FEELING BLUE
Chelsea’s problems pile up
REGARDLESS of whether you think Maurizio Sarri is doing a good job as the head coach of Chelsea or not, I think the majority of genuine football fans felt sorry for the Italian when he became the latest victim of player power at the Carabao Cup final.
By refusing to be substituted ahead of the penalty shoot-out with Manchester City, his goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, very publicly showed him a lack of respect.
Willy Caballero was gloved up and ready to go, but the stand-off between manager and player made for very uncomfortable viewing for millions of football supporters. It was humiliating beyond belief for Sarri.
His goalkeeper’s defiance on the pitch was effectively saying that some of those Chelsea players actually believe that they are more powerful than their manager.
That is a dangerous way to go and player power has got way out of control in some high-profile dressing rooms.
Who do these players think they are? This game of ours is not about individuals. It is about the collective and winning or losing as a team.
Players are quite rightly paid handsomely because they are in the entertainment industry and as long as
we continue to purchase television subscriptions, merchandise and tickets, then that will always be the case, but they have to be professional with it.
Regardless if they dislike the coach or not they have to play when told to and come off when they are told to! Downing tools? That shouldn’t be in any professional’s vocabulary!
Imagine me or you not being bothered to do our work because we don’t particularly like our line manager or team leader? I don’t think we would last too long and nor should we.
If the respect between senior figures is undermined by one of their players/staff then what chance have you got? Now Chelsea face a major problem because it is obvious that Sarri isn’t particularly popular inside the dressing room and he looks on borrowed time anyhow. He probably won’t survive beyond the summer.
In contrast, Kepa cost a world record £71.6 million when signing from Athletic Bilbao in the summer. Now who do you think will go first? It should be Arrizabalaga for the good of our game. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the owner Roman Abramovich or chairman Bruce Buck actually transfer-listed the player and offloaded him in the summer because they actually wanted to get a grip on the player-power issue inside the Chelsea dressing room?
They won’t. They would lose too much money.
Sadly, Sarri going is the cheaper and easier option and players do tend to be forgiven far easier by supporters. You only have to remember the misdemeanours of Eric Cantona, Luis Suarez or Carlos Tevez in the past. If they come back and do the business, then the fans will quickly adore them, forgive and forget.
Afterwards, an emotional Sarri did his best to actually protect his player from what quickly became an avalanche of criticism heading in his direction. The Chelsea boss said ‘it was all a misunderstanding’ and that his goalkeeper had overruled him because ‘he was fit to continue’ for the penalties.
For me, the headstrong Arrizabalaga showed in those few minutes at Wembley what is going wrong with the modern game.
Some elite players have it in their heads, through the money they earn or what their agents tell them, that they are bigger or better than the manager or even the club itself. f.
It is incredibly wrong and we need it to swing back into the managers’ favour - but because owners continue to dismiss them at a drop of the hat, it isn’t going to happen.
The manager, ultimately, has to have that control or power over his players but it is swinging in the wrong direction. Some footballers are becoming way too chummy and influential with the owners.
You get a toxic few in your dressing room and as manager you are on death row. The manger will get paid up and everyone moves on… Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, Claude Puel, Claudio Ranieri… it doesn’t seem to matter who. Player power can kill anyone now.
Whoever is the next Chelsea manager faces a hefty rebuilding job because they have certainly fallen below par since Conte guided them to the Premier League title in 2017. Their recruitment drive over the last few years has not been good enough and that isn’t Sarri’s fault.
The club have signed players that have not been up to the required standard. Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater (whatever happened to him!), Davide Zappacosta, Emerson and even Ross Barkley have all flopped over the last few seasons.
Now Chelsea do still have some quality players with the likes of N’Golo Kante, Willian and, most notably, arguably the best player in the Premier League right now, Eden Hazard - but if the Belgium international departs for pastures new this summer (and who would blame him?) then they will find themselves even further behind the likes of the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and their London rivals, Arsenal and Spurs.
Chelsea are not as overly reliant on Abramovich’s millions as they once were, but if they want to be genuine contenders again then they will have to spend heavily and wisely in the future.
At present, they are appealing against a two transfer-window ban from signing players imposed by FIFA over their signings of foreign under-18 players.
That would be an absolute disaster and it already seems Abramovich’s love affair with this country is wavering over his visa issues.
Chelsea’s transfer window appeal could bide them some much-needed time in terms of buying players, but finding a replacement for Hazard, if he goes, will be a hard task. After all, they haven’t been able to find ones for John Terry and Frank Lampard yet.