they cannot manage themselves.
John Terry was in the Chelsea media lounge before the game and he must have been among those wondering where the Stamford Bridge leaders have gone.
The ones who do like to make themselves heard prefer to point the finger elsewhere, to find an alibi. It is not easy to find anybody eager to take responsibility. One must wonder how many of the players who started against United genuinely worry about Chelsea’s plight. Eden Hazard is desperate to join Real Madrid, Luiz’s contract runs out at the end of the season and Pedro has just over a year left on his. Mateo Kovacic and Gonzalo Higuain are on loan at Stamford Bridge, so there were only six starting players whose futures are completely invested in the club.
Even when Sarri looked to the substitutes’ bench, his first change was to send on Willian – another player with just over a year left on his current deal.
Of course, those who may leave or go back to their parent clubs have a professional pride but there is little or no consequence for them if Chelsea fail and Sarri is sacked.
Sarri will be the man who pays the price, but too many players are letting the club down.
There was not a midfielder in blue to be seen as Herrera broke unchallenged into the penalty area to head in Paul Pogba’s cross and captain Cesar Azpilicueta was caught horribly out of position.
Alonso might have been the man
It is increasingly clear that this Chelsea squad cannot manage themselves
Herrera ghosted in front of at the end of the Manchester United move, but there was so much more wrong than just the Spaniard’s defending.
When Sarri needed his team to respond and show they could take matters into their own hands, they once again went missing just before the break.
Pogba went untracked as he broke from midfield, played the ball out to Marcus Rashford and continued his run into the area. Luiz was pulled out of position towards Rashford and when the cross went in Pogba had a relatively easy task.
The Chelsea dressing-room, led by Terry, Lampard and Didier Drogba, used to pull itself together after every implosion but that era has long gone.
Hazard is trying to do too much on his own and is showing his frustration every time his oncefruitful partnership with Alonso breaks down.
Under former head coach Antonio Conte, the pair were virtually unstoppable down the left but Hazard and Alonso barely seem to recognise each other any more.
Hazard almost got Chelsea back into the game with some individual brilliance just after the hour mark and there was a greater urgency about the home side’s play in the second half.
But standards are falling and no player better embodies that than Alonso, who Sarri claimed in September could be one of the best left-backs in the world.
His form and confidence have plummeted to such an extent that Alonso is now seen as the club’s weak link, the man opponents can bully and take advantage of.
But this crisis is much bigger than one man and the blame extends far and wide.