Chelsea reminders: Maurizio Sarri is not to blame for the circus at the club

It is human nature to look for someone to blame. But it is important to remember that Maurizio Sarri is not to blame for Chelsea’s current circus act.

Breakups are hard. Generally messier than they have any need to be, but hard regardless. It is often easy to look for things to blame, for people to blame.

Humans also have an easy time of taking the blame and anger towards one and putting it on another. It is simply human nature.

For example, Chelsea is trying to do something like that with the Diego Costa text gate scandal. The fallout from that, whether right or wrong, will be felt. And that has understandably made some angry at the treatment of Antonio Conte. A (somewhat ridiculously) short statement and Conte is gone.

The anger over it is now being directed by some towards Conte’s replacement, Maurizio Sarri. But it should be remembered that Sarri is an equal observer in this entire situation. Sarri is not to blame for Chelsea’s circus.

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For Sarri, this started back when he opted not to extend his Napoli contract. That is the only true action he has taken. He was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti while still being under contract due to Italian labor technicalities. All Sarri has done is wait silently.

Conte has as well. In fact, he still went about his work as if he would remain manager, knowing that he surely would not be. Conte did his job and waited for the ax to finally fall.

Both Conte and Sarri have done what they should have done. Neither is to blame for how long the Sarri deal took to complete. Neither is to blame for Chelsea and Napoli’s shady undercutting and constant realigning of the posts.

But it is more important to absolve Sarri at the moment. Conte, no matter what, is no longer Chelsea manager. No amount of anything is going to change that. Sarri is, and he should be free to start with a fresh slate. One separate from the circus of a club that Chelsea currently is presenting themselves as.

Fans can criticize the board and the handling of the Conte situation while still supporting Sarri’s success. They can also go after Sarri for when he fails, but it has to be kept separate from the saga that brought him to the club. A manager can only be judged on their own actions, not on the perceptions or actions of those around them.

Every Chelsea manager since Roman Abramovich has needed patience from fans and the board. Few have been given it. Sarri, perhaps more than any other manger, needs that line to build the style he is known for. Given time, he can be great. But that time will be fleeting if he starts in the negative to a section of the fan base.

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Now is the time for every Blues fan to back the manager. That does not mean accepting how the club acted. It merely means moving into a new era. One in which Chelsea, hopefully, finally figure out how to run themselves in an admirable way.