Maurizio Sarri should shoulder the blame for recent Chelsea form

It’s not every day a prominent club succumbs the way Chelsea did at Manchester on Sunday. Fans thought they had seen enough after Bournemouth match, but Chelsea ended up with even more significant defeat.

Chelsea fans remain divided over who should be blamed. Even though the players and Maurizio Sarri are taking equal blame from parts of the fanbase, the latter should be held the most responsible.

Chelsea executed an actual plan when they defeated Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Maurizio Sarri’s men took away the space for City’s midfielders higher up the field. N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic sat in front of the defense, blocking City’s midfield runners. But on Sunday, Sarri played Ross Barkley in place of Kovacic. Barkley and Kante had free rein to press high up the field, opening up a channel for City’s midfield to support their attack.

Fans have been vocal about out-of-form players continually being in the lineup ahead of younger talents awaiting their chance on fresher legs. Sarri dropped Willian on Sunday, but Barkley, Antonio Rudiger and Marcos Alonso all started. Kovacic, who had recently looked better than Jorginho in the center of the midfield trio, started on the bench.

Meanwhile, Manchester City had a nonstop worker in Bernando Silva and a quick winger like Raheem Sterling. Their full-backs ran up and down the pitch, they have creative midfielders and faultless center-backs. Chelsea lacked all of this among their starting XI.

Chelsea’s usual workhorses – Kante and Pedro – were asked to stay up the pitch, while the quickest winger – Callum Hudson-Odoi – had no role. A player with an eye for goal – Ruben Loftus-Cheek – started on the bench. Emerson, who is more direct and active than Alonso, also had to wait to come on. And despite a faultless performance last week, Andreas Christensen was overlooked for Antonio Rudiger, who is going on three months without a good performance.

At this point, nobody can provide a proper answer on what Gary Cahill and Danny Drinkwater should do. They cannot even get a look despite the side’s impotence on defence and in the midfield. Players like Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi possess enormous potential and have shown it in their limited appearances, yet they remain overlooked. Loftus-Cheek, Emerson and Christensen rarely picked despite promising play. Jorginho, of course, is asked to stay in front of the back-four even after every Chelsea opponent has exposed him.

Pep Guardiola had just three days to prepare for this match while Maurizio Sarri enjoyed a week of preparation. To lose 6-0 after a 4-0 drubbing at Bournemouth is unacceptable for a club like Chelsea. It is the manager’s job to motivate the players, no matter how many times Sarri admits he does not know how to do that.

If Sarri cannot turn around the form soon, Chelsea’s quest for any of the three remaining trophies will be over. At that point, they will have a tough ask to finish in the top-four, regardless of who may be in charge at that point.