Maurizio Sarri inherited a mess at Chelsea. Antonio Conte’s championship-winning squad fell apart over the course of eight gruelling months. It got to the point where he simply gave up figuring out ways to score goals and taught the team how to defend its way to points. His players learned to “park the bus” so well that even “bus-parking” expert Jose Mourinho was left frustrated with Conte’s ultra-defensive tactics during the FA Cup final.
Chelsea in ruins
Both he and Sarri were held at ransom by their club’s owners, who were unwilling to pay their stingy buy-out clauses. By the time Sarri came to London, he already had a broken team with no sense of direction. Courtois and Hazard professed their desires to leave the club and join Real Madrid. Willian was desperate to move on as well after being used mostly as a substitute throughout his career as a Chelsea Blue.
Bringing Jorginho from Napoli might help, but it does nothing to fix the club’s most glaring weakness – midfield creativity. Last season, Cesc Fabregas proved once and for all he’s not a Premier League level midfielder anymore. Chelsea needs at least one such player, but Sarri’s late arrival likely won’t give him enough time to fully assess the squad and search for the players he needs on the transfer market.
Time to hit the restart button
The Community Shield loss to Manchester City showed just how far behind Chelsea are in the preparations for the new season. Liverpool and Arsenal vastly improved over the summer, while Tottenham Hotspur kept their winning core. Much like Manchester United, Chelsea trails behind the quartet at the moment. One season without Champions League football can be forgiven by the fans, but another one will cause chaos. Like it or not, they will have to set lower goals to avoid disappointment, at least for one more year, because that’s how much time Maurizio Sarri will need to repair the damage.
Every franchise needs to hit the restart button once in a while. Chelsea’s time is now.
