Maurizio Sarri’s blueprint to save Chelsea (and himself) from Maurizio Sarri

Challenge the under performers

Part of making tactical tweaks and rotating is challenging the players who are simply not showing enough over a period. Sarri, due to sticking with one XI, has been unwilling to do this in recent years.

It would be wrong to say that Chelsea has played well since beating Manchester City. Even before that, the Blues had struggled against everyone since the Burnley match for various spells. Several players have had several bad matches in a row. In those moments, they should have been put aside for someone else.

Try to remember the last good match Jorginho has had. Or Eden Hazard, Willian, Marcos Alonso, or Mateo Kovacic. For some, it has been awhile. Others have flicked the switch on and off.

This is not a call to drop them long term. But it is a call to sit them for a match or two until they get their head right. The incentive in training and on the pitch needs to be there for the club to improve. Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are able to keep all the players happy and focused because none of them feel like their spot is guaranteed. Even if a player is only dropped for two matches, they know that on the third they need to show up to stay off the bench.

This season, no Chelsea player has really had a chance to bench an under performer in the league. Perhaps the closest anyone has gotten has been Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but there were so many other factors in play. Sarri needs to trust his depth and academy to fill in temporarily as the stars sort themselves out.

Look in the mirror Sarri

To put it bluntly, Sarri threw the players under the bus after the Arsenal match. He briefly accepted blame before spending another 15 plus minutes laying into his side. And perhaps the greatest thing he achieved in doing so was changing the general conversation and spotlight off of him and onto the team’s mentality.

It was a mix of brave and stupid. But Sarri needs to realize the Arsenal loss had more to do with him than the players determination. That was not a match of one team “wanting it more” than the other. That was a match where the team in Blue executed the tactics they were told to execute and the plan was all wrong.

All the other issues came to roost in that match. Sarri’s lack of rotation resulted in a team with low motivation from the starters and the substitutes. The lack of tweaks meant Arsenal did not have to be inventive in their own tactics. The lack of tactical substitutions meant Arsenal could spend the second half on auto pilot.

Blaming the players is easy, as is saying they are the common denominator. But so is Sarri. It is not a good look to only blame the players for a loss. Good managers always look at what they can do better and Sarri has not been doing that.

Sarri will have to break a lot of his own habits (many of which his supporters blatantly disregarded in the summer saying things would change at Chelsea) in order to survive. He is a good manager who can save Chelsea. But he needs to save himself from himself in order to do so. He needs to look in the mirror and not ask “why are these players not motivated” but “how can I motivate these players”.

Sarri has put himself on the edge of the cliff. He has the ability to pull himself off of it. But he has to see his own role in getting there and getting off of it. The players can only do what they are told to do. Sarri needs to tell them his plan to get out of all this.