The recent outburst or if you like public criticism launched on Chelsea players by their manager Maurizio Sarri after they lost 2-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium is the inspiration behind this brief blog of mine. I have been following the reactions of both players, fans and even sports analysts as regards this recent development at Stamford Bridge, so I thought it was high time I brought the discussion over here.
I haven't really seen Sarri chastise his players in that degree, maybe he used to do it at Napoli, but since I am not up to date with his coaching personality in Italy, I am basing my observations on who he has been since joining Chelsea as their coach. The coach couldn't hide his anger, and went all the way to question Chelsea Players Mentality and even added that they were a very difficult team to motivate.
With the fight four the top four appearing a bit tougher than many would have expected, dropping of points was the last thing on Sardi's mind as Chelsea needs to be in Champions League next season. But was that enough reason for the Italian boss to lash out at his players on the media, won't that have a rather negative effect on the team than positive? To show how Sarri was serious about this, he had to make use of his native Italian to voice his anger.
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Sarri was of the opinion that he didn't want his English to be misinterpreted by anyone, so he had to revert to his native language to air his exasperation towards his team. Chelsea's performance against Unai Emery's side was really poor, with their first shot on target coming at the 82 minute of the game, of course from Marcos Alonso.
“I have to say that I’m extremely angry, very angry indeed,” he said. “This defeat was due to our mentality more than anything else, our mental approach. We played against a team which, mentally, was far more determined than we were. And this is something I can’t accept." Sarri had said. He went on and said...
“But it appears we still seem to lack sufficient motivation, being mentally solid and determination. So I’m not happy, I’m really not happy. I’d prefer to be in the changing room, speaking to the players, to talk about why we lost from a tactical point of view. But the fact of the matter is it appears this group of players are extremely difficult to motivate. When you see this kind of game, when one team is quite obviously more determined than the other, you can’t really talk about tactics. From a technical point of view both teams are pretty much on the same level, but Arsenal were more determined. Tactics don’t come into it."
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For me, I really don't think it's the best way to caution players, especially when dealing with professional high profile players. It could go a long way to break the cordial relationship between the Coach and some of the players if not all of them. This similar issue has been one of the reasons Jose Mourinho hasn't been getting it right in his coaching adventure lately.
Mourinho's days in Madrid saw him have altercations with topnotch players in the team. The degeneration of relationship at the Bernabue saw Madrid declining and eventually ended in the sack of Mourinho. The Portuguese also criticised his players openly during his ignominious reign at Old Trafford, and its effect on the team's performance was abysmal, to put it lightly.
I have watched Coaches like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp for some time now, and I can tell you that one of the major reasons behind their success is the intimacy between them and their players. For a coach to get the best of out his players, he must learn to caution them maturely without appearing insulting or disrespectful to the personalities of his players.
Not only has the Italian Chelsea Boss said that his players are difficult to motivate, he has recently and publicly said that Eden Hazard is not a leader and more of an individual player. Criticising the Belgian's style of play, especially as regards Hazards not marking his opponents when Chelsea loses the ball. And am tempted to wonder why all these is coming out now, is he just noticing Hazard's style of play or is the rumoured Hazard possible transfer shaking some tables.
Considering this, do you think such public criticisms are the best way to caution players, and do you Sarri having issues with Chelsea players because of this in the future?
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