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Another big game, another defeat for the Blues. Things have gotten so frustrating for the Chelsea faithful that they no longer believe in their manager. Chants of "you don't know what you are doing" and "you are getting sacked in the morning" echoed around Stamford bridge during the 2:0 defeat to Manchester United.
"Sarri ball" has become "sorryball". Things change very fast in football and this brand of football that was lauded as revolutionary has been demystified and is now despised by Chelsea fans. It gets even more frustrating when at the end of every defeat the Chelsea team for all their dominance are unable to score a goal.
The defeat against Tottenham at Wembley was Chelsea's first loss of the campaign and it laid the blue print for what opposing teams should do against Chelsea to get a result. Since then, Leicester City, Wolves, Arsenal, Bournemouth and now, Manchester United have used that blueprint to get a win over the Stamford Bridge outfit.
It may be considered unfair if the Italian tactician is not given time to implement his methods fully. However, there are tell tale signs that Sarri's method is not built for a league as competitive and result oriented as the Premier league.
Here's a look at three reasons why Maurizio Sarri should be sacked from the Chelsea job less than one year into his tenure.
#1 Sarri's stubbornness
Maurizio Sarri has developed a reputation for being a very stubborn manager. He believes strongly in his methods, his philosophy and in its ability to steamroll any opposition his team faces.
For a top flight manager, it can be a very important trait. If the man in charge does not absolutely believe in his methods and philosophy, then it is difficult to convince the players to do that.
However, the stubbornness in top flight managers should not become lack of flexibility. In a league as competitive as the English Premier League, such inflexibility is usually exploited to devastating effect.
Sarri's stubborn belief in his 4-3-3 system and in the sacredness of Jorginho's role in this system has cost his team big time. He remains too stubborn to acknowledge it and worse still, too stubborn to change it.
#2 Sarri's predictability
Sarri's Chelsea are predictable to say the least. It is quite likely that any EPL fan can guess at least eight of the eleven players that will start Chelsea's next game. This may be put down to a difference in quality between the first XI and the second XI. However, the tactic, style and approach to every single game will also be known by any and everybody.
The style of play is predictable and so is easily countered by opposition managers. Tottenham in their victory over Chelsea showed that pressing Jorginho and David Luiz was a way to markedly disrupt Chelsea's rhythm and every other opposition manager has adopted that tactic to varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, Sarri has retained that style.
The substitutions that Sarri makes are also very predictable and like for like. Any regular Chelsea fan watching the game last night would have known at least two of Sarri's substitutions; Willian for Pedro and Barkley for Kovacic.
Sarri's Chelsea have started and ended every game in all competitions with the same 4-3-3 formation irrespective of the opposition and the results. It is a pretty poor assessment of the Italian coach who was hailed as a tactician in Naples.
#3 Sarri's increasing problems with his players
"It seems to me they have an issue with having a sufficient amount of determination and being mentally solid. I'm not happy at all because I prefer to come into the press room and into the changing room to talk about the tactics and why we lost from a strategy point of view, but the fact of the matter is that it would appear that this group of players is extremely difficult to motivate."
After Chelsea's disastrous showing at Arsenal, the Italian manager declared in the above statement that his players were not motivated and also extremely difficult to motivate. The 4-0 hammering at Bournemouth was also followed by the same attack on the mindset and motivation of the Chelsea team.
These comments did not go down well with the players and Sarri reportedly had talks with his players after those comments. Another clear the air discussion also followed after the mauling at the Etihad.
The former Napoli man has also had a running feud with Hazard in the press. He described the Belgian captain as "not a leader" and said his star man can leave if he wants. Many other egoistic players may have taken such open remarks as confrontational but the number ten has continued working in the team.
These open attacks at his players and on Hazard cannot be good for the team nor for Sarri himself. Mourinho's acrimonious time in charge of United has shown that in the long run such verbal attacks lead to loss of confidence and even worse results.
