If we had to choose a single word to describe the Chelsea season, I think "strange" would be at least successful. And it is that what began as a hopeful beginning has been transformed into a complete disaster with unusual and ridiculous episodes in between.
The maximum star of the club playing at a superlative level, but at the same time shouting to the four winds his desire to go to Real Madrid. An express wish of the coach to be the pillar of the team (Jorginho), turned into the most hated player by the fans. Humiliating goals scored frequently, distance between staff and coach, FIFA sanctions for irregular transfers. But if we thought we had seen it all, we were very wrong.
Last Sunday was added a new and dreadful episode to this rare season of Chelsea. The final of the Carabao Cup in Wembley between Chelsea and Manchester City was disputed. Unlike the game two weeks ago in the Premier League, where City thrashed 6-0, this time Chelsea competed head-on against those led by Guardiola. The game was a real tactical encounter in which both teams canceled each other and could not take advantage. I would dare to say that even Chelsea played a little better.
This led to the match ended with a draw at 0 both in the 90 minutes and in overtime, until reaching penalties. But just before the end of the match and the start of the round, a situation appeared that overshadowed everything that had happened previously. Just before the end of extra time, Kepa Arrizabalaga presented cramps that forced him to be treated. The problem seemed overcome and the match continued, but after throwing himself to stop a shot from Agüero, the Spaniard seemed to have resented.
Seeing the notorious impossibility of following Kepa, Sarri quickly sends Willy Caballero to prepare to enter the field and announces the change to the 4th referee. And it was here where he threw the curtain on and the show began. Between comings and goings, shouts and signs, Sarri announced the change of goalkeeper but Kepa refused to leave the field. This caused the explosion of the Italian coach before the sharp refusal of the Spanish goalkeeper to be replaced.
To me it seems obvious that Sarri saw in the uncertainty of the physical state of Kepa the opportunity to make a tactical move and give income to Willy Caballero, a well-known specialist attacking penalties and excompañero of the rivals of turn. But by more shouts, signs and indications, Kepa refused to be replaced, in an act of disobedience to his coach, of disloyalty with his partner and showing that for him his image was more important than the well-being of the team. The result ended with victory of the citizens in penal, with a criminal responsibility of the Spanish included.
The truth is that Kepa is a very inflated goalkeeper, at the time by the Spanish press and then by the English press after his multimillion-dollar signing by Chelsea. But the sensations that the Spanish has left in 7 months in England is that of a normal goalkeeper, who is not and will never be one of the best in the world. It's not good or bad, but it just does not save you, it's a goalkeeper from whom you can not expect anything spectacular or extraordinary, but for what you're supposed to do for and there.
But if Kepa's thing seemed unfortunate, what happened later made me completely lose faith in this team. When I saw Kepa's boyishness and Sarri's anger, only two possible scenarios went through my mind: Sarri punishes Kepa and does not play for the rest of the season or the Italian resigns in the early hours of Monday morning.
To my surprise I find that neither of the two situations I imagined ended up giving. In the end it was the Italian coach who ended up taking off his pants by declaring that what happened with Kepa had been a confusion and that the Spaniard was not to blame. It is more than clear to say that these statements were an order of the board of Chelsea, another shows that neither the players, nor the fans nor is the same club respect Sarri. The sad reality is that Sarri lacked balls to be blunt about Kepa
At the beginning of the season I believed in this Chelsea, but that's just not possible. In a club where the coach has no authority, where the players do what they want and where the board has no idea what the word "project" means, nothing good can come of it. And this seems not to change in the short term, because since the arrival of Abramovic Chelsea has been a rare club, where when everyone expects something from them nothing happens and when nobody expects anything, they end up giving the bell. The feeling that all this leaves me is that in Chelsea anything, from the most fantastic to the most unusual, can happen.
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