Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Maurizio Sarri is right, and now he will pay

Chelsea set about embarrassing themselves against Arsenal with aplomb. Maurizio Sarri identified the only actual issue with the team, just as Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho did before him.

Maurizio Sarri will probably get fired now. That’s what happens to the ideological and intelligent men who choose to drink from the poisoned chalice at Stamford Bridge. That is what happens to men when they identify issues at Chelsea and seek out those responsible. When a manager speaks the obvious – that the players at Chelsea Football Club are one of the most ridiculous collections of undeserving, spoiled children the world has ever know – he is usually fired in short stead.

Sarri is right, and I am happy he identified the group as “hard to motivate.” It won’t do much for him. It certainly hasn’t a single predecessor of his. One can only hope Roman Abramovich is strapped in to Sarri’s system for the long haul because, from this point forward, it is going to be a lot of work. The entire thing needs to be rebuilt. I can only imagine it is going to get much worse before it gets any better.

The issues are ten (at least) fold. Let’s just assume for the sake of my Sunday that Chelsea actually have leaders in the locker room. You’ve already heard me say for years how Chelsea have been epically feckless in putting their faith in the unaccountable and ridiculous characters they have in the side. No need for that again. But those players – who we will call leaders just for today – have no long-term interest in the club

David Luiz is on an expiring contract. Willian will leave soon. Eden Hazard has carried on his romance with Real Madrid so publicly that Chelsea should be embarrassed and angry. Why haven’t they talked to UEFA about that the way they have cited Bayern Munich over Callum Hudson-Odoi?

Even the children want to leave. And the midfield, which was once such a point of strength, now resembles the sort of patchwork collection of fabric one can only assume would be made by a blind quilt maker.

I don’t even want to discuss the defense or the lack of it for the sake of keeping my breakfast inside my stomach.

Next.

It is a shame I became attached to Chelsea at a time when Gianfranco Zola, Marcel Desailly, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Carlo Cudicini were all playing. They led me to think it was a prerequisite for players to at least try, whether they were the presumed better side or not. I thought they would all play together every match, and focus on the football and the result rather than waiting to go home, misplace their Rolexes and cry to their WAGS about how the manager is at fault for their own idiocy.

This Chelsea side are as dislikable a group as I have seen in my time watching football. Most of the players need to be allowed to leave or be sold. Unfortunately, thanks to the club’s brainless recruitment and management, others who should stay will want to leave with them.

How has this train wreck been allowed to continue so long?

The good news is Chelsea have some true players in the team. Very few, but if the club can make some smart decisions moving forward they can turn things around. It won’t be easy and things will get worse before they improve. Chelsea do not appear good enough to make the Champions League. Not even close, actually.

Both Arsenal and Manchester United have as good or better squads than Chelsea. Arsenal have two strikers who Chelsea could only dream of. Manchester United simply have an unbelievably talented squad.

But Chelsea used to be able to compensate for not having the best squads. What made Chelsea into Chelsea was the never-say-die attitude, the fight for everything spirit and a defense as resilient as Troy. These were points of pride, badges of honor and the keys to overcoming teams with better players.

Maurizio Sarri has been correct many times this season. When he said the team lacked the soul provided by youth players he was entirely correct. It makes his treatment of Hudson-Odoi even more peculiar because it has cost the club a young genius. But in principle he was correct.

He was again right when he said this team is impossible to motivate. Forget motivation. It should just be torn apart. From this point forward, Chelsea should play the kids as much as possible. It’s not as if things have been going so well that they shouldn’t even try.

Then this summer, if Eden Hazard doesn’t commit to a record deal, the club must act decisively. His talent is undeniable, but at this point he’s infuriating. Chelsea can’t just go out and get another talent like that. This summer, though, should be the test of whether he’ll commit. If yes, great. If not, sell him and pretty much everybody else except N’Golo Kante, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Cesar Azpilicueta and start again.

Sarri has tied his reputation to the mast of a sinking ship. He should never have chosen to stick by the veterans whose only real experience is in treachery. If he was going to go down one way then it should have been with the youth players who would listen to him, learn his methods and commit their blood, sweat and tears to the club.

He should have been playing Hudson-Odoi, Ethan Ampadu, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Andreas Christensen this entire time. Would the results have been that different? Would the 0-0 draw in September to West Ham have changed so much if he played them instead of the usual cast? What about the draw with Everton and then the loss to Leicester? Maybe the 2-1 loss to Wolves would have gone differently! The results thus far have not been good enough to justify sticking by the old method.

No player loves their manager like a youth player given a chance. Chelsea will never break through to the next level without players who play for Sarri the way Ryan Giggs, the Nevilles, David Beckham and Paul Scholes did for Sir Alex Ferguson.  These players gave everything for Sir Alex because he raised them and he groomed them.

I cannot understand a manager who does not jump at the opportunity for the same thing, especially when he knows the result of the other side of things. He knows the veterans at Chelsea are as reliably spineless as a minor character in a Predator movie. Sarri is a smart man, but he made the wrong decisions early in the season and it is biting him now.

Chelsea had a golden opportunity and Sarri wasted it. It’s a shame above all else.

Maurizio Sarri may have surrendered his position already. It will be hard to recover over the rest of the season without having built up the necessary buffer from the chasing teams given who they are and the talent they possess.

One can only hope Roman Abramovich is committed enough to Maurizio Sarri to give him the time it will take to rebuild the club and team in his image. The other option is sticking with this current side. That is the most tragic one of all.