UNDER PRESSURE
AN MC FAR LANE EXAMINES THE STRUGGLES OF THE CHELSEA MANAGER TO WIN OVER THE DOUBTERS ...
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri
AFTER less than a season at the helm, things are starting to look increasingly bleak for Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri.
Despite a promising start in the Premier League, recently there has been a lifeless display at Arsenal (lost 2-0), a second-half capitulation at Bournemouth (lost 4-0) and a 6-0 drubbing at Manchester City.
Throw in a 2-0 FA Cup defeat against Manchester United and you can begin to understand why the knives are out for the 60-year-old Italian.
There are many problems that Sarri is facing, some completely of his own making. He publicly slated his side after the Arsenal game, saying his side lacked motivation. But isn’t that part of his job?
It seems like he wants a Napoli reunion with some of those he managed at his previous club. Maybe this reminds him of when he was at his happiest.
The problem was, he brought in Jorginho even though he already had a world-class player in the holding midfield role in N’Golo Kante. To try and deal with this dilemma, he has pushed Kante into an attacking midfielder role which he is clearly not comfortable with.
Playing world-class players out of position is something of a trend. When Sarri lost faith in forwards Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, he decided to play Chelsea’s crown-jewel Eden Hazard as a sole front-man.
In turn, Hazard, below, has started to look a frustrated figure. He is s not being allowed to thrive at play-making and going on n those intricate runs which he e is exceptional at.
This in itself pushes Hazard rd even further into the waiting g arms of Real Madrid in the summer.
Realising this was a big mistake, Sarri went against Chelsea’s recruitment policy and signed a striker on loan who is over 30. Argentine forward and close friend of Sarri’s from their days at Napoli, 31-year-old Gonzalo Higuain has been drafted in.
Yet Higuain’s confidence can hardly be sky-high. When Sarri last managed him, he scored 36 goals in a single season, which was the catalyst for his record transfer to Juventus. He found life at Juve somewhat harder, even though he still weighed in with a fair ratio of goals. He was then sent out to pasture on loan at (no longer title rivals) AC Milan for the first part of this season, seemingly to make way for Cristiano Ronaldo. He hardly set the San Siro on fire and is now tasked with becoming a fan-favourite at Stamford Bridge. However, when established top-class forwards move to Chelsea, they suffer the curse of the Bridge. Hernan Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres all arrived at Ch Chelsea to huge fanfare but left after enduring torrid spells in west London. Seeing a positive for Higuain, he hasn’t arrived with anywhere near the amount of expectation as those three. Looking back, the strikers that have become potent scorers and integral parts of the team have come in with less hype, players such as Didier Drogba and Diego Costa. Apathy could help you thrive, Gonzalo. All-told, Chelsea have probably the best midfield in the country depth-wise. Cesc Fabregas moved on in the latest window, but that still leaves behind Pedro, Willian, Kante, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley, Danny Drinkwater (remember him?) and, of course, Hazard.
With that midfield roster, it’s difficult for promising youngsters like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi to receive any game-time. When Hudson-Odoi has played, mainly in the cup competitions, as a wide forward or winger, he has looked extremely talented.
Seeing how teams within the Bundesliga nurture their youth, he must have been on cloud nine when Bayern Munich had such a firm interest in him in the January window, though Chelsea were having none of it.
Loftus-Cheek, 23, had to go to Crystal Palace on loan last season to get the game time he needed to break into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the World Cup.
You can understand why Hudson-Odoi, only 18, wants to show what he can do, especially when Chelsea are in need of a pick-me-up, but Sarri doesn’t seem inclined to give him minutes.
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. After Late Tackle went to press, Chelsea were due to play Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, they are still in the fight for a Champions League place and in the Europa League.
But the feeling remains that Sarri is skating on thin ice.