Maurizio Sarri’s comments on Alvaro Morata could be harmful for Chelsea

Maurizio Sarri has proven to be a good, visionary manager. But his recent comments on Alvaro Morata could end up hurting Chelsea.

Maurizio Sarri has seen Chelsea win despite not looking fantastic or fully within his tactics. The Blues do seem to have caught the basics quickly, which is another credit to Sarri.

But some of his comments prove that his man management might be lacking. Letting the players have freedom and the ability to do as they please is not man management. Saying that Alvaro Morata is “a little bit fragile” mentally is frankly the last thing that should have been said.

Morata had one of his best games in recent memory against Crystal Palace and scored a brace. To then have the manager make those comments after the match is strange, unnecessary, and harmful.

Now, make no mistake; Morata is very much a confidence player. When he thinks too much or is low on confidence, he makes mistakes. And when he makes mistakes, the fans blast him and his confidence drops and more mistakes are made.

So when Morata does well, he should be praised because it will allow him to continue to do well. But Sarri may have just torpedoed that notion with his comments. Morata is simply not the type of player to respond to a criticism like that by playing even better. In fact, he is the type of player who will let this sit and bother him.

This is not the first time Sarri has made some sort of comment about a player that seemed like poor man management. Nearly every time Sarri is asked about a player not playing or wanting to leave, he says he has not spoken to them about it. Does Sarri only have a professional relationship with his team? Does he keep them at arm’s length?

What is more, imagine Antonio Conte had said this about Morata. In fact, Conte did say many things similar to these comments about players. And what happened next? Well he was blasted for slagging off his side. And the players usually shied from the challenge rather than rise to it.

Sarri will have a lot of leeway because the side has still not lost. But that leeway may quickly go away if he calls a player mentally fragile. It is one thing for the fans to do it, but another entirely for the manager to do it publicly.

Time will tell how Morata reacts to the comments. But historically, it seems like a truly awful thing to say about a player who just found his confidence and who quickly loses it. After all, if Morata can still be called fragile after a brace, what will he be called when he goes on a goal drought? How high does he have to reach to win Sarri’s trust without the need of a dig added in?

Sarri may be good at introducing his tactics and making adjustments in game, but the signs are slowly pointing towards his man management being poor to nonexistent. So long as the squad is winning, everyone will be happy. But if things start to slide, something might have to change to keep the team on his side.