Chelsea fans do not like living on the managerial merry-go-round, but that does not excuse them rewriting Maurizio Sarri’s superficial season.
Maurizio Sarri’s gone. If you’d asked almost any Chelsea fan three months ago if they thought Sarri had done a good job in his first year at Chelsea, you’d probably get a resounding “no.”
But now, after a perceived “strong” finish to the season, many have changed their story. Some pundits and ex-Chelsea players have been quick to jump to Sarri’s defence, citing a third place finish and a Europa League trophy as evidence. But whether it was a strong finish is very debatable, especially when you look at how Chelsea actually achieved their season’s successes.
During the Europa League final, Chelsea managed to score four goals and crush their domestic rivals on the big stage, but it was far from the perfect performance for the team in blue.
Arsenal started the game the stronger of the two teams, were in control of the midfield and were dangerous through the width created by their wingbacks. As the game progressed in the second half Arsenal completely folded, and the Blues came up against virtually no resistance as they coasted to a resounding, but not particularly merited win.
To reach the final, Chelsea drew twice with Eintracht Frankfurt, who won just one of their last 11 games of the season. Ignoring the two draws with Chelsea, they lost six and drew the other two. They did very well to get as far in the Europa League as they had, but by the end of the season their star players were knackered, their small squad barely having been rotated through the whole season.
Chelsea did not play any other teams during the competition that were of Premier League standard.
Onto the Premier League itself, where Chelsea did, in fact, achieve a top four finish. In Chelsea’s last five games, the only win they had was against Watford at home. They drew to Burnley, Leicester, and a limping Manchester United, and lost to Liverpool.
The only reason Chelsea finished third is because Tottenham and Arsenal completely forgot how to play football. Tottenham in their last five games lost to Manchester City, Bournemouth, and West Ham at home, drew with Everton, and scraped a 1-0 win at home against Brighton, a team that just barely avoided relegation. Arsenal had an even worse time of it, beating Burnley, drawing to Brighton, and losing to Leicester, Wolves and Crystal Palace, conceding three goals in each of those games. We don’t need to talk about Manchester United.
Verdict: Maurizio Sarri deserves very little credit for the team’s eventual positive standing. For perspective, look at the 25 point gap between Chelsea and second place.
What’s more, Maurizio Sarri was extremely unwilling to play young players all season. It took Ruben Loftus-Cheek until April to break into the first team despite the obvious quality he showed in every appearance. Callum Hudson-Odoi submitted a transfer request because he wasn’t playing. And Andreas Christensen was unhappy for most of the season because David Luiz, flaws and all, continued to start ahead of him at every turn.
There is no indication at all to suggest Sarri had a strong or personally successful season. There is even less evidence that he would have been any more positive in the face of the two-window transfer ban than he was all season, during which he received the players he wanted and threw others under the bus at every opportunity, refused to adapt his failing tactics, and barely gave any chances to the young members of the squad.
Oh, and then there’s the whole Kepa Arrizabalaga thing, his treatment of Gary Cahill, and the fact that he has been charged before for being sexist and a homophobe (two separate incidents).
So why have people changed their minds? Rotation fatigue, and nothing else. Chelsea and all those who follow the club are absolutely sick and tired of having manager after manager leave after a semi-successful season or two in charge.
Did Sarri do a good job? Not particularly.
Was anyone under any illusions that he would do a better job over the next few seasons? Some (like me) were hopeful, most were adamant non-believers.
But now that he’s gone, they miss him.
Well don’t. Just because he’s been chalked up as another martyr of Roman Abramovich’s iron fist, it does not mean he’s a different man than he was, nor that his tenure as manager was any different than it was.
Chelsea fans wanted him out all season, and now he’s gone. So ignore the pundits and ex-players questioning the decision, recognise that his first season in charge really wasn’t all that great, and embrace the unknown future.