It has been a familiar sight to see players influencing managers’ on-field decisions or transfer markets.
Star players like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo have marshalled teams around them based on their sole judgment.
Football matches which are said to be driven by managers’ tactics, substitutions, and formations are slowly losing this traditional thinking. It has now become a more player dominant game than before. And what happened the other night at Wembley stadium was simply embarrassing for the manager and the club.
Chelsea and Manchester City played their EFL cup final this super Sunday. Guardiola’s men were expected to win the cup easily against the blues.
However, Maurizio Sarri’s men put forth a vigorous defensive work in the first half. It was followed by some excellent play by Hazard and Kante in the second half. Despite this, all this splendid work from Chelsea was overshadowed by what happened in the dying minutes of AET.
Sarri, who wanted to substitute out-stretched goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, rejected to come off the field.
Caballero, last year’s hero of EFL cup, was all ready to come out on the Chelsea pitch when all the drama took place.
Sarri was furious at his player’s disrespect and stormed off the field only to return back. The situation looked out of control and the referee had to step in to make the eventual decision regarding the substitution.
The Italian man and the Chelsea goalkeeper both tried to play down the situation post-match by considering it as a misunderstanding. But we all knew what had happened there.
Sarri has at present been under fire after a series of abysmal performances of the London club. The incident further speculated the fallout of the Chelsea manager with his dressing room.
The football world has witnessed similar situations in numerous clubs. The Portuguese man Jose Mourinho has been at the receiving end for most of the times.
The former Manchester United manager was sacked at Chelsea and Manchester United after his fallout with the team players.
The manager faced a lot of embarrassment especially at Stamford Bridge when the players revolted and performed bad intentionally on the field.
The players go through a lot of emotions when it comes to football yet it’s in the best interest of the game to allow the manager decide his tactics, substitutions, and formations on and off the field.
It will be intriguing to see how the relationship between Kepa and the 60-year-old manager goes in the future.
We indeed hope that Chelsea players return to their winning form and gift a top four position to their manager.
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