Chelsea: Maurizio Sarri is making it hard for fans to get behind him and his plan

Chelsea visits Cardiff as they return to Premier League action after the international break. Maurizio Sarri is making the fans work as hard as the players.

The talking point during the international break was Chelsea’s young prospect Callum Hudson-Odoi after his remarkable debut for England. As usual, the fans’ voice has only strengthened for Hudson-Odoi to gain a more prominent role in Chelsea setup. At any other club, if he was not the part of starting XI yet, this would be the ideal moment.

Unfortunately for Hudson-Odoi and Chelsea fans, Maurizio Sarri is not part of the majority who believe Hudson-Odoi’s time has already arrived. The issue is not merely with this one, young player. A look at his first choice players reveals the fundamental issue.

The players Sarri wants most like Gonzalo Higuain, Willian, Pedro, and Marcos Alonso are unwanted at the national level. Meanwhile, the players who are called upon by their respective national team managers are often ignored by Sarri, despite their performances for club and country. Olivier Giroud and Hudson-Odoi both shone for their national team, but are only in line for less prominent fixtures under Sarri.

Giroud is the Europa League’s top scorer with nine goals. He has eight goals in the last six games. Despite that, he is repeatedly on the bench when a significant game comes around. And despite Emerson’s performances, he was overlooked for Marcos Alonso, who returned to the Premier League line-up even though he played 90 minutes midweek. As fate would be, Alonso’s mistakes resulted in Chelsea conceding goals while he was just as ineffective going forward.

The same goes for Hudson-Odoi, who has consistently done more than enough in his limited minutes to demonstrate why he deserves to be picked purely based on his performances. Yet Sarri considers him just like any other young player.

Everything Sarri says about Hudson-Odoi would have carried some weight if the players ahead of him were in remarkable form. But Willian and Pedro are rarely setting things on fire. As a result, Hudson-Odoi’s situation can’t be compared with Phil Foden’s at Manchester City. Chelsea can’t expect Hudson-Odoi to sign an extension with the treatment he is receiving at the moment.

Gonzalo Higuain is still Sarri’s preferred forward, despite only scoring against two of the worst sides the English Premier League has ever seen. Either Pedro or Willian will be his preferred right wing. No matter what Hudson-Odoi to show he is better at this point than Pedro or Willian, nothing has changed Sarri’s belief he will be mature only when he is 23.

Meanwhile, Ross Barkley, who was one of the standout players for England when played to his strengths, will be asked to drop his attacking instincts.

Chelsea has two world-class players who are arguably the best at what they do. Any other manager would have moulded his team around them. But Sarri is asking them to adjust to his style, which has been a disaster so far.

Chelsea has scored more goals and played more attacking football under defensive managers than under Sarri, who is labeled an attacking manager.

Despite the terrible form of Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz, Andreas Christensen is persistently excluded for the Premier League, even though he has always presented a trustable figure whenever given chance. And let’s never forget Gary Cahill, who has been shown such a high-level of disrespect by Sarri.

Even if Chelsea reaches the Europa League final, Sarri could choose to go for what he still sees as the strongest XI. That would see Olivier Giroud, Andreas Christensen, Hudson-Odoi, Emerson and others dropped despite their efforts.

Every time fans believe he is changing for the good, Sarri returns back to his uninspiring starting XI. The number of fans who want him gone will only increase, and it will only be a matter of when – not if – Sarri is gone.