If Maurizio Sarri is not careful he will end up on the Chelsea scrap heap

Sarriball has become Sarri-bawl. The penalty for misjudging the point at which you hang your players out to dry is a seat on a beIN Sports studio panel being fawned over by Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Apart from the weather in the Middle East, that seems like a pretty poor bargain.

Maurizio Sarri’s defenestration of his Chelsea team in the heat of a London derby defeat reprised the laments of Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, and for that matter Chelsea. Mourinho’s soft focus retelling of recent history to Richard and Judy, sorry Andy, is a not-so-subtle play, an attempt at justification for his nasty fall at Old Trafford.

Since it cannot be the coach’s fault, responsibility must by definition rest with the modern multi-millionaire footballer and the abuses of power inflicted within a structure ill-equipped to slap ‘em down. Thus Mourinho’s failure is explained in terms of the players’ refusal to do as the coach instructs as the ancient professional code once demanded of a footballer. The modern pro by this argument simply can’t be arsed if the system does not suit.

Two-way process

This says nothing about the responsibility of the coach to empathise with the group, to create an environment in which the ideas exchange is a two-way process, one in which the players are encouraged to invest not because the coach says so but because the reasoning is sound. If things go wrong this approach at least allows responsibility to be shared and offers a better chance of a positive response.

Witness the turnaround at Arsenal, losers at West Ham a week ago, a team transformed against Chelsea. Sarri was right to identify attitude as the key, but wrong to hang it all on the players. The result at the Emirates was about personality and desire, a group of players on message and organised. Arsenal it seems were liberated by the responsibility of needing to win, sharper all over the pitch than Chelsea, who simply could not match the intensity and commitment.

Sarri blamed the same group that inflicted a first defeat of the season on Manchester City six weeks ago via just the level of intensity generated by Arsenal on Saturday. We have seen at Manchester United the impact a positive, inclusive coach can make, evincing from the same players that ‘failed’ that old mood hoover Mourinho a significant hike in output.

Background radiation

Unai Emery deserves huge praise for turning around an unpromising week in which the background radiation suggested a club in structural turmoil. There was nil sign of that on the pitch with both Arsenal goals typifying this new spirit of enterprise. Alexandre Lacazette had no right to make what he did of a modest cross swung in low from Hector Bellerin. He was half a yard quicker between the ears, anticipating the delivery and matching quick thinking with rapid feet. Four touches taking him through the Chelsea defensive shield and the ball was in the back of the net.

Laurent Koscielny did not intend his shoulder to be the method of delivering his goal but was rewarded for his initiative, the second time that he had attacked the ball in the box with only Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat. Since the keeper saved the first attempt via his own shoulder there was perhaps a kind of karma at play in engaging the same anatomical prompt to double Arsenal’s lead.

Chelsea had the greater possession, more corners, more attempts on goal yet nowhere near the threat of Arsenal. Sarri’s insistence on a 4-3-3 formation with Jorginho instead of N’Golo Kante as his defensive pivot and Eden Hazard at the point of the attack produced nil penetration. Suddenly the advantage in pursuit of a top-our finish is whittled to three points with United and Arsenal full of fight.

Meltdown

Sarri’s best chance of turning a profit this season reverts to that pot of last resort for desperate coaches, the Carabao Cup, with Chelsea needing to overturn a one-nil deficit at home to Spurs on Thursday for the dubious privilege of duelling Manchester City in the final. Maybe the post Arsenal meltdown reflects the urgency of the situation. Time is not on the side of any Chelsea coach. Sarri was appointed to succeed not make excuses. Ten out of 10 for Italianate drama, though.

“Today I prefer to speak Italian first of all because I want to send a message to my players, and I want my message to be very clear. I have to say that I’m extremely angry, very angry indeed. This defeat was due to our mentality more than anything else, our mental approach. We played against a team more determined than we were. And I can’t accept that.

“Tactics don’t come into it. Their high level of motivation was obvious throughout, particularly in both penalty areas. I’d prefer to come in here to talk about the tactics, about why we lost from a tactical point of view, but the fact is it appears this group of players is extremely difficult to motivate.”

Sarri referenced the defeat to Tottenham in the league and accepted the same fault had been corrected. “It seems to me that, as a group of players, they’re not aggressive from a mental point of view. They don’t have a ferocity in their mentality. That’s down to their characteristics. It’s difficult to change.”

Sorry old chap, that’s the job. If it’s too much, Richard and Andy would like a word.