Chelsea: World Cup ties will give Maurizio Sarri more issues with cliques

Future-maybe-sometime-eventually Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri will have issues exacerbated due to the World Cup match ups.

Chelsea has a clique problem. It has been growing for years but has now reached its peak. Assuming Maurizio Sarri actually signs for Chelsea, one of his first and biggest tasks will be to break up the cliques or at least diminish their power. Antonio Conte was brought in to do the same and failed to bring all the cliques under his banner.

The Portuguese speaking clique was the one that turned most against Conte and will be the most agitated when Sarri arrives. The Spanish, English, and French speaking cliques are all easier to get along with, but things could be very different after the summer.

The World Cup has reached its critical stage. By the time a team gets to the quarter finals, the dream is real. Any team can win it and the cup is within site. That is also what makes defeat all the more crushing. To fly so close to the sun only to see the wax on the wings melt away. Players should be professional and take nothing personally, but it is impossible that deep into the tournament.

That is where the true issue with the cliques will bite. The quarter finals have already guaranteed one Chelsea versus Chelsea matchup in Brazil and Belgium. On one side, Willian. On the other, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, and Michy Batshuayi. Regardless of who wins, there will be an animosity between the two sets of players.

Whoever returns to Chelsea will return to teammates that are equally jaded by the experience. Their closest friends and the club will jump on the same wagon. And then there is suddenly civil war in the dressing room.

From there, it can only get worse. Whoever wins between Belgium and Brazil could be facing France in the semifinal. That adds another layer with Olivier Giroud and N’Golo Kante. Both are part of the same clique as the Belgians but that could change very quickly after a hotly contested match.

Add in the possibility of a France/Belgium/Brazil versus England final. If England loses, how welcome will the players be when they return? Will the fans in the stadiums boo or cheer them?

Then there are the other teams. Will the Spanish speakers be jaded by their disappointing exit? Will Antonio Rudiger be a shadow of himself after his nation’s embarrassing failure?

These are all questions and issues Sarri will have to deal with. He will have little time to get the players on board with his tactics and style. Any infighting would be a distraction that would hurt the entire team.

Next: Chelsea deserves better than Thibaut Courtois and Willian

Many see a manager as only the man who sets the team up for matches. But they must also motivate and bond the squad together. That is the part the rest of the world never sees. How Sarri overcomes any tension in the dressing room with the cliques will be vital to his and Chelsea’s success.