When Chelsea appointed Maurizio Sarri, the fans were divided for the first time since the sacking of Jose Mourinho. While the majority of the fans were looking forward to beautiful football being played at Stamford Bridge, the other section was not convinced that Sarri was the right choice.
Eight months in, and we have over 80% of the Chelsea fans calling for the manager’s sacking. Looking at the season so far, not many who just follow the scores would understand what is happening.
On the pitch, Chelsea have not been as attractive as it was proposed, and Sarri’s stubbornness has made it difficult for the fans to back him.
So what made the majority of the fans to turn their backs on the manager?
3 big mistakes.
Sarri would have still had the backing of the majority of the fans if he was trying hard but right now, that is just not the case. Let’s take a look at the 3 mistakes the manager has made this season:
#1 – Not changing tactics
Sarri came in with a simple formation in mind and has been using it since day one. The 4-3-3 has been his preferred formation, but the issue was that Chelsea were found out really quickly.
When Conte changed from 4-5-1 to 3-4-3, there was no stopping Chelsea. It took 13 games for the opponents to figure out a way to stop The Blues and that was expected from Sarri as well.
However, when Jorginho was blocked out of the game, it all fell apart. Sarri’s tactics were ineffective as the opponents had the upper hand and moreover, with the Italian midfielder out of the game, there was no one on the pitch to provide those through balls and defence-splitting passes.
The ideal thing to do at that point was to deploy another tactic and work their way around the situation. That wasn’t the case with Sarri. He stuck with his tactics and Chelsea suffered on the pitch. There was no creativity and just a lot of pointless ball circulation with no intent of getting in behind the opposition defenders, who just had to sit back and relax.
Another mistake was using Eden Hazard as a False 9. The Belgian is not someone who can play with his back towards the goal and it is best for him to run at defenders on the wings. However, Sarri opted to play him there regularly when Alvaro Morata was not firing.
Lately, Sarri has been playing with the 4-2-3-1 formation, but not from the start. It’s always been tried out too late into the game and by then, the opponents would have scored on the counter-attack and got back to their Plan A – sit back and defend.
What could have been done differently? Sarri should have made a ‘Plan B’ from the start and practised both in the training sessions. Every team in the world tries to do things differently when they are not winning but sadly, that was not the case with Sarri.
#2 – Not changing players
Sticking to a formation is fine as long as Sarri was changing the players on the pitch. Every player has different characteristics and can provide something new every time he gets the ball. However, the manager not only stuck to his formation, but also the same set of players as well. It even came to a point where he was making the same substitutions as well.
More than the formation remaining the same, the lack of rotation is what has hurt Chelsea the most. Not only have they suffered on the pitch, they are bound to suffer off it as well.
Willian, Pedro, Ross Barkley, and Marcos Alonso should have never been in the starting lineup from October, but somehow, all of them were starting games regularly, and they were doing the exact same thing in every single match.
What could have been done differently? There are a lot of players on the bench at Chelsea who would be starting for other clubs around the world. However, Sarri never saw them ideal for his tactics and never really gave them a chance.
Instead of playing Hazard as a False 9, he could have used Giroud. Instead of Willian and Pedro, he could have given Callum Hudson-Odoi a chance and with Barkley and Kovacic not delivering, Sarri should have turned to Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
#3 – Not trusting the youth
Hudson-Odoi would be in a majority of the Premier League clubs’ starting lineup right now but somehow, Sarri feels that playing him regularly would be a bad thing for him. The manager wants to make sure that the youngster is not put under pressure and is given time to make it onto the big stage.
Even in the defence, Sarri kept playing with David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger instead of giving Andreas Christensen a chance.
The Dane is a brilliant ball-playing centre-back, and would have been a great asset in the team. Luiz’s mistakes have cost Chelsea dearly this season, and that should have made Sarri think twice.
What could have been done differently? Hudson-Odoi, Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek should have been a vital part of the Chelsea XI right now and they would have done a lot more than what the current crop of Willian/Pedro, Ross Barkley and David Luiz would have done this season.