With Maurizio Sarri seemingly turning the tide against him with recent performances against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, it seems he has earned himself a stay of execution.
Its hard to imagine what would constitute him getting the sack this late in the season. He still might go in the summer if Chelsea fail to secure Champions League football, but it seems as though Chelsea want to stick with a new style for now.
Plus the fact that Roman Abramovich hasn’t been at Stamford Bridge all season, so Marina Granovskaia has been calling the shots.
Abramovich asked for a new manager to bring attractive football and she brought in Sarri, so she needs to give him enough time to successful implement his style.
One of the main points from supporters of Sarri, including myself, is that this group of players isn’t fit for this football.
Yes Sarri has the responsibility to improve players but sometimes in football a square peg will be nothing other than a square peg.
Pep Guardiola’s City need to be the blueprint on how to change a style successfully. Like Sarri he had an underwhelming first season, but they are now one of Europe’s best teams.
He has turned Raheem Sterling into one of the best attacking players in the Premier League, but he also spent over £100m on new full backs.
Sarri and Marina need to have already decided on transfer targets and which players aren’t going to have a future as Chelsea players.
Especially considering that a transfer ban is incoming. This transfer window needs to see us through for two seasons, otherwise we’re in real danger of being left behind.
Those plans off the pitch can be mirrored on it. If David Luiz isn’t signing a contract extension and he isn’t going to be here next season then he needs to be on the bench with Andreas Christensen starting in his place to build a relationship with Toni Rudiger.
In the midfield, it’s highly unlikely that the club are going to pay the amount it would be required to take to make Mateo Kovacic’s move permanent.
I’m a big fan of Kovacic, but unfortunately in this midfield, we need that left hand side to provide goals and assists.
Jorginho and Kante just aren’t those players but they are almost nailed on to start every game.
For this reason it needs to be either Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Ross Barkley along side them. With Kovacic acting as back up to the Jorginho role.
Preferably Loftus-Cheek, as I don’t feel Barkley has it in him to be a top player at a top club. He’s better being a good size fish in a small pond, rather than a good size fish in a lake.
And then there’s the wingers, first of all Eden Hazard, who even if he is or isn’t staying, has to play. Remember we still need to secure Champions League football next season.
But on the other side, you’ve got Pedro and Willian who are both over 30. With Christen Pusilic coming in the summer, are both of them likely to be here next season?
It’s time to at least give Callum Hudson-Odoi a proper run of games to see if he really is as good as everyone suggests or it’s likely he’ll push for his exit again this summer.
This week he would’ve sat at home watching others his age like Jordan Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Kylian M’bappe playing in big Champions League games, while it’s not even certain that he’s going to play in Europa League games.
All this planning however, should already be being done by a director of football.
The reason players like Hudson-Odoi are pushing to move is because there’s nobody at the club planning for the future and trying to create a pathway for the academy into the first team.
Each manager Chelsea hire knows that he has to succeed or he’ll be sacked. So he is going to want to sign top players rather than try to bleed in academy kids.
If you have a Director of football responsible for things like that and somebody who is looking further ahead than just the current season, we wouldn’t be discussing these issues.
But of course, the club can point to a history of success to prove that their theory works, and you can’t deny that success, but if they are serious about changing our style and our way of playing, then it needs to change off the pitch as well as on it.
