Chelsea: Maurizio Sarri may come to regret losing his locker room leaders

Maurizio Sarri paid lip service to Gary Cahill’s off-the-pitch contributions to Chelsea FC in the course of effectively ending the centre-back’s time at Stamford Bridge. Sarri should consider the old rule not to discard something until you have its replacement.

Maurizio Sarri’s reputation for being the arm-around-the-shoulder manager who wants everybody to have fun with his style of football belies a certain ruthlessness. He shares his fun football and smoky laughs with a very small coterie of players. Fourteen players on the weekends, and 6-8 more midweek, if we want to approach exactitude. Those midweek chums only get a fraction of Sarri’s warmth, while everyone else is ignored until they get the hint and leave or resign themselves to being the backup training squad for the reserves.

Chelsea knew when they hired Sarri – or at least they should have known, since we figured it out in 30 minutes on TransferMarkt – that the Italian keeps a small squad of highly-trusted players. Whether Sarri knew it or not, applying this philosophy to the factionally-charged Chelsea locker room means he will be surrounded by a tight band of loyal followers… until he is not.

This is the danger that lies ahead of Maurizio Sarri. He is not only walking towards it. He is actively setting the conditions for his eventual demise.

The last month has produced two startling examples of player power wielded against Chelsea’s ex-managers. First is the ongoing battle between Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba. Mourinho undoubtedly has a specific distaste for Pogba. But at least in Mourinho’s mind, Pogba is simply the flashpoint for the broader disputes between Mourinho, the club’s management, his players and their agents.

The second captured far fewer headlines. I only learned about it yesterday from my colleague Scott Brant, even though it happened last month. Real Madrid’s contribution to the sewers of football personalities, Sergio Ramos, apparently had a hand in the club opting not to hire Antonio Conte to replace Julen Lopetegui.

Employing the same mature, professional, passive-aggressiveness he showed when he tapped Mohamed Salah’s shoulder at a football awards ceremony (or of an undergraduate posting a meme on tumblr), Ramos said “Respect is earned, not imposed. There are coaches with whom we’ve won titles. A coach’s ability to manage the dressing room is more important than their knowledge.”

Translation: We run this club, and our comfort is more important than your abilities.

If anything should end the fallacious claim that Sergio Ramos is the Spanish John Terry, this vignette is it. John Terry would never, ever, no matter how dire the circumstances speak about a manager like this. Not a current manager, not a former manager, not a prospective manager, not a manager at Chattanooga FC’s U17 team. Terry provided each new manager at Chelsea FC a clean slate upon arrival, even the one arriving for a second time. He led his teammates to do the same. And whatever player power the various factions wielded, they had to circumvent him to do so. He did not partake in – let alone lead, let alone do so publicly – the palace coups.

John Terry’s protege did not and would not, either. Gary Cahill is in the mould of John Terry in nearly every way. Maurizio Sarri recognizes this in his style of play, and sees it as a liability. He should recognize it in his personality and leadership, though, and see it as an asset. Perhaps one that he will need down the road.

One by one, Maurizio Sarri is letting Chelsea’s veterans go. Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas are the most notable examples. Victor Moses is another. He was never in line to wear the armband, but his attitude toward and for the club is what any manager should desire. He is also a leader for his national team, demonstrating he has those abilities.

The club’s decision to extend Cesar Azpilicueta and N’Golo Kante almost seem like a message to Sarri as much as a personnel decision. He has some discretion to choose his squad, but some decisions must be taken out of his hands.

For all the praise Sarri garners for his man-management, his arms around the shoulders are ruthlessly utiliarian. He only extends them to the small group of players he can fit into his tactics. The rigidity of his tactics and his limited willingness to bring extra players into the fold limits the number and range of players amongst his favourites.

This leaves him with yet another glaring lack of a Plan B: What to do when Sarrismo is no longer fun? If tactics are rigid and the tactics drive his relationships, what will those relationships look like when the bottom falls out from the tactics? With nothing else to hold his locker room together, what then? Maurizio Sarri will learn that titles and cups are no more a guarantee of the players’ affection than of continued employment under Roman Abramovich (assuming he breaks his duck and wins something).

When that happens, he will look around and wonder where his allies are, who his allies are. Sarri can not just bring in his own personal loyalists – other members of the Empoli – Napoli alumni association like Jorginho. They will not command the respect of their fellow players. Given the strength of the cliques at Stamford Bridge, Sarri may find out how easily he can lose “his” players amongst some of the personalities that rule the roost in west London.

Maurizio Sarri will want to know where are the players whose loyalty is to the club first and, as such, to the manager over themselves. By the end of next month, we may have his answer when we see if Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas leave on a loan or transfer.