Chelsea’s lack of rotation saps motivation from top and bottom of squad
By George Perry
Maurizio Sarri locked down his favoured XI early in the season, and now Chelsea’s squad have little reason to think anything they do – good or bad – will make a difference.
Five of Chelsea’s starters against MOL Vidi played in the 2018 World Cup. Of the remainder, two won the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship. Of the other four, one won the Champions League twice, La Liga twice, Serie A twice and the Club World Cup. That leaves Kepa Arrizabalaga, Emerson Palmieri and Davide Zappacosta as the only members of Thursday’s starting XI not to have anything greater than a domestic cup or youth trophy in their cabinet.
Small wonder the Blues looked unaroused against MOL Vidi in the group stage of the Europa League.
The Europa League group stages are more like the early rounds of the FA Cup than the group stage of the Champions League. There is no group of death in the Europa League. Teams like Chelsea are the exception in the group stage. MOL Vidi and PAOK are the norm. This is not entitlement, aloof superiority or resentment speaking. It’s simply accounting, both financial and football. The teams are scarcely comparable and the tournament has vastly different salience and expectations for each club. Like the FA Cup, the magic of these midweek nights is the obverse of the absurd mismatch. Sometimes it is magical. Sometimes football delivers moments of sublimity where none belongs. But then you learn Wayne Shaw ate that pie at the urging of a betting house, and your spirit ends up lower than before.
One of those trophy-less players kept MOL Vidi from having one of those magical moments. Kepa Arrizabalaga’s two full-stretch saves made it possible for Chelsea to extract three points from their one goal.
Being a goalkeeper comes with its own set of motivations. Even a mediocre goalkeeper in an unconsequential game is not at peace if the ball gets by him. A top goalkeeper has a zero-defect mentality at all times, because he knows how psychologically fragile his position is. Every goal feels like it could be the first in a cascade, so it is crucial never to let one in.
For the rest of Chelsea’s squad on Thursday, though, the game carried no such motivation. There was no particular glory on offer for defeating MOL Vidi. Dropping points against Vidi would not presage any collapse in subsequent ties against BATE or PAOK. A loss or draw would be a hiccup on their way to the knock-out round of the Europa League.
And none of the players had much of their Chelsea future riding on their performance. There was nothing Gary Cahill or Emerson Palmieri could do against MOL Vidi that would bring them into the starting XI against Southampton or Manchester United. Nor was there anything Pedro or Willian could do that would affect their standing below Eden Hazard and above Victor Moses in the depth chart. Same goes for Hazard and Moses, who both came on as substitutes.
Maurizio Sarri has barely changed his starting XI since opening day. His rotations for the Carabao Cup and Europa League reaffirm his best XI. He has given no indication that an appearance in one of the lesser tournaments is an opportunity to progress towards the Premier League XI.
As a result, Chelsea players fall into two camps: those for whom their position is a sinecure, and those for whom advancement potential is nil.
What would Willian and Callum Hudson-Odoi, David Luiz and Gary Cahill or Ethan Ampadu, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Pedro and Lucas Piazon have to do to switch places with each other? What could they do against opposition like MOL Vidi and PAOK to sway Maurizio Sarri’s decision for Premier League fixtures? Even if Davide Zappacosta or Emerson Palmieri could close the gap with Cesar Azpilicueta or Marcos Alonso, what difference would it make? And what real impact will it have if they fall even further behind?
Chelsea’s top players have a high threshold for “meeting the moment,” given the moments they have met in their respective careers. MOL Vidi on a Thursday night in October is not such a moment.
But for youth players, it would be among the biggest moments of their lives. They would treat it at a scale matching what they someday will hopefully experience in the Champions League finals, the World Cup or the closing stages of a domestic title race. MOL Vidi on a Thursday night in October would mean everything to them, and they would play accordingly.
It would have only a slightly less intense effect for players clawing their way back to the best XI. They may not have the romantic excitement of a teenager, but they would have the extra competitive fire that comes from wanting to get back to where you think you belong. A player who thinks “MOL Vidi today could mean Manchester United in two weeks” is a much more dangerous player than one whose calendar is written in permanent ink.
dark. Next. Player ratings: Kepa Arrizabalaga was Man of the Match - that's a problem
Maurizio Sarri has united the squad in many ways, but he has also divided them starkly into haves and have-nots. His players either have little to gain or little to lose. As a result, Chelsea almost lost a game that could have meant so much more.