Maurizio Sarri needs to sort out Chelsea dressing room quickly or trouble lies ahead
Blues boss has to reassess the situation at Stamford Bridge after Saturday's devastating defeat to Arsenal
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MAURIZIO SARRI claimed after Chelsea’s limp defeat to Arsenal that his players were not motivated.
But that is what the Blues boss is paid to do. It is the manager’s job to get those players to put in a shift.
They didn’t do that in a London derby on Saturday, just like they didn’t when Tottenham beat them up in November.
And while you have to look at the players, the Chelsea boss has to look at himself as well.
The loss also summed up why Sarri’s side are the lowest scorers in the Premier League’s top six, with 40 goals in 23 games.
They are crying out for a top striker and must hope that Gonzalo Higuain can make the difference.
Because there is no way that centre-forward is Eden Hazard’s best position — and you can tell he does not enjoy playing there.
The Belgian might offer you glimpses of brilliance there every now and again but you will not get the best out of him using him in that role.
Hazard likes to have free rein, whether that’s coming in from the left or behind the front man.
His greatest attribute is running and attacking defenders and he is not always going to be in the best position to do that as a centre-forward.
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Hazard is not a guy who is going to hold the ball up for you and bring people into the game.
You can’t just knock it up to him and hope he is going to do something.
So when Chelsea are in wide areas, they have to score the perfect goal because they cannot whip crosses in as they have nobody in the box to win headers.
I couldn’t believe it took them until the 68th minute to introduce Olivier Giroud against Arsenal because they were desperate for some presence in the box.
But when the Frenchman did come on, his body language told me that he had the hump.
He looked like a man who was thinking, ‘Hang on, you have been crying out for a centre-forward all match and all season, and haven’t given me a sniff’.
While Giroud is a World Cup winner, he is not the top-class centre-forward Chelsea need.
And if Higuain does complete his loan move from Juventus, you would think he will improve them because he is a goalscorer.
He also had the most prolific season of his career when he was at Napoli and Sarri was his manager in 2015-16.
But it remains to be seen how well Higuain will do because he is 31 now and his best years might be behind him.
Sarri has to do something though, because it’s looking pretty bleak for him right now.
It is all well and good him coming out and criticising his players after losing to Arsenal.
But he is the one playing his two best players out of position, with N’Golo Kante still being used on the right of a three in midfield.
The Frenchman will always give you everything but he is being wasted there.
Kante is a better sitting midfielder than Jorginho. He is the best sitting midfielder in the world bar none.
It’s all right Sarri wanting Jorginho to play that role and get the ball and pass it — but Chelsea were flaky against Arsenal.
And there was nothing in that game to suggest that they are playing for their manager.
When managers take on players like Sarri has just done, more often than not they lose.
Jose Mourinho did it with a lot of these same Chelsea players and look what happened.
I would expect Sarri to hammer them in the dressing room for their performance at Arsenal.
When you come out and do it in public, you are on thin ice.
There is only one outcome and we all know what that is.
Another issue Sarri has got is with Hazard’s contract, which has just 18 months left to run.
If Hazard is not seeing progress at Chelsea, he is not going to sign a new deal.
So they have a decision to make on him because his value is going down every month.
They also have the Callum Hudson-Odoi saga.
The Londoner has one of the biggest clubs in the world — Bayern Munich — after him and it is very appealing.
Hudson-Odoi, 18, will be looking at other young players who have gone to the Bundesliga and made a success of it.
And given that there is little evidence he will get regular game time at Chelsea, why would he stay?
It is looking very dodgy for Sarri and Chelsea at the moment.
They are still fourth but Arsenal and Manchester United are breathing down their necks.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side seem unstoppable at the minute, they have huge belief back.
And Arsenal are also only three points behind after that win on Saturday.
My question with the Gunners is why can’t they show that sort of commitment, passion and endeavour every game?
They showed they are capable of it when they beat Tottenham last month but they need to start doing it on a consistent basis.
I still don’t expect them to finish in the top four but it is going to be very tight.
And unless Sarri sorts out his dressing room pretty quickly, I see trouble ahead for Chelsea.
