'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQb/2gAIAQEAAAAAg1P/xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/9oACAECEAAAAG//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/9oACAEDEAAAAC//xAAgEAACAgIABwAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgMEAAUGERIUIzFy/9oACAEBAAE/AJdDV1nFi6uSvHaqwJ3MiSufKek+yM1etqWdZUnMFdDLCjlRGxC81+8//8QAGhEAAQUBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgABAzNB4f/aAAgBAgEBPwCSoS3jL//EABgRAAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAQMh/9oACAEDAQE/AE2xoP/Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
As the dust settles over Liverpool's glorious 2-0 victory over their not-so-favourite opponents at Anfield, Chelsea Football Club, the only headlines about Chelsea are regarding Maurizio Sarri being replaced or about how Hazard is inching closer to the Real Madrid move.
Chelsea started this season well after Antonio Conte was replaced by his fellow Italian Maurizio Sarri during the pre-season. Sarri had a booming reputation in Europe, even Pep Guardiola expressed his respect for Sarri-led Napoli, who the Manchester City boss called 'The best attack in Europe' in 2017-18.
But as the season progressed, Sarri has been unable to adapt to the week in week out action of English Football, and that has led to some serious debacles for the club this season, right from the 6-0 destruction by Manchester City and the club struggling hard to push for a top 4 finish.
Certainly Sarri and Chelsea have not had the best of days recently, and today we summarize the top 4 things which are going wrong for the Londoners.
#4 Jorginho is a downgrade over Fabregas
When Jorginho scored the first goal of Chelsea's 2018-19 campaign, every Chelsea fan was jubilant about the Italian midfielder who the club had managed to sneak away from Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.
But after Gameweek 9 of the English Premier League, the ex-Napoli midfielder started to show his flaws in the center of the field. No doubt every opposition targets him in the middle of the park, as he has been the fulcrum of the team's gameplay and the first name on the teamsheet for Sarri who has been his manager before at Napoli.
Jorginho can surely play a series of passes and control the tempo of the game, but is a big liability when Chelsea lose possession. In such circumstances, the Brazil born Italian International is very weak in challenging for the ball and has got extremely poor physical traits to win the ball from the opposition midfielder.
Fabregas had to leave in the winter transfer window as he was frustrated by Sarri's partial attitude towards Jorginho, and now things have shaped up in a way for all fans to believe that Jorginho is a major downgrade over the Spaniard.
Jorginho might be the weakest link in the Chelsea setup right now.
#3 Eden Hazard is too good for Chelsea
As Eden Hazard inches closer to a move to Real Madrid, he has been constantly showing Chelsea fans what they are going to miss, in his recent performances.
In the Liverpool game on Sunday, where almost every Chelsea player couldn't handle the Liverpool squad, Hazard took the situation in his hands and almost silenced Anfield after hitting the post and then pulling an excellent shot on target within a matter of 5 minutes.
Surely the Belgian has grown to a quality which is way above what Chelsea's overall squad quality currently is, and this might cause his decision at the end of the season much more easier to make and more self-explanatory.
If Chelsea are to retain Hazard miraculously, then they are going to have to pull the club's situation upside down at the end of this season, maybe by signing some big names, and hopefully Champions League football.
Right now, all it seems is that the player is more important than the manager at the club, and if relieving the manager of his duties can retain the player, then that is a decision the club needs to consider.
#2 Sarri's style of play & decision making
There is no doubt Maurizio Sarri has been one of the top managers in the last couple of years. Not every manager can almost topple Juventus for the Scudetto and make his team one of the scariest attacks in Europe.
But that being said, Sarri has been constantly making bad decisions at Chelsea.
Just to accommodate the numerous attacking midfielders the Blues possess, he has been playing Eden Hazard in the false nine position in big games, despite of the fact that Hazard is not even at 50% of his best abilities in the false nine.
Another thing which is going wrong for Sarri at Chelsea is his own style of play, Sarriball. Chelsea, in the makeup of the club, has never been a team which builds play from the back and plays attacking football.
The club's philosophy has always been a patient style of possession based football, where the players wait for the opposition to make a mistake and then the players counter. But Sarriball is exactly the opposite, making players chase the ball high up the field and trying to gain possession, which can be easily exploited by better teams like Manchester City and Liverpool.
It's difficult to believe that Sarri might change his own philosophy, and that leaves Chelsea currently in a not so bright position.
#1 No explosive striker like Drogba or Diego Costa
Chelsea's biggest problem since Conte's last year, is and always has been the absence of an explosive striker.
Until 2012, Chelsea were in safe hands with Drogba being one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, and upon his departure, it took the club some 3 years to find a replacement, but an even better one - Diego Costa.
Now as Diego Costa has also been long gone, Chelsea's search for an explosive striker continues.
History has been a witness to the fact that Chelsea has never won a Premier League or any major title when the club lacked an explosive striker. The last 3 Premier League titles won by Chelsea in the last nine years have been led by Drogba and Costa.
Alvaro Morata seemed an answer to this search when he joined a couple of years back, but he failed to find his form for the club just for him to leave on loan to Atletico Madrid in January. Chelsea made a panic buy to sign Higuain on a loan deal from AC Milan but the Argentine has been another downgrade over Morata in terms of every quality a striker should possess.
That being said, Chelsea Football Club really need a big overhaul, and that might not take so much time like Liverpool's did, in the last decade, because the current Chelsea squad are not very bad on paper.
There are just weaknesses that need to be focused and worked on, while some positions that need better players.
Wishing Chelsea Football Club a happy recovery.
