Bosses should always hold the balance of power, not players

‘PLAYER POWER’ is back in the headlines following the fall-out over Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final and the exit of Leicester manager Claude Puel.

It’s really hard for me to comment on the Chelsea stuff because I don’t know if it was planned to bring on Willy Caballero for the penalties or whether Kepa was really suffering from cramp and that’s why they wanted to sub him at the end of extra-time.

If the plan was to bring Caballero on, then I think Kepa has put himself in front of the team. In that situation, as captain, I’d have had something to say.

It was a difficult situation for everyone, particularly the manager, Maurizio Sarri, but there was no better bounce back than beating Tottenham 2-0 on Wednesday, with Caballero in goal.

Obviously something wasn’t right and that is why Sarri picked Caballero on Wednesday night.

This sort of incident, happily, is very rare. There have been times in changing rooms when I’ve had to tell a player to shut up because of the way he’s been talking to the manager, but that hasn’t happened often.

People talk about powerful players but the manager should still hold the balance of power.

I’ve always thought that if I become a manager one day, I’d rather lose my job and stick to my beliefs than give in to player power. If any player — no matter if he is our best player — is not working for the team or training properly, then he would not play in my team.

I u n d e rs t a n d p l aye rs h av i n g a n influence — and the rumours are that this could have been a factor at Leicester — but is it more the case that the manager is not getting the best out of the players and they become ever more frustrated?

But I remember our former boss Slaven Bilic saying to me: “Once the box is open, it rarely closes — and it normally only ends one way.”