Chelsea: Why uncertainty and resentment towards Maurizio Sarri is born out of ideology rather than results

Just ten minutes remained, Chelsea were yet to have their first shot on goal and the atmosphere amongst their 1,800-strong travelling contingent was rapidly curdling. Trailing relegation doomed Cardiff, an agitated Maurizio Sarri rose from his seat only to be promptly blown back down by a howling tide from his own supporters: “F**k Sarriball,” they caterwauled in unison.

Moments later, Eden Hazard, again tasked with leading his hangdog teammates through the fire, swivelled sharply in the centre-circle and skipped gracefully past a pair of challenges. Right on cue, the crowd’s chorus instantly shifted: “He’s one of our own”.

It was a message so abundantly clear it could have been spray painted across Sarri’s front door. He was the governing imposter on the sidelines and, if he weren’t already acutely aware of that fact, a small pocket of supporters burst into a rendition of “Super Frankie Lampard” to remind him for good measure. Four minutes later, an offside goal sparked a fortuitous comeback that would ultimately play a huge part in Chelsea securing Champions League football and preserving Sarri’s job.

Ordinarily, even at a club as rickshaw as Chelsea, a top-four finish and two cup finals would be considered a successful entry into English football. Sarri has fulfilled the objectives placed on him by Chelsea’s board and even fans with the most short-minded disposition towards rapid success would have surely accepted this fate at the start of the season.

Yet there’s an unshakeable resentment towards Sarri that had already been established long before he shrunk into the tunnel and ‘allowed’ his ousted captain, Gary Cahill, to lead the team’s lap of honour after their final game at Stamford Bridge, or before he dropped off the face of New England with a “stomach illness” during the build-up to this week’s friendly, organised by Roman Abramovich, to raise awareness against antisemitism.

Football is as much about ideology as it is results. The “culture” at every football club is a kind of tribal, intangible set of ideals that each of its fans has bought into. A history; a playing style; a rank and virtue. Much of the disgruntlement aimed towards Sarri, both from supporters and the club’s hierarchy, stems from his making no public effort to embrace that, whether it’s a rigid system and style of play or an absolute reluctance to interact with supporters.

From the moment Sarri arrived he made clear that Chelsea would be modelled as a type of Napoli 2.0. When prosperous early form nosedived he evoked the trauma of torrid declines under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte’s tenures by openly questioning the mentality of his players. When Chelsea wilted in a 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth before being turned shrapnel by Manchester City, he served only to aggravate the crowd’s jeers by claiming he was “worried about the results, not by the fans”.

open image in gallery

That Chelsea’s troubles this season have been so glaringly transparent and strenuously pointed out has only fanned frustration. The mocked insistence on rotating Mateo Kovacic for Ross Barkley; the fatherly refusal to rest Jorginho during a drear spell partway through the season when all could see his legs had left him; the one-track nature of a regimented 4-3-3 that gridlocked itself in possession, and a strange reluctance to start Ruben Loftus-Cheek or latterly Callum Hudson-Odoi. Each issue was protracted into its own obstinate mini-saga.

Sarri is a product of three decades in management, unremittingly heeled to a methodology formed through journeying Italy’s lower leagues. For that he’s made no apology and made clear there will be no change. With his strange tics and stubborn tactics, he remains firmly cast as an outsider. The deranged mutterer with a fetish for cigarette butts, smoking the same brand of substitution until the whole room begs for fresh air. His outstretched arm only acts by way of ultimatum. My way or I walk… and half of Stamford Bridge are trampling to usher him out the door.

open image in gallery

So now here we are, at the end of what should be a successful season with a Europa League final still to come, and instead Sarri’s future may well depend on whether Chelsea can defeat Arsenal in Baku. Neither he nor Chelsea have convinced one another that he will still be at the helm come August. Reports from Italy continue to reiterate the possibility of Sarri making an early escape with Juventus, AC Milan and Roma all interested.

The feeling though, after Chelsea’s transfer embargo was upheld and with the inevitable departure of Eden Hazard, is that it may be easier to let this not quite sleeping dog lie. If results were all Sarri had to worry about, his job would not be under speculation and, for now, that can be enough to claw by. But if he cannot drastically manage to sway the ready-set vitriol of Chelsea’s fanbase back in his favour and persuade that he is “one of their own”, the horizon and all its ticking time bombs will quickly draw in again.